Crafts / Washi paper / Kyoto

Washi paper in Kyoto

Three sessions at two places. Central Kyoto has one shop where visitors form their own sheets of washi, and it appears twice here: a shared one-hour class and a private session that turns your paper into a temple-stamp journal. The third is a bookbinding class at a paper-goods factory in south Kyoto, where you work with washi but don't make it. Prices run from ¥3,300 to ¥15,450 a person.

Prices checked 11 Nov 2026, in the currency each site showed; Wabunka prices are in yen, the currency it charges in · Some links may earn us a commission

Some booking links may pay us a commission. You pay the same price either way. Details.

The short version

If you want to make paper for the least Kamitowa A one-hour class at a washi shop in central Kyoto. You form a sheet with pressed flowers and take it home. From ¥3,300 · Direct If you want to make paper into a book Kamitowa (private journal session) A private 90 minutes at the same shop. Your sheet becomes the cover of a temple-stamp journal. From ¥15,450 · Wabunka

Side by side

Cheapest on the left, as listed. Scroll sideways on a phone.
Small groupKamitowa
Small groupNishikawa Shigyo
PrivateKamitowa (private journal session)
Price per person
From ¥3,300
From €62
From ¥15,450
Length
About 1 hour
1 hour, including a factory tour
90 minutes
Group size
Up to 5 per class
Up to 10
Your party only, 1 to 4. Charged for at least 2.
Where
Sanjo-cho, Nakagyo (central Kyoto)
Kamitoba, Minami (south of Kyoto Station)
Sanjo-cho, Nakagyo (central Kyoto)
What you make, as listed
Form a B4 sheet from pulp with a screen and add pressed flowers and leaves. The sheet becomes 4 postcards, a placemat or a lampshade. The fiber isn't named on this page; the shop's Wabunka listing says Japanese-grown mulberry.
Not paper-making. You bind a notebook by hand in the watoji style, choosing a cover from over 30 yuzen-printed washi papers, after a tour of the factory.
Form washi from Japanese-grown mulberry pulp with a suketa screen, in two passes, with pressed flowers. The sheet becomes the cover of a temple-stamp journal you bind yourself.
You take home
Your sheet as 4 postcards, a placemat or a lampshade, same day
A hand-bound notebook
A temple-stamp journal (goshuincho) with your own paper as the cover, plus a yuzen washi journal cover
Drying and getting it home
Dried and heat-sealed during the class; you take it home the same day. Shipping is not mentioned.
Nothing to dry: the paper is ready-made. When you receive the notebook is not stated.
Dried for 15 minutes on a heated dryer at 80 to 85°C, then bound. You take the journal with you on the day.
English
English-speaking course
Guide in English and Japanese
English-speaking host
Free cancellation
Up to 1 day before on the studio's site; 24 hours on GetYourGuide and Viator
Up to 24 hours before
Up to 8 days before
Reviews
5.0 from 102 on Viator. 5.0 from 94 on Studio's site. 5.0 from 8 on GetYourGuide.
5.0 from 3 on GetYourGuide.
24 on Wabunka. No star score shown.
Book
See on the studio's site
See on GetYourGuide
See on Wabunka

Before you book

Kyoto has little choice for making paper. Searching Klook, GetYourGuide, Viator and Wabunka, we found only one place in the city where you form a sheet yourself. Other "washi" listings are lamp, fan, origami or notebook classes that use ready-made paper. Kurotani, the nearest papermaking village, is in Ayabe, well outside the city, and a visit takes most of a day.

The same class costs more on the big platforms. The shop's one-hour paper-making class was 3,300 yen on its own booking site, €28 on GetYourGuide and €28.83 on Viator when we checked.

Check the shop's opening days. The shop's booking site lists it as closed on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. The private session says it can run outside the hours on the shop sign, at the time confirmed with you.

Solo travelers pay for two in the private session. The private journal session has a minimum charge of two people, so one person pays the two-person price. It must be booked at least 2 days ahead and can be canceled free only up to 8 days before.

