Tenugui - A Visit to the Shrine

At first glance, this might appear to be a rather simple tenugui, yet it speaks a quiet language of tradition - when religious belief was a more significant part of everyday life in Japan. Wearing traditional kimono, this Tenugui shows a woman visiting a shrine (jinja) on an observance day (jū sainichi).

Traditionally tenugis were used as hand towels. This humble fabric has a range of uses in modern life. Use it as a fashion accessory, an eco-friendly option to wrap a gift or even as a piece of art to adorn your home.

Produced by skilled artisans on hand woven cotton, using a traditional hand dyeing method called chusen. Chusen is a 300-year-old technique that combines bleached cotton and resist paste using katagami (paper) stencils to create colourful patterns.

Wooden frame not supplied.

Dimensions: 91cm height, 36cm width

Product Story

"Konichiwa", the staff behind the desk at Aomori's ferry terminal greet us with typical Japanese alacrity. It's 7 a.m. and we feel utterly exhausted. Having driven over 700km from Tokyo's Narita airport over the past couple of days to make it this far, it is perhaps inevitable.