Rediscovering the Lost Scenery of a Dyeing Town: Edo Sarasa at Some No Sato Ochiai

2026.04.09

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#Tokyo

#Ochiai

#Dyeing

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Nestled by the Myoshoji River in Tokyo's Ochiai, Shinjuku Ward, is Some no Sato Ochiai, a general incorporated association dedicated to preserving the traditional dyeing arts of Edo Sarasa and Edo Komon.

Representative Director Yoko Takaichi left her corporate career after having a child. Her involvement in producing a local free paper eventually led her to take over Futaba-en, a dyeing workshop with a history spanning over a century.

She is now working to revive the scenery of this historic dyeing town while preserving the techniques of Edo Sarasa and Edo Komon. We sat down with her to discuss these initiatives.

PROFILE

Yoko Takaichi

Representative Director of the general incorporated association Some no Sato Ochiai. After a career at Recruit Co., Ltd., she became involved in community activities, serving as representative for projects like "染の小道". She established the association in 2017 and, in 2020, took over the century-old dyeing workshop. She is dedicated to preserving the techniques of Edo Sarasa and Edo Komon, training new artisans, and promoting local culture.

The Unsung Dyeing Town: Ochiai and Nakai in Shinjuku

The Myoshoji River, a tributary of the Arakawa, flows near Nakai Station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line. A few minutes' walk along a riverside path will bring you to Some no Sato Ochiai, a workshop specializing in Edo Sarasa and Edo Komon dyeing.

The Ochiai and Nakai areas of Shinjuku are known as a dyeing district. At its peak, the area was home to over 300 dyeing workshops and related businesses.

"Originally, there was a district in Kanda called Konyacho where dyers gathered. It was such a major hub that Eiichi Shibusawa—the face on the 10,000-yen bill—used to make indigo balls in the Bushu region of Saitama and sell them there. But after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, fires made it impossible to work by the river, so the dyers all relocated here to Ochiai and Nakai."

Some no Sato Ochiai's predecessor, Futaba-en Co., Ltd., was founded in 1920. During the war, it even operated as a munitions factory producing umbrellas. As a stencil dyeing workshop, it has a long history of creating Edo Komon and Edo Sarasa textiles.

"For Edo Komon, we apply a resist paste using a single stencil that we move along the fabric. Edo Sarasa, on the other hand, is much more labor-intensive, requiring up to 30 different stencils to be layered. That's why very few Edo Sarasa workshops are left today."

Futaba-en began producing Edo Sarasa thanks to the third-generation owner, Bunjirō Kobayashi. When he held exhibitions in England and France, he presented large-format Edo Sarasa pieces. This attracted artisans with a passion for Edo Sarasa to the workshop starting in the 1980s.

"Futaba-en has always had a culture of encouraging artisans to pursue their passions. We incorporated the various dyeing styles that individual artisans loved, such as hand-painted Yuzen, Edo Sarasa, and Edo Komon."