Consider the portable banana case. The watermelon bag. Coffee pod holders. It is unsurprising that object fatigue should set in for some of us in an age where no product niche is too specific. I wouldn’t dare advocate for outright minimalism — certainly not where well-made crafts are concerned — but there is a case to be made for paring back one’s possessions in favour of things that fulfil multiple purposes. They should be useful, versatile, and at the very least, aesthetically pleasing. The furoshiki is one such object.
What are furoshiki?
Furoshiki refers to two things. One, a square-shaped piece of cloth that comes in various sizes. Two, the art of folding said cloth for various purposes. There are four broad use cases for furoshiki: to wrap objects; to use as a bag; to sling on one’s shoulder or back; to wear as a garment. Although furoshiki are typically sold in squares from 50cm to 100cm, in practice they do not have to be perfectly square. Most squarish pieces of fabric can, in a pinch, function as furoshiki of sorts. After all, humans have used cloth to wrap objects for centuries. Think of furoshiki as a concept.
A short history of furoshiki
One can find wrapping cloth in Japan as far back as the Nara period (710-794). The oldest surviving example housed in Shōsō-in, the treasure house at Tōdai-ji Temple in Nara, had a string attached to it and was used to wrap bugaku dance costumes. Later during the Heian period (794-1185), these cloths came to be called hira-tsutsumi, although the term koromotsutsumi is also found in the Wamyō Ruijūshō, the oldest extant Japanese dictionary organised into semantic headings, similar to a thesaurus.
There are a number of theories for the origins of the word ‘furoshiki,’ which is made up of the characters for 風呂 ‘bath’ and 敷 ‘to spread.’ One theory harks back to the Heian period, when bathing was also a way to purify one’s body and soul, carried out once or twice a year in white clothes rather than in the nude. (The infrequency of bathing corresponded with the liberal use of fragrant scents like incense and perfume, much like the French court under King Louis XIV.) Before and after bathing, bathers changed their clothes while standing on a piece of fabric spread out beneath them; essentially, it was a bath mat. The same cloth was then used to wrap their wet clothes and carried home. These pieces of cloth were distinct from decorative wrapping cloths, which were thought to shield gifts or other objects from impurity and other external threats.
A similar theory attributes this to practices at a shogun’s bathhouse during the Muromachi period (1336-1573). A shogun of the era (supposedly Ashikaga Yoshimitsu) would invite feudal lords to stay at his residence; the guests would wrap their kimono in furoshiki before they bathed. These furoshiki were marked with family crests so they were easily identified. Then, they would stand on this furoshiki while drying themselves off. Some historians think that furoshiki were also used as bath towels.
Sento, or public bathhouses, became more popular from the Edo period (1603-1867) onwards, as private bathhouses were prohibited to prevent fires. Regular citizens would go to the sento with their clothes and other bathing accoutrements wrapped in cloth. (Not so different from going to the sento today except for the use of bags.) It was supposedly around this time that the furoshiki acquired the wider meaning of ‘a cloth for wrapping objects,’ as opposed to one used solely for spreading out in the bath. The general public began to use furoshiki for various purposes — wrapping gifts and carrying books or food.
Beyond its practical functions, furoshiki have also had ritual functions in their own right. Historian Joy Hendry describes the mino-furoshiki that appear to be unique to the islands around Nagasaki prefecture. (In nearby prefectures they seem to have been known as a yomeiri-furoshiki.) This particular form of furoshiki was once an important part of a bridal trousseau, and among the woman’s most valuable possessions. It consisted of three pieces of cloth sewn together, and had the bride’s crest and family name emblazoned on it. The minofuroshiki would be used to cover the boxes that were sent with her to her new home, and carry presents back to her birth family; it would be laid on her coffin, and passed down through the family.
Similar to tote bags today, furoshiki have also been used as advertising tools. One of the earliest recorded examples is that of Shimomura Hikoemon, the founder of Dai-Monjiya, a dry goods store in Kyoto that would eventually become the Daimaru department store. His goods were wrapped in furoshiki emblazoned with his logo — the character 大 ‘dai’ enclosed in a circle — before they were transported from Kyoto to Edo. Since the goods were transported on foot along the Tokaido Highway, furoshiki essentially turned people into walking billboards.
Why use furoshiki?
The better question would be, why not use furoshiki? Recent years have revived the furoshiki as an environmentally-friendly alternative to wrapping paper, but this is only one of many possibilities. Few items are more versatile than this piece of cloth that takes up almost no space on one’s person, ready to be deployed any time with a few knots. It is a bandanna or babushka, a sash for a yukata, a rope, a makeshift handle to lengthen an existing bag, a bag for sudden purchases, a decorative but practical carrier for bento boxes and sake bottles.
The best justification for furoshiki might come from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in which Douglas Adams describes the utility of a towel. It is, he writes, “ the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have,” becoming a cloak for warmth, a temporary bed, an impromptu weapon for hand-to-hand combat (when wet), a makeshift sail on a mini raft, a distress signal, and of course, as a regular towel to dry yourself off with. He could just as well have been writing about the furoshiki.
Written by Florentyna Leow
Sources and further reading
Hendry, Joy. Wrapping Culture: Politeness, Presentation, and Power in Japan and Other Societies. United Kingdom: Clarendon Press, 1993.
Isao, Yokoyama. "The Furoshiki: A Versatile Treasure." nippon.com. Accessed 2 April 2025. https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g02370/
"A Culture of Wrapping." Ginza Motoji. Accessed 2 April 2025. https://www.motoji.co.jp/blogs/en-articles/a-culture-of-wrapping