Front view of the Nibutani Works Ainu pattern Imabari towel blanket in blue and navy, showing a symmetrical kaparamip pattern of morew-noka spirals and ay-us-noka thorn forms across the full surface with a dark navy border.

Blue Ainu patterned towel on a white background

Blue Ainu patterned towel hanging on a rack indoors

Ainu Pattern Imabari Towel Blanket kaparamip Blue and Navy

Name: Ainu Pattern Imabari Towel Blanket kaparamip Blue and Navy
Brand: Nibutani Works
SKU: ntw080010201
Price: 250.00 USD
Availability: InStock

$250.00

Nibutani, a village in Biratori Town on Hokkaido, is the center of living Ainu craft tradition in Japan. Kayano Kimihiro founded Nibutani Works there to create sustained work for Ainu artisans and keep the craft's inherited knowledge in active use. The kaparamip is a ceremonial Ainu garment, and the patterns drawn from it — spiraling morew-noka and thorned ay-us-noka forms — were not decorative in origin. Embroidered around collars, cuffs, and hems, they were worked as protection, the maker's prayer against harm entering through the openings of the body. Those same patterns appear here across the surface of an Imabari towel blanket, woven in Ehime Prefecture using the cotton production methods that have made Imabari the standard for quality textile manufacture in Japan. The blue and navy colorway renders the pattern as a tonal composition — the forms legible within the same field rather than contrasted against it. The result is an object that carries the weight of its source material while functioning as something made for daily use.

Details

Size: W 36.2in x L 56.7in / W 92cm x L 144cm
Material: Cotton 100%

Care & Use

Wash inside a laundry mesh bag to protect the pile
Wash separately from items with adhesive surfaces, as contact may cause fiber loss
Do not use detergents containing optical brighteners or bleaching agents, as these may cause color change or fading
Do not use fabric softener
Dark colors may experience some color transfer during initial washes
Due to the nature of woven textiles, some shrinkage after washing is normal
Do not leave wet for extended periods
If a loop thread is pulled or snagged by a nail, ring, or similar object, trim it with scissors rather than pulling; do not pull loose threads

Check our tips for Care Information.

Ainu Pattern Imabari Towel Blanket kaparamip Blue and Navy

$250.00

Hand using a small wood carving knife on a wooden object with intricate carvings.

Meet the Artisan

Nibutani Works

Nibutani Works was established in March 2022 in Nibutani, Biratori Town, Hokkaido, formed around a shared concern: that without sustainable work, the next generation of Ainu craftspeople would have no viable path to continue what they had inherited. Wood carving in Nibutani sustained many artisans through the postwar Hokkaido tourism boom, but as that period ended, the number working full time continued to decline. The response of Nibutani Works was not to preserve the tradition as an artifact but to keep it in active use. The company is led by Kayano Kimihiro, born in 1988 in Nibutani and a grandson of Kayano Shigeru, the first Ainu member of the National Diet, who returned to the community in 2013 after working as a mechanical designer in Kanagawa. He established the company nearly a decade later alongside designer Toriumi Saki, who trained in product design at Sapporo City University and spent 6 years in product development before joining the project. Nibutani Works operates 2 lines: NIBUTANI WORKS, covering everyday objects including blankets and household items, and ramgu, focused on wood-carved pieces where the hand of the individual maker is more directly present. The underlying position in both is that culture is not kept alive by being set aside, but by continuing to be used.