Step inside a working artisan studio and discover Nagoya Kuromontsuki Dyeing, a traditional craft shaped by centuries of Japanese textile culture.
Your experience takes place at Yamakatsu Senko, a family-run dyeing workshop founded in 1919. Here, artisans continue the techniques used to create kuromontsuki—formal black kimono distinguished by their exceptionally deep black and crisp white family crests.
With your guide interpreting along the way, explore the workshop where the artisans actually work and learn how layers of dye create the rich, lustrous black characteristic of the craft. See the tools and techniques behind the process and discover the role of kamon, or family crests, in traditional Japanese dress.
After viewing finished pieces and learning how this historic craft is being carried into contemporary life, it is your turn to try a traditional technique yourself. Choose a kamon design and experience printing the crest by hand to create your own piece to take home.
Before leaving, browse the workshop’s collection of shirts, scarves, bags, and other contemporary items that bring traditional black-dyeing craftsmanship into everyday life.
This intimate workshop experience offers a rare opportunity to meet the people keeping one of Nagoya’s distinctive textile traditions alive.
This experience is available with two departure times. Please select your preferred start time when booking.
Meet your guide at Yamakatsu Senko, approximately a 10-minute walk from Sengen-cho Station.
Founded in 1919, Yamakatsu Senko is a long-established dyeing workshop specializing in Nagoya Kuromontsuki Dyeing, a traditional craft used to create formal black kimono. Its artisans continue to preserve the sophisticated dyeing techniques responsible for the remarkably deep, lustrous black that defines the craft.
Nagoya Kuromontsuki Dyeing developed in the region over approximately 400 years. The fabric is repeatedly dyed to achieve its characteristic depth of color, while highly skilled techniques are used to leave the kamon, or family crest, in crisp white against the black fabric.
Today, the craft extends beyond formal kimono, with artisans applying its distinctive techniques to contemporary fashion and interior pieces.
Enter the working dyeing studio and see where artisans practice their craft.
Your guide will interpret as you learn about the dyeing process, specialized tools, and techniques used to produce Nagoya Kuromontsuki.
View pieces displayed throughout the workshop and discover the cultural significance of both black formal kimono and kamon family crests.
Choose a traditional Japanese kamon design and try printing the crest yourself using techniques rooted in the craft.
Your finished piece is yours to take home as a personal reminder of your encounter with Nagoya’s artisan culture.
Browse a selection of Kuromontsuki-dyed shirts, scarves, bags, and other items that reinterpret this traditional craft for contemporary life.
Your experience concludes at Yamakatsu Senko.
Yamakatsu Senko
This package tour includes statutory accident compensation in accordance with Japan’s Travel Agency Act. We also recommend that travelers purchase their own travel insurance for broader medical and travel-related coverage.
A Mandarin, French, Spanish, German, or Korean-speaking guide may be available. Please contact the supplier in advance to check availability.
This experience is booked on request. We will respond to the request within 5 days
| Cancellation Date | Cancellation Fee |
|---|---|
| No-show or cancellation after tour departure | 100% of the tour price |
| On the tour date | 50% of the tour price |
| 1 day prior to the tour date | 40% of the tour price |
| 2 to 7 days prior to the tour date | 30% of the tour price |
| 8 to 10 days prior to the tour date | 20% of the tour price |
| 11 or more days prior to the tour date | Free |
Yamakatsu Senko
