The story of ougi



KOSHO
Kosho Ogawa carefully selects, designs, and dyes fabrics with the appealing, uniquely beautiful textures of natural materials. These items feature the sensibilities and techniques developed in Kyo-Yuzen dyeing, a traditional Kyoto handicraft. This studio strives to offer forms made by human hands and manufacturing that appeals to the heart and five senses.



KOSHO, a new brand
The “culture of layering” has been handed down since antiquity. The KOSHO brand was created from the desire to bring to modern living the colors and layers seen in kimono as well as in Japanese culture such as origami and nests of boxes for food or storage. KOSHO continues to pass on the wonders from ancient times in a new form.



The new ougi bag by KOSHO
The surprising, exciting ougi bag expands like a folding fan to reveal the vivid colors inside. This beautiful bag is designed to appear at a glance like a work of art with the shape of a folding fan. Flaring the bottom of the bag opens the pleats and shows the hidden accent colors within the folds—an expression of the Kyoto taste that loves stylish touches in unseen places.



Novel color combinations based on the motif of a folding fan
In Japan, there is a culture of enjoying secret, stylish touches in concealed places such as underwear and linings. Japanese people get a sense of elegance from fleeting glimpses of colors and patterns on kimono collars, sleeves, and hems, as well as those glimpsed for an instant when removing a haori coat. KOSHO’s ougi bag brings this time-honored Japanese culture into modern lifestyles. At first glance it looks like a simple, monochrome tote bag, but it is transformed into a folding-fan shape when the bottom is flared to reveal the surprising, excitingly vivid colors inside. The clean design has a simple, rectangular shape with one, two, or three slits. The color combinations feature surprisingly vivid accent colors that can be glimpsed on the inside, including black with crimson, unbleached canvas with crimson, and black with sky blue. ougi is a simple unisex tote bag that embodies a uniquely Japanese, chic sensibility for a refined look.



Enjoy the colors of Kyoto’s four seasons
There are 1,100 traditional color combinations in Japan based on the aesthetic sensibilities, culture, and history of the Japanese people. The ougi bag, with appealing combinations of main and accent colors, evokes the four seasons of Kyoto.
・Black: Scenery of Ginkaku-ji Temple that resembles an ink wash painting
・Unbleached canvas: White plaster walls of the Katsura Imperial Villa’s Shoin
・Crimson: Camellias blooming in the bamboo forests of Sagano
・Sky blue: Morning glory blooming along the eves of wooden townhouses
・Pink: Azaleas blooming at Nijo Castle’s Shinsenen
・Orange: Autumn foliage at Tofukuji Temple’s Tsuten Bridge
・Gold: Gold leaf on the Reliquary Hall of Kinkakuji Temple



Beautiful sewing with the finest materials
The different types of weaving from regions across Japan are precious traditions that are being lost. We carefully selected from these to make ougi, using 100% cotton canvas and denim with a modestly dignified look and presence.



Made at the KOSHO studio in Kyoto
ougi is made in Kyoto in our studio in the hilly Mount Inari area on the southern tip of the 36 Higashiyama Mountains. The region near the studio includes the imperial graveyard, temples, bamboo forests, and fields. It is a place where you can feel the passing of the four seasons, including baby pheasants in the spring, the refreshing song of young bush warblers at sunrise in the early summer, and nearby temple bells ringing out in honor of the New Year. Kyoto was the capital of Japan for a long time and has a history of manufacturing spanning more than 1,200 years—a shop is only called “old” if it has lasted for 300 years or more. Kyoto has more traditional industries than anywhere else in Japan and is a place of reliable manufacturing with high added value based on traditional industry. Kyoto blends and balances tradition and innovation, natural and man-made objects, experience and youth. KOSHO is a brand with rich sensibilities and reliable technologies in the entire process from design to dyeing and sewing; our products are entirely made in Kyoto before being sent out into the world.