Activities & Experiences · Nihonbashi

Ozu Washi (Washi Paper-Making) 小津和紙

A paper merchant in Nihonbashi since 1653 with a free gallery, a vast washi shop and a small studio where you scoop and shake your own sheet of handmade paper.

About

Ozu Washi has been selling Japanese paper on the same Nihonbashi block for more than 370 years, and its headquarters is a quiet treat for stationery lovers. The ground-floor shop stocks thousands of papers, from mulberry-fibre sheets thin as tissue to dyed chiyogami and letter sets; upstairs is a small museum on the company's history and a gallery. The hands-on studio lets you make a sheet of A4 washi the traditional way: you dip a bamboo-screen sugeta into a vat of fibre slurry and rock it front-to-back and side-to-side until the fibres mesh, then add pressed leaves or coloured fibres before it is dried for you. Sessions take about 45 minutes, take up to four people, and are cheap, an excellent rainy-day activity that's easy to combine with Nihonbashi's department stores and Mitsukoshi.

Highlights

• Make your own sheet of washi with a traditional sugeta screen
• Merchant founded in 1653 on the same site
• Enormous shop of Japanese papers and stationery
• Free historical exhibit and gallery
• Inexpensive, 45-minute sessions

Tips

• Reserve the studio in advance; sessions take up to four people
• The studio is closed Sundays and most Mondays
• Shin-Nihombashi Station Exit 5 is a two-minute walk
• Buy papers here for origami and wrapping, far better quality than souvenir shops

Open in Google Maps · Info checked 2026-10-09

Nearby

• Edo Sakura-dori Cherry AvenuePhoto Spot · 250 m away
• Fukutoku ShrineShrine · 260 m away
• TOHO Cinemas NihonbashiMovie Theaters · 280 m away
• Nihonbashi Information CenterTourist Info · 320 m away
• Nihonbashi Sembikiya SohontenUnique Store · 340 m away
• Mandarin Bar (Mandarin Oriental Tokyo)Bars & Nightlife · 350 m away
• Mandarin Oriental TokyoStay · 350 m away
• Mitsui Memorial MuseumMuseum · 360 m away