About Us · OFUTON KOBO | A Japanese Shikibuton Atelier Since 1873

Japanese shikibuton, made with care — OFUTON KOBO

Find the shikibuton that suits your home.

Traditions change, but the c
are behind our shikibuton continues.

Across five generations,

we have carried our founding values into the way we work today.

Our family business, OFUTON KOBO, began in 1873.
That was the sixth year of Meiji.
Five generations later, we continue making Japanese shikibuton.

Every day at our workshop,
we focus on a simple goal:
to make a futon you are glad to bring home.

At our workshop
, experienced craftspeople prepare

the material
s, operate the equipment and oversee each stage of making. HIMARI and SORA have cotton covers, wool-blend filling and their own model-specific construction.

We want
more people to experience a carefully made Japanese shikibuton.

When you choose a shikibuton,
the details matter:
who made it,
its materials and construction,
how it feels and how it fits your home.
We explain those details so you can choose with confidence.

A shikibuton to make life a little richer.

OFUTON KOBO · made with care, placed in your hands

— CRAFTSMEN —

Craftsmen

At OFUTON KOBO — the family and seventeen craftspeople

A single shikibuton passes through five steps and dozens of hands. At OFUTON KOBO, behind every step there is a specific person — their name, their years of service, the step they handle, and their story with the workshop.

— SUCCESSION / Generations —

OFUTON KOBO · generations

One family · five generations · one calling

In the spring of 1873, OFUTON KOBO’s family business began as a cotton shop in Sarue, Kōtō, Tokyo. From founder Takahashi Yōzō to today, the business has passed through five generations — a cotton shop, futon manufacturing, a family crisis, and direct online sales. Though the generations bear different surnames, they share a commitment to the customer. Today, that means making every shikibuton worthy of the person who takes it home.

In 2017, the fourth-generation head Nakajō Teruo handed the representative’s post to the Fifth Generation, Nakajō Yūsuke. For a century-old workshop, succession is never an end — it is how the family trade has lasted to this day.

Fifth Generation

Nakajō Yūsuke

Representative Director (appointed 2017)

Joined in 2012 and first rotated through every step of the workshop — raw-cotton processing, fine wool, quilting, shipping, customer service. In 2013 he launched direct online sales, removing the wholesaler between the workshop and its customers. In 2017 he took over the representative’s post from his father.

“A family workshop is not made by printing a surname on a business card —
it is making every shikibuton worthy of that name.”

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4TH GENERATION

Nakajō Teruo

Former Representative Director (Heisei 1 — 2017)

Took over the workshop from his father in 1989 (Heisei 1). He led it through the low point of its 2001 civil-rehabilitation filing, and in the hardest years recalibrated the craft standard to one “you can recommend to family with a clear conscience.” In 2017 he passed the representative’s post to the Fifth Generation, Yūsuke.

“When I return to the workshop now and then,
and see the staff working with Yūsuke at the same thing handed down since 1873 —
that is the greatest reassurance of my generation.”

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— TEAM / The whole workshop —