The town called Kumano is in a small basin surrounded by mountains, located at Aki, Hiroshima prefecture (the southern part of Japan).Kumano has been producing brushes for over 180 years. In the Edo period (around the late 18 century) people in Kumano started purchasing brushes and ink from Nara (a former capital between 710 and 792) and resold them for their living during the agricultural off-season. Since then, under the Hiroshima local government support, they learned and improved the special skills of handling brushes, and consequently, Kumano became a famous place for brush making. All the steps to produce one brush are manually proceeded. The tips of Kumano brushes are intentionally uneven producing an extremely soft touch. It is said that it takes over 10 years to handle animal hairs properly. All the materials such as natural animal hairs and wooden handles are imported from outside of Kumano and Kumano is the place for finishing brushes by highly skilled and officially authorized craftsmen.Therefore, the skilled makeup artists and celebrities in and outside of Japan are obsessed to use Kumano brushes. Our Kumano Fude Makeup Brushes are created by the officially authorized and oldest members with over 100 years of history in the Kumano area. We offer the finest range of high-quality brushes. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions. You can access us by + Contact on this web site+ E-mail -> info@japantotheworld.com+ Twitter -> @japan2theworld
There is a unique traditional glassware called KIRIKO in Japan. Putting colors onto transparent surface of glass and scrape the surface to create special patterns. Finally, it is covered by caved surface of glass with extremely beautiful radiance. It is cutting glass but sandblast. There are two famous KIRIKO made by skilled glassware craftsman in Japan, which are EDO KIRIKO and SATSUMA KIRIKO.It is said that EDO KIRIKO was first introduced in the Edo period (1834) by a glassware craftsman, KAGAYA KYUBEI. He carved on glass surface by using emery and made beautiful glassware. There is a story that EDO KIRIKO was presented as a gift to Commodore Matthew C. Perry when he came to Japan by the Black Ships at the end of Edo period (1853) and he was fascinated by its beauty. After the opening of a country late 19th century, new glass-cutting technique from Europe and the Japanese traditional technique were combined together, developed further and established the current style of EDO KIRIKO. Nowadays, to protect the traditional high quality of products, it is only allowed to use the name of EDO KIRIKO under the definitions stated by EDO KIRIKO cooperative association. + must be glassware+ must be handmade by skilled craftsman+ must be produced at designated areas in Japan by the association+ must be mainly used and produced by special KIRIKO machines+ must join the associationIn 1985 EDO KIRIKO was designated as a traditional handcraft industry of Tokyo and in 2020 it also became designated as a traditional craft by the Minister for Economy in Japan.At the same time of EDO KIRIKO was developing, the area of the southern part of Japan called SATSUMA also produced KIRIKO glassware. Unfortunately, the production of SATSUMA KIRIKO was stopped during many upheavals in the 19th century. However, the technique was taken over by EDO KIRIKO and merged together. In 1985, they were recreated and started the production again.SATSUMA KIRIKO features its color after cutting glass. The colored part of EDO KIRIKO is smaller and the boundary lines between color and transparent become sharper and more remarkable than the one in SATSUMA KIRIKO. On the other hand, SATSUMA KIRIKO can create ambiguous borderline with gradation effect.Japantotheworld.com provides fine EDO KIRIKO products. Please contact us if you have any questions and request.
Apart from traditional Japanese TENUGUI, how many people know that Japan can also produce one of the best quality of towels in the world?
