Katsuyama Tenugui

We’re delighted to be the UK’s exclusive stockist of Japanese brand Shin Yoshiwara.

Shin Yoshiwara’s sleek and sexy wares have rightly gained a cult following, plenty of international attention and the eye of major fashion brand and longtime collaborator BEAMS Japan.

‘Yoshiwara’ was formerly Tokyo’s red-light district, now a buzzing wholesaling and tourist area. But behind a hidden doorway the illustrations of the brand’s designer Yayoi Okano, born and raised in Yoshiwara, continue to capture the area’s historic saucier side.

Okano’s subversive take on the traditional Japanese tenugui- thin rectangular hand towels made from cotton- is based on a Utagawa Kunisada print of the famous courtesan Katsuyama. She was a total fashion icon in the early Edo period for her androgynous styling.

Tenugui have a myriad of everyday uses- as a washcloth, towel, headband or for wrapping gifts. The long sides are finished with a selvedge whilst the short sides are cut to intentionally fray over time and with washing. This helps them dry quicker.

Hand dyed in Japan, we think these tenugui are almost too good to use and deserve to be framed as artworks on the wall.