A crafty day out in Kyoto
Using Nagoya as a spring board, I went on a crafty day out to Kyoto (warning: lots of fabric related goodness coming up!)
As the fellas went to visit the Maglev Museum in Nagoya (a write up by our junior writer A is here), I took the shinkansen for a 30 min ride up to Kyoto for a crafty day out.
I’d booked a 2-hour morning group workshop with Kazue from SashikoLab to delve a bit deeper into sashiko. There were 5 of us including me, and we dove straight in. Kazue lives in a quiet part of Kyoto called Higashiyama and has a lovely atelier in the front of her house. She hosts workshops and private craft tours of Kyoto, and sells sashiko supplies too.
Kazue was a good teacher, and the 2 hours flew by! She has a lovely reference library of books related to Japanese textiles and sashiko as well, which was absolute catnip to me!
After that, with a bit of time before it was lunchtime, I decided to take a short 15 minute walk to the nearby temple Tofukuji (Google Maps link, and more about the temple here), one of the five great Zen temples in Kyoto. I say ‘temple’, what I really mean is ‘large temple complex with many beautiful gardens, buildings and bridges’, as you can tell from the map below.
If you look closely at the map, you can see the red trees, which is one of the things Tofukuji is famous for: the autumn leaves. I visited in high summer, which is when it looks like this:
Can you imagine what this is like around about now (end of October)? It must be absolutely stunning!
With so much to see, I had to pick and choose, as I had other plans for the afternoon, and so I decided to visit the rock garden surrounding the Hojo (the former living quarters of the head priest).
It was quiet and calm the day I was there, with few other visitors, and I loved sitting still for a while, contemplating life. And of course, I got a goshuin to mark the occasion.
All in all, a very chill and relaxed morning.
After that, I headed back into the centre of Kyoto (yet again being thankful for excellent public transport in Japanese cities like Kyoto), had a quick lunch on the hoof, something that the food writers G and T on this very substack would probably frown at, but I had places to be, and crafty things to buy!
First stop, a vintage textiles shop called Old Textiles Konjaku Nishimura, which is a treasure trove of vintage Japanese textiles. I spent about half an hour browsing, sadly took no photos inside, and ended up buying a small treasure, a shima-cho, a book of weaving samples. Across the street is also Old Textile Art Chigireya, which I didn’t visit as I didn’t want to be tempted… but in hindsight, I totally should have!
A leisurely 20-minute walk away is Misuyabari Needles, a lovely tiny shop in a courtyard off a covered shopping arcade (there are signs, but you have to have eagle eyes, or you’ll miss it). They have all the needles you could ever need, handcrafted, and I bought a few to take home and treasure (and use!).
I wandered some more, taking in the beauty of Kyoto’s back streets, and the final stop before heading back to the station was the beautiful Ogaki bookstore. We’d visited this the previous time we’d been in Tokyo, as it has an in-store bakery which serves lovely pastries for breakfast, but then a fire meant we had to evacuate, and I didn’t get to see much of the books. This time, I made up for it! They had a lovely selection of books, and of course I got my goshoin (like goshuin, but for bookstores, more on that in a later post).
I was reunited on the way home in the shinkansen with the fellas, and saw a beautiful sunset and glimpses of Mt Fuji. I had a lovely day!
And now, for some additional tips for a few spots that if you’re into crafts/fabric/stationary you might like in Kyoto:
Nomura Tailor House for a great selection of fabrics and haberdashery, they have two stores around the corner from each other
Kyoto Iwai for upmarket souvenirs and secondhand kimono
Wargo Antique Kimono is a secondhand kimono vendor, who also have pop-ups (keep an eye on their Instagram, I went their pop-ups in Tokyo twice)
Sou-Sou Kyoto, a modern take on traditional shoes and clothing (disclaimer: I visited their Tokyo store and bought a pair of tabi and a bag, when I went to the Kyoto store, it was sadly closed for the day)
Antiques Kimono Lily, secondhand kimono, probably slightly more upmarket than Wargo, but prices are also a bit higher
Nijiyura Kyoto Sanjo Shop, a lovely tiny shop selling tenugui, the iconic Japanese cotton towels; this is such a gem, with lovely staff, and a small but excellent selection of hand-printed tenugui
Kyukyodo, if you love stationary, then this is the place to go, oh my word, this is the most beautiful store, selling the most beautiful pens and paper
I did not get a chance to visit Kyoto Musubi, but wish I did as they sell the loveliest tenuigui and furoshiki
The main Maruzen bookstore in Kyoto is in the basement floors of a very upmarket shopping mall and it’s huge. Great selection of craft books and English language books.
Traveller’s Factory: yes it’s hipster and achingly cool, but the stationary is also lovely and their notebooks I use on a daily basis
I ran out of steam and time before I could visit the Chiso Gallery but this is high on my list for my next visit: Chiso is the haute couture of kimono and they have an associated gallery
Tofukuji is one of my favorite temples in Kyoto, and, yes, it is particularly beautiful in autumn.