Immerse into the luxurious heritage of Kyo-Yuzen dyeing at a centuries-old atelier

Details

• Private experience

• Location: Kamigyo, Kyoto

• 2.5 hours

• 6 people max. Minimum of 2 participants required. (Solo guest may book at the price of 2 participants)

• Offered in Japanese, with friendly Deeper Japan guide interpreting in English
  (French/German interpretation may be available upon request)

Extravagent Elegance, Captured on Cloth

Colorful, complex, and the sheer embodiment of elegance, kyo-yuzen is one of Kyoto's representative textile styles. Kyo-yuzen fabric is decorated by a team of skilled artisans with a stunning array of motifs, often with a focus on themes of nature and wildlife, and painted in a gradation of vivid colors, plus embroidered with a dash of glittering gold-or-silver-leaf. A visual feast of luxury, completing just a single textile requires a complex combination of gluing, coloring, steaming, painting, stitching, and rinsing, with each step generally undertaken by a different specialist. While Japan's textile dyeing history stretches back over one thousand years, the kyo-yuzen style was developed in the Edo Period by a famous Kyoto fan painter Miyazaki Yuzenzai, who applied his artistic skills to a new medium, creating an innovative new style of decorating cloth. This iconic method quickly became synonymous with the creation of elegantly bold kimono, and continues to remain a preferred technique used in even modern, luxury kimono.

At this kyo-yuzen dyeing atelier, which has operated in Kyoto since the 19th century, view hundreds of years of kimono pattern designs, meet the team of artisans actively sustaining the craft, and try your hand at dyeing your own textile using this representative technique.

What you’ll do

Learn about the history and cultural significance of kyo-yuzen dyeing in a historic Kyoto atelier. Meet the artisans on a factory tour led by the company president, then try making your own kyo-yuzen fabric.

What to wear

Clothing that you don’t mind getting dirty

Who can attend

Children must be 11+

Availability

Monday through Friday
Session 1 (9:30 - 12:00)
Session 2 (13:30 - 16:00)

Unavailable every weekend, National holidays, Obon and year-end holidays.

Access

20 minutes by car or 15 minutes by train from Kyoto station.

Cancellation Policy

Please make your booking at least 20 days in advance. See cancellation policy here.
* A detailed itinerary will be emailed to you once your booking has been confirmed.