Ogura-ya is located in a corner of the hot spring resort of Iwai Hot Springs, the oldest in the Inaba region.
About 200 years ago, Sahei Ogura, a woodcrafter, started making mincings, and the eighth generation of the Ogura family, following in his footsteps, added original designs and techniques to the traditional mincings to create the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac. The dolls are made entirely of minced wood and colored with mud paint.

In our society, there are far more people with physical and mental disabilities than we can imagine. Orimonya was born as a “place of cooperation” to provide people with such disabilities who wish to work with the joy of working through textile work. Our main material is cotton, and we do everything from cotton cultivation to yarn spinning, plant dyeing, and weaving.

There are two reasons why we insist on weaving. One is that it is handwork that can be easily adapted to each individual’s abilities and aptitudes.

The other reason is that there are many different work processes, from simple to complex, before a piece of cloth is completed, making it easy for everyone to participate in the work. And through the process of creating a piece of fabric, we aim to build a cooperative relationship in which each person becomes a leader of the work.

1985 Born in Tottori Prefecture
In 2010, I became fascinated with making things with my own hands.
Since 2014, I have been making full-scale wooden products.
I use only wood from Tottori Prefecture, no scientific paints, and as few nails as possible, aiming to create products that are comfortable for anyone to use.

When you open the drawer of your tableware, you naturally pick up and use one of the many dishes. We want people to use our dishes in such an unpretentious way for everyday use.

I’m a craftsman. I entered this field because I love to make things. The process from mizuhiki to firing with a kicking potter’s wheel is very hard work. color, balance, usability, and so on. I feel it every time I leave the kiln.

There are so many things we receive from the climbing kiln. Once I fire up the kiln, I cannot leave it even for a moment. Once the kiln is fired up, I cannot leave it even for a moment and throw wood into it as if the kiln is telling me what to do. Until the work is I am always thinking about how to pull it up, where to stop it, and how to expand it. This is always on my mind.
Once the clay is fired Once the clay is fired, it takes a long time for it to return to the soil. It is important not to waste the clay. It is our way of saying thank you to those who let us use the clay.

To finish the clay from the beginning to the end is my thought for the “children”. It is my desire for my “children. I hope that the vessels I bake up will be useful for your peaceful life. I will continue to work hard at my pottery, hoping that the vessels I will be firing will be of use to your peaceful life.

Kenji Kawamoto , Kei Kawamoto

The company was founded in 1781 in the late Edo period and has been making toys since then.

The papier-mâché toys are made by papering a wooden mold with Japanese paper, pulling the papier-mâché out of the mold, painting the base with gofun, coloring with dyes and Japanese paints, and glazing with glue.

In the past, papier-mâché was used as a plaything for children, and in recent years it has become a popular interior decoration.

They are also made with the hope that the child will grow up safely without injury or illness.

Kakubina
Under the supervision of Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka of Yanagiya, a toy workshop in Tottori Prefecture (closed in 2014), and with the help of local woodworkers, dyeing and weaving studios, and colorists, we were able to reprint (in 2021) the Kaku-bina.

Kakubina was made with the wish that happy and joyful things would continue for a long time.

Kakuhina / invented by Tatsunosuke Tanaka, the first generation of Yanagiya

I hope that I can continue to make local toys following the wishes of Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka.


The company was founded in 1946 by Noriyasu, the predecessor of the founder, to produce wooden crafts, folk crafts, and local toys.

In 1965, Kentaro took over the business and has been running it ever since.

The toys of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac are handmade wooden toys made of cedar and cypress wood from within the prefecture, and the characteristics of each sign are simplified into six different colors and finished in a cute, somewhat modern style.
2th Generation Kentaro Shinobu

The core steel is made from rare and hard-to-find domestic iron sand, and Yasugi steel, made by tatara iron making, is hand-hammered between the base metal and forged into kitchen knives. There are only about 50 craftsmen in Japan who can make forged kitchen knives. The knives made by Tottori Knife Forge in Chizu-cho, Tottori Prefecture, boast a sharpness rarely seen in other kitchen knives. The wave pattern on the surface of the blade represents the rough waves of the Sea of Japan.

I was born in 1964 in Misasa Town, Tottori Prefecture, and studied art at Nara University of Education.

I was interested in woodworking, so in college I worked hard making things that had nothing to do with my studies, such as speakers, tablets, food carts, and skateboards. After working for a chair design company, making wooden chairs became my life’s work. 1998, I lived in Nara Prefecture and created wood works. His works have been selected for “Asahi Craft”, “Japan Craft”, and “Takaoka Craft”.

In 2013, he set up a studio in Misasa Town, Tottori Prefecture, Believing that furniture is a tool for daily life, she holds workshops to make simple and practical chairs and tables.
Junsei Fujimoto

In 1890, his grandparents noticed that the potter’s clay in Kurayoshi City was suitable for making pottery, and moved to this area.

Near the kiln, there is a mound dedicated to a chieftain named “Kuni no Miyatsuko”, who was from Hoki.The locals nicknamed the place Kokuzo-san.In 1975, Shuji I founded Kokuzo-yaki in honor of the name.

We live in an environment where we can look up at Mount Hoki-Daisan in the morning and evening, and we have lived with the soil since our grandparents’ generation.

I would like to become a potter who is familiar to the locals, so that they will call me “Kokuzo-san.
4th Generation Yoshiyasu Yamamoto