Kyoto Souvenir: Original Handbag, Tote Bags, Purses, Wallets and Rucksack Makers

High-quality, unique and fashionable bags make an excellent souvenir from Kyoto. There are several producers in the city that offer various styles to choose from. Here are two famous ones, an up-and-coming one and an undiscovered one.

Ichizawa Hampu vs. Ichizawa Shinzaburo Hampu

‘Hampu’ means canvas in Japanese.

The Bad Guy: Ichizawa Hampu 一澤帆布

The legendary bag from Kyoto is from Ichizawa Hampu. However, we recommend that you DO NOT patronize Ichizawa Hampu for the reasons below.

Ichizawa Hampu started business in 1905 making very sturdy canvas bags for milk, sake, ice, and newspaper deliver companies in town. Many of the bags were used by ice making companies that supplied the drinking establishments in Gion, which explains why Ichizawa Hampu is located in Gion. These were very tough and durable and utilitarian bags and not sold to the general public.

The story that I heard (that I have not confirmed) is that in the 1950’s a major American newspaper, I think it was the New York Times did an article about Ichizawa Hampu bags, which they thought were really wonderful. A few other newspapers did and well and Western travelers to Kyoto sought out the company and purchased bags for souvenirs. Word spread to professors and others that could read English in Japan and when they came to Kyoto, they too sought out Ichizawa Hampu to emulate their Western colleagues.

Then Japanese school children visiting Kyoto on school excursions got in on the action and a real brand was born. These apparently were the children of the professors.

Ichizawa Hampu only sold their bags at their store, located across the street from the gate of Chion-in temple. If you wanted one, you have to come to Kyoto to buy it. Also, they were made after the customer paid and they were delivered via mail.

The Problem: The eldest son of the Ichizawa family, Ichizawa Shintaro, who worked as a banker in Nagoya all his career is now the owner of Ichizawa Hampu. He gained control of the company by very dubious circumstances. The original staff of 65 craftsmen that made Ichizawa Hampu’s bags for decades no longer work there and the company that supplied the canvas fabric for Ichizawa Hampu’s signature bags also for decades will not deal with the company anymore. So, the bags that made Ichizawa Hampu what it was can no longer made there. The bags that are made by the company are replicas of the classic.

The third generation owner of Ichizawa Hampu died in 2001 and his third son, Ichizawa Shinzaburo, who had worked in the company for 25 years, was the heir to the company. The third generation owner of the company wrote his will and left it in the care of his lawyer.

Four months after the father died, the eldest son, the banker in Nagoya who had never worked in the company said that he had a will that stated that he would he would inherit the company. And that it was dates after the will left in the care of the lawyer. Four months!

The second will was extremely suspicious. It was written in ball point pen and the inkon (personal seal) was not the father’s hand-carved, official, registered seal but a plastic one available from any discount seal shop.

The will in the possession of the lawyer was written with a brush and stamped with the father’s registered seal.

A lawsuit ensued and quite unbelievably the incompetence of the Japanese judicial system prevailed — a system still without jury trials — sided with the eldest brother and his ball point pen written, unofficial seal will!

This lead to the end of Ichizawa Hampu and the creation of Shizaburo Hampu. Ichizawa Shinzaburo, the third brother who lost in court, started his own company and the entire stuff of craftsmen abandoned Ichizawa Hampu to follow Shinzaburo. Additionally, the canvas maker refused to supply canvas to Ichizawa Hampu, instead only dealing with Shinzaburo. So, the older brother got his company and prime location on Higashi-oji Street but had no staff, no products and no materials. Quite an entrepreneur!

Ichizawa Hampu is still in business and managed to hire some new staff. The signature label and chain stitching is the same, but the heart and soul is definitely not there. Ichizawa Hampu is perpetually trying to hire skilled craftsmen willing to work there but apparently not having much luck.

Doshisha Elementary School, a very famous school in Kyoto used to have the school bags of all their students made by Ichizawa Hampu, but they also switched to Shinzaburo Hampu.

