Yamagata Dantsu (Oriental Carpet Mills)
Company · not yet checked at the source · Image permission pending
- Made by
- Junnosuke Watanabe
- Date
- founded 1935; hand-tufting from 1965
- Place
- Yamanobe, Yamagata Prefecture
- Held by
- Yamagata Dantsu (Oriental Carpet Mills)
- Themes
- Companies & modern tufting, Global diffusion of tufting, Hand-tufting tools & the gun
Cite this source
Research notes
Founded in 1935 by Junnosuke Watanabe, a cotton weaver, to create work in a region hit by bad harvests; he brought seven carpet technicians from Beijing, and after about two years the team produced what the company calls Japan's first wool Chinese-style dantsu (hand-woven carpet). Incorporated 1946. The company says it added hand-tufted rugs ("tesashi dantsu", nicknamed "Craftons") in 1965 to cut cost and time; Wallpaper also dates its tufting-gun experiments to 1965. Commissions cited include the Imperial Palace, Imperial Hotel, Hotel Okura and Kabukiza. Why it matters: the main Japanese case of a hand-knotting workshop switching to the tufting gun, a parallel to Tai Ping's switch in Hong Kong. Dates: 1935 founding agreed; 1965 tufting from company and Wallpaper; the company elsewhere says "the 1960s". Number of Chinese instructors varies (seven vs one). Other pages with images: https://yamagatadantsu.co.jp/column/1880/ · https://yamagatadantsu.co.jp/column/1334/ · https://yamagatadantsu.co.jp/en/ Independent sources: https://react.magzter.com/stories/Fashion/Wallpaper/Wave-Culture · https://nihonmono.jp/en/article/18572/ · https://monocle.com/magazine/issues/181/rugs-to-riches Research note (Oct 2026): facts taken from search-result summaries; the pages themselves weren't opened. Check the cited pages before quoting.