Fude no Sato Kobo (Kumano Brush Museum)

photo by Shinta · CC BY-SA 3.0

photo by Taisyo · CC BY 3.0

80% of Japan's brushes are made here, the first traditional craft to be designated in the prefecture.

Today Kumano makes about 80% of Japanese brushes (90% together with neighbouring Kawajiri), in about 1,500 different varieties, from calligraphy brushes to make-up brushes, and the Fude no Sato Kobo museum brings together their history and production.

Brush museum in the city of Kumano, which lives almost entirely off this craft. Brush-making in Kumano began at the end of the Edo period, when local people who went to work in the Kansai (Nara, Hyōgo) in winter came back with brushes and the technique for making them. The industry was at risk of disappearing with the arrival of the pencil, but from 1941 the return of calligraphy as a school subject revived it; after the war the makers extended the technique to painting brushes and, above all, to make-up brushes. In 1975 it was the first craft in Hiroshima Prefecture to be designated a Traditional Craft Product.

ℹ️ Open 9:30–17:00 (last entry 16:30), closed on Mondays (the following day if Monday is a public holiday) and at the end and start of the year. Tickets: adults 800 yen, students (elementary to high school) 250 yen.

🚉 Kumano Hagiwara Shako-mae (Kumano Hagiwara Depot) · 17 min walk

Sources: fude.or.jp · jtopia.co.jp · town.kumano.hiroshima.jp

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