Furusato Mizuhiki Kōgeikan ふるさと水引工芸館
Here is where 70% of Japan's mizuhiki is made: it grew out of hair ties that went out of fashion.
Museum and learning centre devoted to mizuhiki, the decorative cord of braided paper used on gift envelopes and ceremonial decorations, a traditional craft of the city of Iida. The industry began by chance: in the seventeenth century the domain encouraged the making of motoyui, cords for tying the hair, from local washi paper; when the Western short haircut emptied that market in the late nineteenth century, the same paper and skills moved on to decorative gift cords.
Nagano
Kawaji, Tokimata
