暖簾:のれん
Noren are Japanese fabric dividers traditionally used by shops and restaurants in front of the entrance usually with their logo printed. It's not hard to find shops that hang Noren all over Japan, but usually traditional type shops use them.

The noren you see in the top photo is from a traditonal Japanese confectionery called "Toraya", and this particular shop of Toraya uses Noren very differently. It's probably about 6-7 meters wide and is working as a room devider/screen/front door/shop sign/curtains. It works so well! I love it when I enter the shop through this noren, somehow it feels very nice :)

The first 3 photos are found in Tokyo and the bottom five from my recent trip to Kanazawa.

You can also see a wonderful post on Noren here at ii-ne-kore. So check that out too!

17 comments

  1. Oh yes the toraya one is very clever!

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  2. I agree with tommy - the long Toraya one is a great adaption of tradition!

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  3. niice! i like this collection :-)

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  4. i've been meaning to visit toraya cafe in kyoto as i hear they've just remodeled the shop. thanks for reminding me of it with these beautiful noren shots! make me love japan even more.

    by the way, thank you for mentioning my blog in your last post. i really appreciate it. ;-)

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  5. Hi there. I just wanted to let you know how very much I love your blog. Going to Japan was a life long dream of mine which I achieved last year. And it was even better than I could have imagined.

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  6. what a great collection of noren (and link, arigatou!) and THANKYOU for the tennen seikatsu package - best thing ever!! and the kanazawa architecture map - wow!!!! i absolutely cannot say how great it is, so so so wnonderful. honto ni arigatou gozaimasu!

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  7. Hi Baron's Life!
    Thank you, these are the sort that you like, ne ;)

    Hi tommy,
    Did you go visit this shop when you were in tokyo? I bet you did though! :)

    Hi Jeanne,
    Yes Toraya is wonderful. I think you will love their packaging too.

    Hi Aron,
    Arigato! ;)

    Hi aixxx-chan!
    Oh toraya has a new shop in kyoto? I didn't know and now i'm so curious!

    Hi Lynne,
    Thank you so much for your lovely comment!! It means so much to me. And it's so nice to hear that you enjoyed Japan so much :)

    Hi Bree,
    I must have been inspired by your noren post, all the noren photos came up each time I get my film developed! And I'm so happy that your package has arrived (it was quite fast!) and that you like the kanazawa machiya map :)
    kochira koso arigatou gozaimashita!

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  8. i love n° 6 with the wide dots!
    is it linen?

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  10. gorgeous photos! i especially like the one with the bicycle!

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  11. i'm so in love with these japanese textiles and colour matches! they look linen, is it so?
    the pic with the bicycle is top:-)

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  12. Thank you Elisabeth and Melanie!

    lovepics and at swim-two-birds,
    I think that number 6 is definately linen, but others could be mixed with cotton. They are often made to be quite heavy duty since they directly get wind and rain.

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  13. amazing!!!

    コンニチハ。海外ブログ経由でやってきました! 楽しい〜☆

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  14. 美穂さんこんにちは。
    ありがとう!!!

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  15. oh i love this! brings me such wonderful memories of visiting japan. i (inadvertently) posted my noren a few months ago:

    http://thetranscontinentalaffair.blogspot.com/2011/02/hey-me-too2.html

    i love them :)

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your kind words are always welcome and appreciated! arigato :)

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