niime 百科

Encyclopedia of niime

Happy New Year to everyone!

In Reiwa 8 (2026), the Year of the Horse, we sincerely appreciate your continued support of the niime Encyclopedia.

〈Continued from the year-end version〉

— The Niime Residence opened last September. How do you plan to use it in the new year?

Tamaki: We’re finally about to change things.

— …Already? You’re changing it now??

Tamaki: Yes—thinking in terms of about a year. Right now, it’s more like a trial run; we only open it on full-moon and new-moon days. But after digging our own well and opening up so many paths as tamaki niime, I finally feel like all the pieces have come together. Until now, we’ve stayed in one place, digging deeper and deeper—but this year marks our 20th anniversary, so it feels like… bang!—like we’re about to burst open.

— What do you mean by that?

Tamaki: We’re currently renovating the old sawtooth-roof Banshu-ori textile factory in Kamihie. The lab will expand there, and we’ll move the circular knitting machines and whole-garment machines so that the knitting team will relocate. Additionally, I’m considering moving the shop and stockroom to the western Tsuma district.

— Whoa!! That’s a major announcement right at the start of the year.

Tamaki: Up until now, the shop, lab, and stockroom were all in one place, right? This year, I’m thinking of bang!—spreading them out across the whole area. Over the course of 2026, I think that vision will take shape.

— So the shop will be at Niime Residence, and…

Tamaki: If we secure another property in the nearby Tsuma district, we can make that the stockroom, and the shop and stockroom will move across the river.

— Is it okay to announce this here?

Tamaki: There are still some uncertainties, but it’s fine. Also, heading into the new year, a horse is coming. A ‘Banba’ draft horse that used to race in Banei horse racing arrived in Miki City at the end of last year for training, and then it will come to us.

— A horse in the Year of the Horse. Training means for racehorses…

Tamaki: Apparently, former racehorses go through stages—first retraining for riding, then for pulling carriages.

— You’re going to use a carriage??

Tamaki: For transporting goods. I’ll go around collecting selected works myself. We’ve decided to use a horse-drawn carriage for logistics. Fun, right?

— … That’s beyond fun.

Tamaki: I can see everyone’s faces, talk with them—it won’t feel lonely even when we’re spread out.

— So you’ll connect this whole area by carriage…

Tamaki: Circling around.

— With the shop at Niime Residence, the stockroom, the knitting team’s lab…

Tamaki: And spinning, too.

— So this ‘dispersion’ means the whole area becomes something like Niime Village.

Tamaki: That’s what I wanted from the start, but I couldn’t quite decide. We’re still thinking about new initiatives at Niime Residence, but it’s such a lovely place—I want our staff to use it too. And I think the workers themselves feel happier when they’re in a good place.

— Ahh…

Tamaki: Then we’ll open up the animal area and build my house. The current stockroom in the back will move out and become Tamaki House—my home, shared with the animals.

— …Wow. One thing after another…

Tamaki: The taberoom will move there too.

— What happens to the current taberoom?

Tamaki: We’re thinking of using it as a staff-resting space, or moving finishing work here.

— So this dispersion was part of your vision all along.

Tamaki: Ever since I started saying Niime Village. People kept asking, ‘What exactly is a village?’ for years… Now it feels like everyone has found their place. Rather than favouring anyone, I think it’s better if everyone spreads out at once.

— Weaving stays here, though.

Tamaki: Weaving, sewing, finishing, inspection, shipping—manufacturing stays here. We’ll also store shawls in the current shop space. Customers should be able to buy wherever they like. Niime Residence will become something like the main shop. At each location, I’d love for people to be able to buy works, have tea, and eat meals. Each place stands on its own—you can complete everything in one spot, or travel around. That’s the concept.

— I see.

Tamaki: Instead of very hands-on customer service, it might be more like a convenience store—choosing your favourites from lots of stock. If you want full service, you go to Niime Residence and enjoy shopping with coordination advice—something like Unagi no Nedoko.

— What kind of place is Unagi no Nedoko?

Tamaki: They use old houses as shops—that image is close. With many rooms, you can change items by room. We thought about many ideas, but this felt like the quickest and best way to make use of Niime Residence!!

— Hearing this new vision, it feels like tamaki niime is ‘opening up.’

Tamaki: Yes, exactly—opening.

— And inviting customers to move around… even riding in a carriage…

Tamaki: I’ll need to practice hard (laughs). First, I want to be able to ride a horse myself by the end of the year. Carriages are harder, but my Year of the Horse goal is ‘to ride a horse’.

— Please be careful about accidents.

