Willow Craft & Bags

Toyooka's willow basketry (kiryu-zaiku) is traditionally traced to techniques said to have been brought by the deity Ame-no-Hiboko, recorded in the Kojiki. Documented history reaches back at least to the Onin era (1467–69), when records mention willow-basket trading at Kokonokaichi near Izushi.

A major turning point came in 1668, when Kyogoku Takamori, relocated to Toyooka domain from Tango province, encouraged willow cultivation and basket-making as a local industry and made it a domain monopoly — official backing that helped willow baskets earn a national reputation.

Toyooka's willow products became true "bags" in 1881, when craftsman Yagi Choemon is credited with adding handles and fasteners to willow baskets to create the "korilo bag" — the beginning of Toyooka's bag industry. Willow products won silver medals at the 1893 Chicago and 1900 Paris world's fairs, cementing an international reputation.

In the Showa era, Toyooka's industry kept innovating materials: Toyooka-made fiber bags reportedly outfitted Japan's team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and an improved fiber bag arrived in 1953. At its peak, Toyooka is said to have supplied roughly 80% of Japan's bag production.

In 2006, "Toyooka Kaban" was registered as a regional collective trademark. The industry has since opened a flagship store at KITTE Marunouchi in Tokyo (2018), exhibited in Milan (2020), and run a pop-up in Taiwan (2023) — carrying a 1,200-year craft tradition and a 140-year bag industry into international markets, still supported by local makers and craftspeople.