Ichizawa Hampu website: http://www.ichizawa-hanpu.co.jp

The Good Guy: Ichizawa Shinzaburo Hampu 一澤信三郎帆布

Ichizawa Shinzaburo set-up shop in the same neighborhood, a few doors down and restarted the family business with his own new style but with the traditional canvas fabric and staff of craftsmen.

Shinzaburo has added patterned prints to his line up and does collaborations with other artists. Perhaps his most famous collaborator is AstroBoy. If you are a fan of the manga you can score a really unique, handcrafted bag with Shinzaburo.

Shinzaburo Hampu offers an interesting assortment of products in various color schemes and patterns, mostly bags but there are also hats, pencil cases, aprons and so on.

Shinzaburo Hampu website: http://www.ichizawashinzaburohanpu.co.jp (lots of great photos, Japanese language only)

Different Canvas

As the two retail stores are right next to each other, you can check out both. It is said that the canvas fabric of Shinzaburo is thick, hard and has the paraffin smell of canvas. The Ichizawa Hampu fabric is soft and thin and doesn’t smell like canvas.

A second court case was concluded several months ago and the high court reversed the ridiculous decision of the Kyoto court. A graphologist (handwriting analysis expert) testified that the second will was a fraud and not written by the father. However, it seems that Ichizawa Hampu will stay in the hands of the elder brother. Nearly 10 years have now passed, the damage has been done and Shinzaburo Hampu has the name recognition now. So it seems that Ichizwa Hampu will just continue to wither.

The only people that seem to purchase Ichizawa Hampu bags these days are foreigners. The publishers of guide books haven’t heard the news yet, it seems. Somehow the news hasn’t filter overseas yet.

One of our intentions with OpenKyoto is to improve the city and it’s culture. Patronizing a fraud like Ichizwa Hampu is certainly not good for Kyoto or the world. Help spread the word abroad that Ichizawa Hampu is not the brand and products that it used to be.

Up-and-Coming: Tanaka Hokyo 京都・田中豊享の帆布＆デニムバッグ

Tanaka Hokyo is the third generation owner of this bag company in Kyoto. He born in 1944 and his father and grandfather were designers too.

Tanaka Hokyo studied design under a famous designer and then struck out on his own. He worked as an creator with more than 200 stores of Japanese traditional wear, Western clothing stores, fashion goods, and so on. About 30 years ago he discovered the fabric that was used when filtering Japanese sake which, after years of use is extremely durable and has a texture and feel that is unlike anything else. It is impregnated with sake mash!

With this fabric from used sake bags (sakabukuro), he produced about 30,000 bags over the years. But as sake production changed getting the sakabukuro bags became increasingly difficult. Tanaka Hokyo developed a ‘new’ sakabukuro fabric that has the ‘lived-in’ quality of the authentic bags but could be obtained easily.

With this new fabric in hand, Tanaka Hokyo started their original brand of bags in 1996.

Tanaka Hokyo bags have become quite famous for their original fabric, canvas and denim that they have developed in recent years. All the bag fabrication is done by hand.

website: http://www.hokyo-bag.jp (lots of great photos, Japanese language only)

The Undiscovered:Cream Company (Harada Shoten) 原田商店

Cream is a small company in Kyoto that make some very unique and interesting bags. The owner of the company designs everything and really loves leather. Cream mainly sells their products wholesale, but they do have a little showroom on the second floor of their office. While not quite a store, it does have a show window and customers are welcome. The owner has always been very friendly with me, often travels abroad and speaks some English.

My Favorite Leather Bags, Purses and Wallets in the World

This series is made of Italian leather that has been woven in a Kyoto Nishijin weaving workshop with high quality Japanese linen into a mesh that the world has probably never seen before. The handles are made of Japanese cherry branches, with the bark still on, this material was common with traditional bags and crafts.

Mesh Products

http://www.cream-kyoto.com/cream_024.htm

Products

http://www.cream-kyoto.com/cream_013.htm

Cream homepage (circa 1995 site and no English)

http://www.cream-kyoto.com/

You can probably email Cream in *simple* English if need be, email address is on the site.