Gujo Honzome Watanabe Dyeworks

Watanabe Dyeworks (Gujo Honzome) has worked from Shimotani in Hachiman-cho, Gujo City, Gifu Prefecture, for roughly 430 years, tracing its indigo-dyeing lineage to around 1580. The current proprietor, 15th-generation dyer Kazuyoshi Watanabe, continues the Gujo honzome method documented by Gifu Prefecture's own tourism authority: a resist design is hand-drawn in rice paste, pigment is bound with gojiru (soybean extract) for the koinobori's painted colors, and cloth is dipped repeatedly in fermented natural indigo before a final rinse and sun-drying.

The workshop is best known for its hand-dyed koinobori carp streamers, colored by the kachin-zome method rather than vat indigo alone. Physicist Hideki Yukawa is recorded as praising the shop's carp as "wild and powerful," and the dyed streamers are traditionally rinsed in the cold winter waters of the nearby Yoshida River, a step said to set the colors and slow fading.

Beyond koinobori, the shop's natural-indigo output extends to noren curtains, happi coats, scarves and bags, alongside newer items such as tablet cases and coasters sold through its own online shop. Independent sources (Gifu Prefecture tourism site, the shop's Facebook and BASE storefronts) corroborate the family name, the 15th-generation figure and the indigo/koinobori specialization, though the shop's own official domain could not be directly verified due to a certificate mismatch on gujozome.jp.