Experience the Aoyagi Dye Factory
in "Kimono Town Tokamachi
AOYAGI, founded in 1938 in Tokamachi, Niigata, aspires to capture the true essence of Japanese kimono.
We create our kimono completely in-house, using traditional methods of weaving, dyeing, shibori, yuzen and decoration.
This sets us apart from other makers, and we are proud of our artisans' high technical ability and ingenuity.
At Kimono Factory Aoyagi you can see the passion of our artisans, and some of the most precious moments in our kimono production process.

Tokamachi has a 1300 year long history of textile manufacture.
This region's climate is ideal for working with textiles: there is very little wind and high humidity both day and night and year-round.
As a heavy snowfall region, we can utilize the snow for natural processes such as yuki sarashi (fabric bleaching on snow), and the snow-melt provides an abundant supply of soft-water perfect to make dyes.
The quality and success of Tokamachi-made textiles, such as Echigo-chijimi, is wholly thanks to the snow.
The History of Aoyagi
and Tokamachi