Oharibako — Kyoto Kanzashi Artisans Since 1946
Oharibako
Kyoto Kanzashi Artisans
For nearly eighty years, our family workshop in Nishijin, Kyoto has made kanzashi — traditional Japanese hair ornaments — entirely by hand. Every silk petal is folded one by one using tsumami-zaiku, the “pinching craft” that has adorned the hair of maiko and brides in Kyoto for generations.
Certified by the City of Kyoto
Oharibako is a Certified Kyoto Handcraft Store — a designation the City of Kyoto awards to workshops that genuinely make, by hand, the crafts they sell.
We are one of only two shops in Kyoto certified for hana-kanzashi — the silk flower hair ornaments worn by maiko, brides and children in kimono.
The Japanese name of this certification is 京の手しごと工芸品 (Kyo no Teshigoto). It is the City of Kyoto’s own certification for locally handcrafted goods, separate from Japan’s national craft designation.
What is a kanzashi?
A kanzashi is a traditional Japanese hair ornament worn with kimono — at coming-of-age ceremonies, weddings, Shichi-Go-San, and festivals. The most elaborate are hana-kanzashi, made from dozens or hundreds of silk petals folded by hand.
Each piece begins as a flat square of pure silk. Using tweezers, an artisan folds it into a single petal — maru-tsumami (rounded) or ken-tsumami (pointed) — and sets it with rice starch paste. A single comb can take more than 120 petals.
Made by hand in Nishijin
Where to buy authentic Kyoto kanzashi
You can buy directly from us — the makers — at oharibako.com. We ship worldwide from Kyoto.
Because we are the workshop itself, every piece is made in-house: we source crepe silk from Kyo-Tango, dye it, fold each petal, and assemble the finished kanzashi under one roof in Nishijin.
- Hana-kanzashi for coming-of-age ceremonies (seijin-shiki), weddings and furisode
- Shichi-Go-San hair ornaments for children
- Materials and tools for makers — pure silk habutae, ochirin bases, tweezers, starch paste
- Workshops in Kyoto, and online courses
Our shop in Kyoto
Our machiya shop stands near Daitoku-ji Temple in northern Kyoto. Visitors are welcome to see the work in progress, and our tsumami-zaiku workshop (from ¥3,300) has welcomed more than 10,000 guests over the past ten years.
Eighty years in Nishijin
- Founded 1946, third generation, in Nishijin — Kyoto’s historic silk district
- Pure silk (habutae, chirimen) sourced in Kyoto Prefecture
- Assembled with the Nishijin thread frame (itowaku) — the Kyoto method, distinct from Edo-style tsumami
- Made entirely by hand in our own atelier, never outsourced overseas