Ignore the "transportation included" line. Both the GetYourGuide and Viator listings for the one-hour class say transport to and from the workshop is included. Viator's own description tells you to make your own way there, and GetYourGuide gives only a meeting point at the shop. It is a 9-minute walk from Shijo and Karasuma stations.

The three workshops

No. 005-1Small group

Kamitowa

About 1 hour · Up to 5 people · Nakagyo, central Kyoto · Booked on the studio's own site

A washi shop run by a paper wholesaler founded in 1932, and the cheapest way here to form a sheet of paper yourself. You scoop pulp onto a screen, arrange pressed flowers and leaves on the wet sheet, then press, dry and heat-seal it in about an hour, and leave with it. The same class is on GetYourGuide at €28 and Viator at €28.83, against 3,300 yen on the shop's own site. Both platforms list "transportation to/from workshop" as included, but you get there yourself.

Reviewers liked: A family business, father and son, who explain each step patiently in good English. Reviewers call it calm and relaxing, good with children, and value a short video on how bark becomes pulp.

Reviewers didn't: No recurring complaint in the reviews we read.

Summarized from reviews on Viator (5.0 from 102), the studio's booking site (5.0 from 94) and GetYourGuide (5.0 from 8).

Pick it if you want to make a real sheet of washi in central Kyoto for the lowest price, and leave with it an hour later.

Skip it if you want a private session, or a finished book rather than a sheet of paper. Classes are shared with up to five people.

From ¥3,300 per person · checked 11 Nov 2026 See on the studio's site
Students bind paper notebooks at a low wooden table Photo: GetYourGuide
No. 005-2Small group

Nishikawa Shigyo

1 hour · Up to 10 people · Minami ward, south Kyoto · Factory tour, then bookbinding

A paper-goods maker in southern Kyoto that opens its factory to visitors. You watch its artisans on a guided tour, then bind your own notebook using watoji, the traditional Japanese stitched binding, with a cover chosen from more than 30 colorful yuzen washi papers. You do not make paper here; the washi is ready-made. It is on this page as the one alternative we found in Kyoto that is about working with washi rather than forming it. The factory is a long way from central Kyoto.

Reviewers liked: Only one of the three reviews has text. It describes attentive staff in a small group and a book the reviewer was proud of, which they called an accordion book rather than a stitched one.

Reviewers didn't: Not stated. Too few reviews to judge.

Based on the 3 reviews on GetYourGuide (5.0), only one of which has written comments.

Pick it if you're more interested in Japanese bookbinding and patterned paper than in making a sheet yourself, and you like seeing a working factory.

Skip it if you want to make paper, or you want plenty of reviews to go on. This is binding with ready-made washi, and it has three reviews.

From €62 per person · checked 11 Nov 2026 See on GetYourGuide
A hand with tweezers arranging pressed flowers and leaves on a framed sheet for washi paper Photo: Wabunka
No. 005-3Private

Kamitowa (private journal session)

90 minutes · Private, 1 to 4 · Nakagyo, central Kyoto · Paper-making plus bookbinding

The same shop as the cheapest class on this page, in a private session that goes further. You form paper in two passes with pressed flowers between, dry it, then cut and bind it as the cover of a goshuincho, the folding book for temple and shrine stamps, with professionally made inner pages. A patterned yuzen washi cover is included. On its own site the shop sells paper-making (from 3,300 yen) and a 45-minute journal class with ready-made paper (3,900 yen); neither makes your own paper into a journal.

Reviewers liked: Reviewers name the father-and-son hosts and praise how patiently they coach each step, in fluent English. Many like ending up with a journal they can use right away for temple stamps, and the short documentary on how the paper is made.

Reviewers didn't: No recurring complaint in the reviews we read.

Summarized from the 24 reviews on Wabunka. Wabunka shows no star score.

Pick it if you want a private session in which your own paper becomes something you'll use on the trip, and you have at least two people.

Skip it if you're traveling alone on a budget. A solo booking is charged for two, and the shop's own class makes the same kind of paper for far less.

From ¥15,450 per person · checked 11 Nov 2026 See on Wabunka