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.

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