Lantern production in Nagoya has flourished since ancient times. This was helped by Lord Tokugawa Muneharu (1696-1764), the Seventh Lord of Nagoya Castle, who ordered lanterns be strung up along the main streets of the city, making it brighter, allowing for extending shopping and restaurant hours, and making it safer for women and children to be out at night. In addition to the abundance of Japanese paper, bamboo higo, and wood that are used as materials for lanterns, Nagoya’s large population provided the manpower required for the process of pasting fire bags (lantern part). As a specialty of Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya lanterns have been exported not only domestically but also overseas since the Meiji and Taisho periods. Traditional lantern crafting specialists continue making Nagoya Chochin today.