Takaoka bronze casting dates back to the beginning of the Edo period (1600-1868), when the Maeda clan in Kaga invited seven highly skilled metal casters from a long established metal casting area to come and work at a newly opened workshop.
The craft developed through the production of chased bronze Buddhist fittings and then in the Meiji period (1868-1912), the work from this area became known abroad as representative examples were exhibited at the international World Fair in Paris.
Now 90 percent of the total cast bronze products in Japan are from Takaoka.