I just returned from two-and-a-half weeks in Japan on a buying trip, which was wonderful: I found incredible treasures which I’ll start posting to my website soon.

On one day during my Japan sojourn, several friends and I piled into a car and headed out from Kyoto city to the northernmost part of Kyoto Prefecture, to a place called Tango which is situated on the Sea of Japan.

From the sea, we drove high into a mountain village; we were there to have a look at some of the recent harvest of mountain wisteria, which is still being hand-made into yarns to create fuji fu, or cloth made from wisteria yarn.  Our host, the former curator of the local museum, is involved in fuji fu research, so he gave us a look at some of the recent threads.  He also took  us to his village, whose photos are shown here.  He wanted to show us the organic rice fields he planted himself, by hand.  Quite amazing!

All over the Japanese countryside, bunches of onions were hanging out to dry, usually under the eaves of the roofs of local houses.  In this case, below, you can see onions behind a corrugated, clear plastic door.  I liked the way it looked.

I loved this house, shown above and below.  You’ll see that this is a traditional, stuccoed home that has been retrofitted with a skin of corrugated metal.  Just lovely.

…and more posts coming soon!

This post is the final one in a series on Sometsukasa Yoshioka, the fifth-generation botanical dyeworks located in Kyoto, Japan, which is under the direction of the master dyer and cultural historian, Sachio Yoshioka.  If you have missed the previous posts, feel free to scroll down to the very first one where I introduce the Yoshioka and offer some context for understanding the importance of this dyeworks.

But today we’ll go shopping.

Yoshioka’s botanically dyed products are  beautiful and available for sale at his small shops in Kyoto and Tokyo–some larger department stores in Japan also sell his work, but the entire line can be seen at his tiny and jewel-like stand- alone stores.  The Kyoto store is located in the Shinmonzen Antique District, in Gion, the famous geisha dsitrict.  The Shinmonzen area is comprised of just a few streets, so you will easily find the shop if you look.

Shown above are ramie cloth cushions dyed in myriad colors; below are silk organza scarves dyed in botanical dyes.  The shop shows beautiful items such as totes and bags in several sizes, gorgeous, simple pouches, coasters, and noren or door coverings.  By all means, go and investigate this amazing little shop where color comes to life and where you will no doubt be seduced into acquiring something for yourself and others.