Historic stores · Naramachi / Sarusawa

Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten Nara Honten 中川政七商店 奈良本店

Crafts company founded in 1716 as a wholesaler of Nara-zarashi hemp cloth; its flagship sits in a new building near Sarusawa Pond.

About

Nara was once famous for Nara-zarashi, a fine bleached hemp cloth used for samurai summer clothes and tea cloths. In 1716 Nakaya Kihei started a wholesale business in it, and in 1898 the cloth was named a supplier to the Imperial Household. The business nearly vanished as demand fell, but in 1912 the tenth-generation head built his own weaving and bleaching works and rebuilt it. Today, under the thirteenth Nakagawa Masashichi, it sells Japanese crafts across the country. The Nara flagship opened in 2021 in the Shika-Saru-Kitsune Building, which also holds a 'time storehouse' archive of the company's three hundred years and a workshop where you can try hand-spun hemp weaving.

Highlights

• Hemp kitchen cloths and Nara crafts
• Archive storehouse on the company's history
• Hand-weaving workshop (booking needed)

Tips

• 10:00–19:00, no regular closing day.
• No parking; walk from Kintetsu Nara Station (8 min).

Open in Google Maps · Info checked 2026-10-19

Nearby

• KitsuneRestaurant · 10 m away
• HousekibakoCafé & Sweets · 130 m away
• Wakakusa Curry HonpoRestaurant · 130 m away
• Yanagi ChayaTea Houses & Shops · 140 m away
• Menya KRamen & Noodles · 160 m away
• KobaienHistoric stores · 200 m away
• Tamura Seihoen ChahoTea Houses & Shops · 230 m away
• Blue Note NaramachiLive Music & Karaoke · 250 m away