Tamaki: Since Shin the wolfdog and Gigi the poodle came here, I’ve been walking more with them. Walking time is precious—it activates my brain and leads to new discoveries. Recently, staff member Watabe often joins me; he walks Shin, I walk Gigi, and while discussing this and that, ideas emerge that feel far more capable of changing tamaki niime’s future than meetings around a table.

— Ideas often come while working in the fields, too.

Tamaki: Exactly! Being in nature activates the brain. Previously, only the ‘harvest team’ handled mowing, and other staff weren’t involved. But since we created ‘niime Forest’ last spring, everyone waters and mows together. At first, there were complaints—it was tough—but in the end, having fresh morning time and rich moments with nature were incredibly positive. Then, as it got colder, the next challenge was animal care. Ishikura had been doing it alone, but we changed it so everyone takes turns feeding the animals, like school lunch duty. It’s not that hard, so now people come around 7 a.m. to feed them. From there, I hope they absorb a sense of connection with nature and the richness of time.

— It feels like shared roles within the Niime Village community.

Tamaki: Watching them, I see unity forming, and personal healing too. It’s slow and steady, but that’s how village life is—layer by layer. I try not to let anyone do things alone, but to involve everyone.

— Yes.

Tamaki: Recently, Zen, the alpaca born here, passed away—not from illness but from injury. It’s hard to notice these things, and even if we do, there’s often little we can do about them. Facing that reality, I want staff to experience making judgments when unexpected things happen—just as they do with their own children. Humans grow immensely through that. Not just doing assigned tasks, but facing surprises together makes us stronger.

— How to respond to the unexpected…

Tamaki: Like when a sheep falls into the river—how do you save it?

— I heard you jumped in.

Tamaki: Sheep can’t climb out on their own. Jumping in didn’t bother me, but I realised most people hesitate.

— In emergencies…

Tamaki: People freeze. That can happen at any time in manufacturing, too. Animals especially exceed our expectations—that’s why I feel my human capacity has really grown.

— That responsiveness feels almost physical—living from an animal’s perspective.

Tamaki: We don’t have a sales team, right? We don’t seek new clients or attend trade shows. Sakai did at first, but we stopped. In rural areas, I was confident people who love making things would gather, but not sales professionals—they can get better conditions in cities. So instead, we focused on delighting customers and making them love the brand—just as we did when we introduced power looms. Adding animals was a similar decision. I’m not suited to sales, so I asked, “What can I do?” By pursuing animal fibres—like cotton cultivation—I set myself the challenge of seeing whether wool from happy animals could become a beloved material. We're testing whether sheep really can thrive in Japan’s climate. Adding alpacas and Angora goats raised the bar, and it’s hard, but we won’t give up. I believe customers will find joy and interest in our challenge.

— Experiencing tamaki niime through life with animals and material exploration.

Tamaki: It deepens our making, supports promotion, and creates an environment where staff question what true, meaningful craftsmanship is. I truly feel they’ve grown—they now dig deep on their own. At this stage, I think it’s okay to separate. That’s part of the meaning.

— Each place is becoming independent.

Tamaki: We’ll still meet weekly, but with that, I believe each team can stand on its own. That hope led me to think it’s better to scatter—bang!

— And you’ll ride around by carriage, delivering works.

Tamaki: Yes! Each base is one of my favourite places—it feels good everywhere, and I think customers will enjoy seeing that too.

— I see…

Tamaki: And since you can’t see all of tamaki niime in one day, maybe you’ll stay overnight at Niime House.

— Crossing over the flow of the Kakogawa River feels nice, too. You can look out over the cotton fields as you go… it makes the background of our craftsmanship easier to see and to feel. You can even catch sight of the animals along the way. By moving around and circulating through the area, it’s like you can experience tamaki niime’s nature-rooted approach to making things as a whole.

Tamaki: Yes. By the end of this year, hopefully. Right now, everything—including animals—is packed tightly here. It’s understandable to us, but confusing for visitors.

― That’s true—there may be that aspect, for sure. It’s very densely packed, after all.

Tamaki: Right. So if we want to be a bit more considerate to our visitors, it might be clearer to separate things out and exhibit them that way. Each place has different highlights, doesn’t it?”

― Exactly—each one would be like a ‘theme pavilion of Niime Village’ (laughs). Maybe this year we’ll finally see the revival of the Niime Expo.

Tamaki: That’s right! A one-year-delayed ‘Expo.’ That might actually be possible.

― An ‘Niime Expo 2026’ where people circulate around and experience all the different highlights of tamaki niime.

Tamaki: We could totally make that happen, couldn’t we?

Original Japanese text by Seiji Koshikawa.
English translation by Adam & Michiko Whipple.