Weave Japanese Accessories with Nishijin Brocade at Masuya Takao in Kyoto

Creating History, One Thread at a Time

Masuya Takao has been in business for almost a century at its workshop in Nishijin, Kyoto. This district is the home of nishijin-ori fabric, a 1200-year-old craft tradition known for its extremely delicate and colorful designs. Today Masuya Takao is best known for its nenkin thread. Created for the restoration of the Golden Nenkin Fukusa cloth at the Tokugawa Art Museum, nenkin thread is made by wrapping gold leaf around individual strands of cotton.

In the workshop, guests can observe artisans at work and learn how to operate a loom themselves.

Working with nenkin thread

Bags Made of Glimmering Thread

Guests will weave a portion of a compact sukiya bag, made entirely from shimmering nenkin thread. The color and luster shifts depending on the angle of the light, giving every piece an organic, elegant feel. Guests can choose between black, silver, and white base colors and accents of pink, blue, green, silver, and gold, according to their own preferences.

Each bag is made entirely of nenkin thread

Weave your own fabric with nenkin thread in this hands-on experience

A base fabric with a mother-of-pearl peony arabesque design is also available for an extra charge.

Guests will weave a length of fabric which will be used as an accent by Masuya’s artisans when they create the finished bag. The completed bag will be sent by mail at a later date.

Base fabrics with a mother-of-pearl peony arabesque design

Beauty Built From Strands of Gold

The experience begins with an introductory video featuring Masuya’s owner, Akiko Takao, a textile artist in her own right. Following the video, the artisans from the workshop will then delve into the rich history of nishijin-ori and how Masuya Takao continues that tradition.

Of course, nenkin thread remains the star of the show. As the artisans explain its intensive production process, guests can hold and examine the thread and its component elements. When viewed through a loupe, nenkin fabric’s warp and weft shimmer like a kaleidoscope.

Look through a loupe to observe the beautiful intertwining of warp and weft threads in a nenkin fabric

An Ancient Craft in Your Own Hands

After understanding the context of this remarkable craft, guests will have the opportunity to practice it themselves using a traditional hand loom. Threading the loom, beating the stile, and using one’s foot to work the treadle are unfamiliar actions to most of us, but with the help of master artisans even beginners will quickly find themselves settling into a rhythm.

In about ten minutes, a single shining thread of nenkin becomes a shimmering piece of fabric.

Sitting at the loom, about to begin weaving

Masuya Takao’s guiding principle is “service with beauty.” This includes a commitment to producing the highest-quality fabrics, where even machine-woven pieces must be of hand-woven quality. As such, every stage of production is carried out by highly-skilled artisans. Only those who visit the shop as part of this experience will be able to witness them at work trimming threads and working with historic looms, explaining each step as they go.

Observing an artisan up close

Use It as a Clutch Bag or as a Sakosh Bag

You can style the sukiya bag as a clutch bag to complement both Japanese and Western attire. Its dimensions make it an ideal bag-in-bag option, and you can also easily transform it into a sakosh bag by adding an optional shoulder strap. Feel free to let your creativity run wild as you envision different ways to use it.

Add a touch of elegance to your outfit for a special occasion

Attach a shoulder strap to transform it into a sakosh bag

Tassels of Seven Colors

As an optional extra, guests may make a tassel out of nenkin thread. Assemble a shimmering collection of gold, silver, and coloured threads to create subtle graduations, then hand it off to an artisan for finishing. These coloured tassels are believed to ward off bad luck, and remain one of Masuya Takao’s more popular products.

Tassels shine with color

Step into the glittering and profound world of nishijin-ori fabric and nenkin at Masuya Takao.