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ABOUT
GION SAITO

OUR PHILOSOPHY

With a store in Kyoto’s Gion area for over 180 years since our opening in 1843, and our eighth generation and current head Koji Saito, GION SAITO has continued its devotion to inhouse finishing using the kyo senshoku dyeing and weaving method implemented by our own weavers and dyers, who have been a part of our company since we originally opened our doors.

 

As people who love kimonos, a traditional culture of Japan, we quest after that ideal every day.
Moving forward, we will continue to serve the mission of recreating beauty from out of the history of Japan and bringing it to life for this generation. And harnessing techniques passed down from days of old, we will keep creating an authentic beauty unique to GION SAITO that can only be crafted by human hands.

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OUR HISTORY

Receiving and carrying on the tradition of the kimono shop Hinoya, in 1843 the first GION SAITO head Genroku Saito opened the kimono shop called Gofuku Shikkaisho Saito Ten in Kyoto’s Gion area. Later, the name was changed to GION SAITO, which has served as the name to date.
Because it is close to the Gion-machi area, and because it is located on Shinmonzen Dori Street, which was and is also the domain of Kyomai dance master Yachiyo Inoue, it has been able to operate a kimono business with support from days of old by customers residing in hanamachi geisha towns like Gion Kobu.

 

In the days of the sixth head Shojiro Saito, two generations previous to the current head, the shop took the name Saito Gofuku Ten, and provided the sole resource in hanamachi geisha towns for buying a wide array of “assorted dyed items” as is still written on the lantern casing today, and for custom orders as well as general kimono maintenance (upkeep and repair).

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TRANSFORMATION

As for the range of movement in those days, it was the post war heyday period with no cars readily available, and because activity scopes were generally limited to areas people could get to by bus or by walking, the salesperson would go order-taking in the Gion district and Pontocho, or as far as the Kamishichiken area to the north, leaving their baggage with the baggage keeper and doing sales work around geisha lodging houses.

 

From these early days onward, GION SAITO continued creating products together with its own team of artisans, launching SAITO ORIMONO in 1976, and later in 1989, opening a studio in Nishigamo that created Nishijin-ori fabric obi belts using handlooms. It quests daily for the kind of beauty made possible by woven fabric in a new era.

Impacted by the changes in the state of the world before, during, and after the war, kimonos soon became something only worn on special days. However, their beauty and profoundly deep cultural value remain unchanged, and today they even receive widespread attention from abroad.

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OUR FUTURE

In today’s world, the kimono is not used as frequently as before, but we have chosen to proudly maintain a world-class dyeing history and the valuable asset of a classic tradition. Our philosophy is to reassess the value of enjoying this genuine beauty as a part of daily life as in the past, and to continue trying new challenges in production with a free sense of imagination while also protecting tradition and formality.

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Company name GION SAITO Co., Ltd.
Founded 1843 (Tenpo era)
Incorporation 1965
President Koji Saito
Address 1-29 Shimogamo Izumigawa-cho,Sakyo-ku,
Kyoto 606-0807
Telephone (+81)75-561-1207
Fax (+81)75-561-0868
E-mail contact@gion-saito.com
1843 (Tenpo era) Receiving and carrying on the tradition of the kimono shop Hinoya, in 1843 the first GION SAITO head Genroku Saito opened the kimono shop called Gofuku Shikkaisho Saito Ten in Kyoto’s Gion area.
1965 Open a store on Shinmonzen Street.
1976 Our seventh head, Teiichiro Saito established the weaving workshop “Saito Orimono” in Nishigamo, Kyoto.
1979 “SAITO ORIMONO Co., Ltd.” became a corporation.
2021 Koji Saito takes over as the eighth head.