Eirakuya
Shijo-Karasuma, Kyoto
- Daily
- 10:00 to 19:00
The museum keeps the same hours, with last entry at 18:30, and may close now and then.
Source: hosotsuji-ihee-museum.com, checked 11 Oct 2026.
Eirakuya has sold cotton cloth in Kyoto since 1615, and today it's known for tenugui, printed cotton hand towels, in patterns that follow Kyoto's festivals and the 24 seasons of the old calendar. The main shop on Muromachi-dori shares a building with the Hosotsuji Ihee Museum, named after Hosotsuji Ihee, the name 14 generations of heads of the house have carried. The museum shows about 30 tenugui from the Edo period to now.
Insider tip
The shop is open 10:00 to 19:00 every day, and you don't need a museum ticket to go in. The museum is ¥1,200 for adults, which includes a voucher for a tenugui. If you want one for the wall, they sell frames made for them.
What's on near Eirakuya
Upcoming events within a ten-minute walk of Eirakuya, from the weekly Kyoto events calendar.
Gion Matsuri Float Procession, Hanagasa Parade and Kanko-sai (second procession)
祇園祭 後祭山鉾巡行・花傘巡行・還幸祭
Time Floats and Hanagasa from 9:30, mikoshi from about 16:00 Station Karasuma Oike (Karasuma Line, Tozai Line), 1 min walk
The second procession, revived in 2014, leaves Karasuma-Oike at 9:30 and runs the first route the other way. The Hanagasa parade sets off from Shimogyo Junior High for the Otabisho and Yasaka Shrine, and from about 16:00 the mikoshi go back to the shrine.
The Children Who Grew Up with Manga: 40 Years of Manga Culture in Europe
「Mangaと育った子どもたち：ヨーロッパにおけるManga文化の40年」展
Time 10:00 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30) Station Karasuma Oike (Karasuma Line, Tozai Line), 2 min walk
How Japanese manga was translated, read, criticised and taken up over 40 years in France, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Germany, ending with work by Europeans who grew up on it and now draw manga themselves. It's included in the museum ticket, and the museum is closed on Wednesdays.
ESU, CC BY 3.0 Medalist Exhibition
メダリスト展
Time 10:00 to 18:00, Fridays to 19:30 (last entry 30 min before) Station Karasuma Oike (Karasuma Line, Tozai Line), 3 min walk from exit 5
An exhibition on Tsurumaikada's figure skating manga Medalist, with new illustrations drawn for it, famous scenes from the manga, sets that recreate its world and picks from the TV anime. It fills the museum's third and fourth floor galleries.
Photograph by Mike Peel www.mikepeel.net., CC BY-SA 4.0 KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival 2027
KYOTOGRAPHIE 京都国際写真祭 2027
Time Hours and closing days vary by venue Station Karasuma Oike (Karasuma Line, Tozai Line)
A month of photography shows in machiya, galleries, museums and temples around the city, in exhibition spaces designed with architects and craftspeople. The 2027 theme, artists and venues are still to be announced.
Kan'ei: Beauty Nurtured by Peace
特別展「寛永 太平がはぐくむ美」
Time 10:00 to 18:00, Fridays to 19:30 (last entry 30 minutes before) Station Karasuma Oike (Karasuma Line, Tozai Line), 3 min walk
Marking 400 years since Emperor Go-Mizunoo's visit to Nijo Castle, the museum shows the Kan'ei culture of Hon'ami Koetsu, Tawaraya Sotatsu and Nonomura Ninsei, with scrolls and screens of the imperial procession and a Kano Sanraku hawk painting from Nijo Castle. It's closed on Mondays (open 12 Oct) and 13 Oct, and the ticket covers the permanent galleries too.
Photograph by Mike Peel www.mikepeel.net., CC BY-SA 4.0 Nearby
Around Shijo-Karasuma
Kyoto's old bank corner, with kimono streets one block back
Shijo-Karasuma is the crossing where the subway meets the Hankyu line from Osaka, and by 1915 three of the big banks stood on it. It doesn't look much like the Kyoto on the posters. Walk one block west, though, and you're on Muromachi-dori, the old kimono wholesalers' street, near the lanes where the Gion Matsuri floats are built every July.
Shijo-Karasuma has 16 places on the Roam Kyoto map: 4 shops, 3 shrines and temples, 3 cafes, 3 museums, 1 restaurant, 1 bar and 1 neighbourhood. Read the Shijo-Karasuma guide.
Good to know
- What is the address of Eirakuya?
- 368 Ennogyojacho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto (in Japanese: 京都市中京区室町通三条上ル役行者町368).
- What are the opening hours of Eirakuya?
- Daily 10:00 to 19:00. The museum keeps the same hours, with last entry at 18:30, and may close now and then.
- How do I get to Eirakuya?
- The nearest station is Karasuma Oike (Karasuma Line, Tozai Line). Eirakuya is in Shijo-Karasuma, Kyoto.
- How much does Eirakuya cost?
- Eirakuya is mid-range, marked ¥¥ on the site's price scale.
- How long do you need at Eirakuya?
- Plan for 30 min.
- When is the best time to visit Eirakuya?
- Afternoons.
Stay near Eirakuya
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