✨Best Brand in Japan: Quality controlled Fluffy Towels from Imabari

✨Best Brand in Japan: Quality controlled Fluffy Towels from Imabari

In this episode, we will explore an
important daily necessity. Towels. You can find quality controlled fluffy towels in
Japan, and one of the most famous regional brands is called Imabari Towel.
It’s named after the city of Imabari known for its textile
manufacturing. Imabari is on Shikoku Island, and specifically here in Ehime
Prefecture. So, I’m going to Ehime and visit one of the Imabari towel producers.
In either taking trains or flying, you will see the landscapes around the Seto
Inland Sea. Wow, amazing! Oh, this is so therapeutic. Well, before visiting Ehime, the
home of Imabari towels, you might wonder “What’s so great about them?” First of all,
I love their excellent absorption capacity. There is a test called the
“5-second rule” in which you place a towel piece in water and see whether it starts sinking
within 5 seconds. Only the product that passes this test and the Imabari-towel-
brand certification exam can be called “Imabari towel brand products”
and have this logo added. Imabari towels get quickly dried, too. Their
colors do not fade easily, and cute and unique products for
various purposes have been developed using Imabari towels. Also, the manufacturers
produce many of the same products in different colors, which gives us a wider
range of styles, and yeah it’s so much fun! Mr. Murakami’s factory that we
visited this time also produces towels of various colors. By the way, towels are
one of textile types, so to understand the origin of Imabari towels, we need to
look at its textile history. We know that in the 8th century, the Imabari region
was already producing textiles because a piece of silk has survived in the
southern division of Shōsōin, the repository at the big monastery Tōdaiji in
Nara. The silk has a date on it: the 9th month of 746, with a note saying
“Katsuragi-be Ryū, the head of the management unit from
Ishii Township in Ochi District of Iyo Province, which was in today’s Imabari,
submitted this white plain-weave silk cloth as tax in kind to the central
government. This person’s name was Ryū, literally “dragon,” but I’m not sure
whether it was she or he. The silk cloth submitted by Ryū was used to make
costumes for musicians for the royal court of Sovereign Shōmu, who built Tōdaiji, and the
silk piece survived for 1200 years in its repository, and then was accidentally
discovered because one of the sleeve linings was coming off, which caught
researchers’ attention. Historical events often involve luck, but how history
survives has its own share of luck. By the way, what I talked about
earlier was silk, but towels are usually made of cotton. It’s said that the
earliest example that cotton was introduced to Japan was
799 during the reign of Sovereign Kanmu when someone carrying a cotton seeds who
was called “Konron-jin,” or a person of “Kunlun,” was shipwrecked and drifted ashore on
Mikawa Province, today’s Aichi Prefecture. The seeds were distributed to different
provinces, such as Kii, Awaji, Awa, Iyo, and Tosa, as well as the Dazaifu region, and from there
cotton cultivation started. Although such cotton production decreased
once in the archipelago, it was reintroduced to Iyo again in the Edo
period. Since then, their cotton textile industry developed and prospered in
today’s Imabari area. So what happened after that? The president of Murakami
Towelworks, Mr. Yoshitane MURAKAMI, who kindly welcomed us to his factory, shared
valuable information with us. In the Meiji era, the Imabari textile industry
faced another turning point. It was a production and improvement of cotton
fabric called “men neru,”… So “men neru” is made by raising the surface of a
thick cotton to resemble a flannel that’s traditionally made of animal hair
such as sheep. Specifically, YANO Shichisaburō from Ehime,
being inspired by “Kishū neru” that was already flourishing in Wakayama, made
efforts to develop “Iyo neru” unique to his local area. “Iyo neru” is known for having only one
side raised and woven after bleaching or dying at the yarn stage, with a
reputation for being soft and pleasant to the touch. “Iyo neru” became popular and
were even exported overseas during the late 1880s to the mid
1890s. Around that time, ABE Heisuke, who was looking for new textiles, began
manufacturing towels by building a towel factory in Kazehaya Town, which was in
today’s Imabari City in 1894. Although he made the first step of the
Imabari towel industry, his factory suffered fire, and the business did not
take off. Despite this setback, towel making in Imabari resumed in the early
20th century and began expanding by incorporating modern machines. Around
this time when the towel industry was drawing attention, Mr. Murakami’s
grandfather Masao started producing towels. Actually even before that, in the
generation of Masao’s father (so Mr. Murakami’s great grandfather), the family had been
already operating textile industry. They had a factory and a house on the other
side of the factory that stands today, but there, they were operating “men neru”
business. Masao, who was not the eldest son, eventually moved out, set up a branch
family, and built Murakami Towel Factory in Suehiro Town in Imabari City, which was
probably around 15 to 20 minute walk from the current factory location. During
the air raids of World War II, Masao’s factory burned down, but in
1948 he managed to rebuild a new factory in the current place. Since then, the
Murakami’s factory has been operating here and making towels for 70 years. It
grew to Murakami Towel Co., Ltd., handed down to Mr. Murakami’s father, Iwao,
and now, Mr. Murakami is leading the company. Can you tell this factory’s
distinct architectural style called “saw tooth roofs” or “north light sheds” help
to bring in uniform natural light over a wide area. This also helped to block direct sunlight and heat. Not many factories with this kind of architecture
remain now. We could even see some of the old
machines and systems inside this building. If you look up at the ceiling, you can
see the remnants of the old days when there were a lot of big motors here that
provided power. Mr. Murakami said that maintaining this building itself is
costly and challenging. I hope that the city or some kind of
funding will help to maintain such valuable historical pieces of Imabari
towels and textiles. Do you know what makes towels
unique from other textiles? It is “pile.” “Pile” refers to
towels’ looped thread, which makes them soft and enhances their ability to
absorb water. Mr. Murakami said that one pile is usually made with three wefts.
What, what…what does that mean exactly? Well, they showed me how a towel
pile is made. So, a textile is made of the yarn running
vertically called “warp,” and the one running horizontally called “weft.” Here, the thread is warp,
and each finger represents weft. The index finger is the first weft,
the middle finger is the second, and the ring finger is the third.
As they are pulled together, a pile is made. Wow, different machines are in play.
Very fast… Overseeing these machines is a lot of work, and he’s very good at it.
Interestingly at this factory, some detailed work is the handcrafted by
artisans, instead of relying on big machines. So, after her hard work, these towels turn
into towels with those with nicely trimmed hems like this. “Oh. Inspection. They’re checking the quality.” By the way, continuing a family industry
for generations is a serious task. To seize opportunities and navigate through
difficult times, the members who supported Mr. Murakami’s family business
tried different strategies and changed their focus as needed. For example, in the
past, the company focused on making towels for hotels and inns. But…they didn’t sell towels directly to the hotels. So, a towel maker like his sold their
towels to a wholesaler, and the wholesaler sold the towels to a linen
supplier, then the towels were rented to the hotel. But… they came to a point where
they couldn’t continue to operate like this because wholesalers, bringing in
cheap goods mainly from China and Vietnam, forced them to compete in fierce
price competition. One opportunity that Mr. Murakami encountered was opening a
store at Beauty World Japan Tokyo, which was a comprehensive beauty fair or
business-to-business platform introducing new products and trends in
the beauty industry. When they opened their booth there, they got a great
response and got many manufacturing deals for beauty salons. This increased
profits, but eventually they faced the same problem: price competition. Now, they
are selling their towels online because it’s more profitable than going through
wholesalers. Another important decision he made was to join Mr. Takashi ŌYABU, an
entrepreneur who started a shop specializing in Imabari towels, called
Iori, in 2009. By the time when Mr. Ōyabu was looking for a company that could
make high-quality towels for his store’s own brand, Mr. Murakami had already
realized that his children would not take on his family business. But he thought… Right So in 2015, his company was consolidated
into Ōyabu’s group. But you know, towel production is not
something that anyone can suddenly do. It’s possible only with accumulated
knowledge and experience. So, he was asked to continue a bit more,
until one of his company employees who have been working here for many years
and honed his towel making skills, would be ready to take over his task. In the
past 100 years, Mr. Murakam’s family factory continued to make towels that the people
of the day enjoyed, by making changes to accommodate their needs. So what’s
important right now in 2025? They say: “It’s not about making a
lot of things. It’s about making only the necessary things that are safe, secure,
environmentally friendly, and comfortable. Upholding such a policy and
mission, Murakami Towelworks continues to make towels today and for the future. To learn more about this local region… Check out the playlist “My Visit to Ehime!” Thank you for watching, and see you in future episodes💓

