Classic Shuttle-Loom "Kurashiki Canvas (Hanpu)", Kamoi "mt Masking Tape" Washi Craft & Lucky "Miyajima Shakushi" Rice Scoops

Alongside Kojima denim, Kurashiki City in Okayama Prefecture produces roughly seventy percent of Japan's domestic natural cotton canvas, celebrated worldwide as **Kurashiki Hanpu** (*Kurashiki Canvas*). Since 1888, heritage workshops such as *Baistone (Kurashiki Canvas)* have twisted multiple strands of pure cotton yarn together and woven them tightly on vintage shuttle looms that are no longer manufactured anywhere in the world. This painstaking process yields first-grade canvas (*Ikkyu Hanpu*) featuring a clean selvedge edge, remarkable durability, and natural water resistance that softens gracefully to fit its owner's shoulder over decades of daily use—making Kurashiki Canvas tote bags and backpacks sold in the Bikan Historical Quarter among Japan's finest functional crafts. Also born in Kurashiki is a modern stationery icon adored by artists and journal enthusiasts across the globe: **mt Masking Tape**, the original decorative Japanese washi paper tape created by *Kamoi Kakoshi Co., Ltd.*, a local adhesive manufacturer founded in 1923. In 2008, the company transformed its industrial painter's masking tape technology into vibrant, semi-translucent washi tapes adorned with hundreds of patterns ranging from classic Japanese motifs to Kurashiki-exclusive designs (showcased at specialty boutiques like *Tane*, whose walls are lined with over a thousand varieties). Strong yet effortless to tear by hand and removable without leaving any sticky residue, mt Masking Tape makes a lightweight, creative souvenir. Meanwhile, on sacred Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Prefecture, the quintessential traditional wooden keepsake and talisman of good fortune is the **Miyajima Shakushi** (*Miyajima Wooden Rice Scoop*). Invented in the late 18th century by the Buddhist monk Seishin—who was inspired in a dream by the goddess Benzaiten of Itsukushima Shrine to model a rice paddle after the graceful curves of her four-stringed *Biwa* lute—these scoops are carved from aged *Mizume-zakura* (cherry birch) or *Keyaki* (zelkova) wood. Because the Japanese verb *"Meshitoru"* is a homophone meaning both "to scoop up rice" and "to seize victory and good fortune," calligraphy-branded Miyajima Shakushi are cherished both as everyday kitchen tools that never scratch rice pots and as auspicious plaques displayed in homes and shops.