Japan’s Traditional Wrapping Cloths
Wrap your gifts, carry your lunch or cover your books
The Japanese excel at lovely handcrafts, some of the most famous being various textiles—including silk and hand-dyed indigo cloth—and pottery and ceramic objects. These were skills that flourished especially with the rising popularity of the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, because of all the special bowls, dishes and cloths needed.
Kyoto is especially famous for traditional Japanese crafts, as it was here that the tea ceremony culture began, as did the concept of the Noh Theater. Major schools of the tea ceremony, flower arranging, classical dance, and Noh drama have their headquarters here even today. In stores around Kyoto one can find beautiful pottery, lacquer ware, woodblock prints, fans, silk-dyed fabrics and Nishijin silk weaving, all items that were originally related to the needs of those early ceremonies.
Gift giving is an important part of Japanese life and ritual too, and the wrapping of the gift can be an art form in itself. This brings us to the furoshiki. An off-shoot of the textile industry was the making of more ordinary pieces of cloth that were used for wrapping objects/items, including gifts. The furoshiki is a useful and economical tool for wrapping and carrying things, plus it can have a wide range of other options—it can be used as a tissue box cover, a book cover, a handbag, or as a wall hanging. They come in different sizes and many have colorful and/or traditional Japanese patterns.
One of my Japanese friends, Minako, told me that for some years the furoshiki were not as popular or well used, as people tended to use paper and plastic bags. But, young Japanese are starting to like and use these again, which is an interesting example of how fashions and trends seem to circle round over time/generations in all cultures. On our last visit to Japan we did see quite a few in use and a couple of shops devoted almost exclusively to these types of cloths, such as a really nice shop in the Kyoto Station complex (ground level, south side). I have a couple of furoshiki, and use them mainly as tray cloths, or colorful liners for our bread baskets. Our hotel in Kyoto had a gorgeous framed “mosaic picture” made up of 50 different furoshiki all tied into squares (below). So, you can be imaginative.
I was so glad to see your story about furoshiki, with the current cultural update. We’re two sisters with a small business in Portland, Oregon, making and selling furoshiki. It is increasingly popular here in the US! We’re surprised to find that we don’t have to explain what it is, or how to use it, as often as we did a year ago. Our LuLu Wraps website has lots of interesting and creative ways to use them, including as shopping bags and halter tops. Gift giving seems to be the most popular use at present, and the two main reasons given by our customers are ease of use (no fumbling with scissors and tape), and environmental awareness. We’re making them now of repurposed silk sari fabric!
Hi Deb,
Nice to hear from you and nice to hear about your furoshiki business—-sounds really interesting. How did you get into doing furoshiki? Have you been to Japan?
I haven’t been to Japan, though I have loved it since it was our focus in Miss Ross’s class in fourth grade! I sew, and love all sorts of craft. In the 1980′s I read about the handkerchief room at the Topkapi Museum, and it always stuck with me. Apparently in the Ottoman Empire, nothing moved from person to person without being wrapped in cloth, some plain and rough, some elaborately embroidered, depending on circumstance. Then a few years ago, as I was crawling around my living room gathering up torn wrapping paper on Christmas afternoon, paper that I had carefully cut and taped on gifts only a day or two before, it just struck me. I’m actually a garden designer, but love making things of all sorts, and I decided to use some of my fabric stash to make furoshiki. It sort of took on a life of its own! I still design gardens, but spend more time on LuLu Wraps now.
I know exactly what you mean about all the wasted wrapping paper! we also try to save and re-use, but it would be so much better if more people took to wrapping cloths. Your business sounds great and I wish we lived closer—if we are ever in Portland I’ll be sure to pop in (do you have a physical shop, or is it mainly/solely online?)
We mostly sell on line, through our website, Amazon store and Etsy store. We do have wraps for sale at Missionary Chocolates (a fabulous local chocolate shop) and at the Powells Books for Cooks shop on Hawthorne Street, both in Portland. I’m getting ready for a sale today, too: the Wonder Woman Craft Sale, with how-to demonstrations. Look for our facebook page if you wish: http://www.facebook.com/LuluWraps
I will look forward to reading further on your lovely site when I’m back from the craft sale!
BTW, we have been to Japan a number of times, and love it. If you look under the category ‘Japan” here, you’ll find quite a few other posts.
Hi Viv
Not having been to Japan, I found the cloth idea so fascinating and also so practical. Much less wasteful than trditional paper!
So true, Denise.
We should all be trying to cut down on all that paper!