Hankeido (Unpei-fude Writing Brushes)

A 15-minute walk from JR Adogawa Station and a 50-minute drive from the Kinomoto Interchange. This shop sells a wide variety of writing brushes and can be found by going a short distance straight down the road in front of the Toju no Sato Hall for Arts and Culture. The longstanding shop was established in Kyoto in 1615. The current, 14th generation owner and head brush maker, Unpei Fujino, has been designated an Intangible Cultural Property by the prefecture. The shop has also been visited by the respective Showa and Heisei emperors and empresses. In addition to standard maki fude wound writing brushes, the shop continues to make mizu fude brushes for working with water-based pigments, sabaki fude brushes which are completely dipped in ink instead of only the tip, and other types of writing brushes by hand. With an advance reservation, visitors can also tour the workshop area.