What we want in towels might be something like;
* Fluffy
* Good absorbent
* Easy handling / Easy to wash
* Quick drying
* Durable and long lasting
* Cleanliness / Antibacterial
* Appropriate pricing
It is not difficult to find the towels with those requests. Most of the towels you can find at stores in Japan have such advantage.In Japan, there are some famous areas producing towels and three best-known are;* IMABARI towel : IMABARI in EHIME prefecture* SENSHU towel : SENSHU in OSAKA prefecture* OBORO towel : OBORO in MIE prefectureThese towels are made with excellent craftsmanship under uncompromising quality control. Each has its own distinct characteristic.IMABARI towelIt is the best known authentic Japanese towel made at IMABARI area of the largest towel origin EHIME prefecture. IMABARI towel is bleached before weaving. They bleach and dye thread first, so they can produce jacquard wavering towel as well as plain colored towel. This prebleaching process is called MAEZARASHI in Japanese.All towels they produce need to pass twelve tests and you would be especially impressed by their unique Five-Second Rule, placing a towel in water and the towel sunk within five seconds can only pass to get a title of IMABARI brand name officially provided by the Shikoku Towel Association. IMABARI has managed to build their strong brand image to the public as trusted high-quality towel for years. Their registered IMABARI trademark created by one of the famous designers in Japan and their marketing strategy always meets the latest market trends.SENSHU towelSENSHU towel has a longer history than IMABARI. The towel is manufactured by another traditional method called the post bleaching process ATOZARASHI. They bleach towels and clean impurity of cotton such as the fat, glue, and lint after weaving. Therefore, the towel is hygienic and has excellent absorbent from day 1. It also features shrink resistance after washing. Less well-known comparing to IMABARI but the quality is almost same with excellent cost performance. You might meet SENSHU towel at hotels and other facilities in Japan.OBORO towelExtremely light touch as it is made of thin strings, but strong enough to wash many times in your daily life. Less popular than other two towels but still good quality and easy to use.Japantotheworld.com offers those fine towels at reasonable prices. Please contact us if you are interested in our fantastic towels. We will show you more details.Now, hereunder, Japantotheworld.com would like to introduce a very fascinating literally high-quality towel for those concerning the current hygiene situation triggered by the coronavirus.Antibacterial towelUnder this new-lifestyle brought by the coronavirus, people are gaining a better understanding how to avoid virus and maintain the cleanness state. Antimicrobial material is the latest trends of towel industry, too. Some companies have already succeeded to provide antibacterial towel and so as Japantotheworld.com. We offer scientifically proven anti-bacteria growing towels at a reasonable price. It goes through a special process to suppress increases in gems. Therefore, bacteria do not easily grow even after you use it. The special towel finished by IBX keeps clean and less smell after used, comparing to another normal towel. In addition, it is officially proved that the effectiveness lasts after 100 time washing and the tests required have been verified with higher score of JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards, a most reliable standard in Japan). This special towel has been developed this year in 2020 so it is completely brand-new in the market. Anyone who is interesting in this fine product, please contact us directly, info@japantotheworld.com. You need towels for 24 hours 365 days in your life. When you wash your face or hands, you wipe them with a towel. You wipe a table with a towel before you eat lunch. You wash your body with a towel in the bathroom and wipe your body with a towel after showering. You even use a towel blanket when you sleep. Find good towels and it makes you happier and your life even perfect.
UCHIWA, a flat rounded fan, is a small accessory made from bamboo framework and paper. It is exported from China over a thousand years ago and used to keep yourself cool or to kindle a fire. The framework consists of 20-30 straight and round shaped bamboo ribs and is covered with Japanese traditional paper called WASHI (Wa=Japanese, Shi=paper). The drawings on the paper are mainly something related to the cooler and refreshing images in summer such as seasonal flowers, animals, bugs and nature. It has been a traditionally popular article in the hot and humid summer in Japan for a long time. There is a similar accessory called SENSU, a holding fan. It is also called a Japanese fan as it is originated in Japan. Japantotheworld.com produces OEM Uchiwa as per your requested motif. If you are interested in Japanese Uchiwa, please contact us, info@japantotheworld.com.
Do you know TENUGUI?It is a Japanese traditional towel commonly made of thin cotton. The size is approximately 100 x 35cm, depending on the purpose. One of the unique characters of TENUGUI is that it does not have the hem. Because the ends are not stitched, it dries quickly, avoid accumulating bacterium, and convenient to handle. It can be frayed but it settles down after you wash it several times.
TENUGI is said to have begun to be used in Japanese daily lives around the 12th century called KAMAKURA period and have widely spread in the country around the 15th century called EDO period when cotton started to be planted in the nation.
TENUGUI can be used as a hand towel to wipe your hands, a washcloth to wipe dishes and tables, for wrapping items such as bottles, for Japanese traditional martial arts such as KENDO, for festivals to wear around your head, etc. Japanese have been used TENUGI for a long time in their daily lives, though western towels have been taking over its many functions recently.TENUGUI is used as a headband and a belt at festivals. Each town usually has their own pattern of TENUGUI and wear it around the head.
There are some TENUGI shops in Japan and it might be interesting to visit there to see real Japanese traditional TENUGUI. We are sure TENUGUI will be a great souvenir of your Japan trip.
Japantotheworld.com is ready to introduce more Japan oriented stories, please inform us if you have any specific themes you would like to know.
CONTACT
MEMBERS
LOG IN
CART