I’m visiting a beautiful island in the Seto Inland Sea to find the greatest daily necessity made in Japan! Local producers in Imabari City have been proudly making high-quality towels for decades, which is one of the most famous regional brands in Japan now. The president of Murakami Towelworks kindly explained his company’s100-year-old history while touring the factory, which itself was a valuable historical building. I’m so excited to share my experience of beautiful, colorful, and creative Imabari towels with you💓
* Thank you so much, Mr. Yoshitane Murakami (the president of Murakami Towelworks) and Murakami Towel Industrial Association! Also, many thanks to Tomoko & Keiji for their generous help!

#japan #local #artisan #trip #travel #history #quality #towels #ehime #madeinjapan #colorful #cotton #silk #familybusiness

My channel shows how and why visiting Japan is such a curious and exciting experience. One key aspect is of course, food and drinks. Local products, history, and beautiful scenery is also important! But where should we go get rare, good ones? Watch my videos.

Useful information
◉ 村上タオル株式会社 Murakami Towelworks: https://www.murakami-towel.com/profile/profile.html; https://ec.murakami-towel.com/; https://ec.murakami-towel.com/pages/about
◉ 今治タオル工業組合: https://itia.or.jp/
◉ Imabari Towel Japan: https://www.imabaritowel.jp/
◉ SHOKO : https://note.com/shokoworks/n/naa2e57ad4163

Credits
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◉ あなたと共に: 香居: https://dova-s.jp/bgm/play22018.html
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◉ Hope and Life Fukagawa, https://withmusic-wimu.com/hope-and-life/