Until I was told about it by David Cole (https://dcprojectjapan.com) yesterday, I was unaware of this connection between light bulbs and Kyoto.
Edison’s first prototype light bulbs were made with a cotton filament and only worked for ten to twenty hours before breaking. They weren’t viable for commercialization. To solve this problem, his team tested thousands of materials without much success until William H. Moore traveled to Kyoto and sent “madake” species bamboo to New Jersey. By carbonizing the fibers of the Japanese bamboo (in high-temperature, oxygen-free ovens), they managed to get the light bulbs to work for more than 1,000 hours straight.
The bamboo-filament light bulbs were the first ones Edison commercialized on a large scale and they were a huge success in the late 19th century. Later, at the beginning of the 20th century, they were replaced by General Electric’s metallized carbon filament bulbs and then by tungsten.
South of Kyoto, there is a monument dedicated to Thomas Edison. It is located at the Iwashimizu Hachimangū shrine, next to the forest where William H. Moore found the ideal “madake” bamboo to manufacture light bulbs. Although it seems Edison never actually traveled to Japan.
Another thing I didn’t know until yesterday was how to tell the difference between bamboo species. The most common one in Japan is the “moso” (mosochiku); for example, the bamboo of Arashiyama in Kyoto belongs to this species. It grows very fast and can get quite thick (between 15 and 20 centimeters wide).
“Madake” bamboo is seen less often; although it also grows very fast, its stalks do not get as thick. Edison tested the fibers of all bamboo species, and Kyoto’s “madake” was the best for his light bulbs.
The most obvious visual difference between the two species is that “madake” has double rings at each node. This first photo is of “madake” where the double joints can be seen.
And these are photos of “moso” bamboo in Arashiyama.
I took this last photo with a Hasselblad 500cm that I sold secondhand and no longer own.