Narakawa, Shiojiri (Kiso lacquer district), Nagano, Japan
Officially Michi-no-Eki Kiso Narakawa / Kiso Kurashi-no-Kogeikan, this roadside station sits in Kiso-Hirasawa, Shiojiri, a working Kiso lacquerware town. It sells pieces from local lacquer makers, runs a lacquer-display area and workshops, and ships via an online shop.
Best for Curated Kiso lacquerware from multiple local makers
The facility's full name, Michi-no-Eki Kiso Narakawa / Kiso Kurashi-no-Kogeikan, reflects a merger of two functions: a roadside-station rest stop (michi-no-eki) and a dedicated lacquerware showcase building. It stands in Kiso-Hirasawa, part of Shiojiri City, one of the towns most associated with Kiso lacquerware production and a stop on the historic Nakasendo trade route, where the craft developed in part as a souvenir trade for travelers during the Edo period.
Inside, the center groups traditional-craft sales corners together with a dedicated lacquer-coating display area explaining the finishing process, drawing on work from multiple local lacquer workshops rather than a single maker. A adjoining market area, Narakawa Ichiba, sells regional agricultural products, wine and sake alongside the lacquerware.
The center also runs reservation-based lacquerware experience workshops, an on-site restaurant and cafe, and an online shop for remote orders, and notes that Kiso lacquerware still sees genuine daily use locally, including in area school cafeterias.
Motoyama Shikkiten produces Kiso lacquerware in Shiojiri's Kiso-Hirasawa district, working the craft from raw material through final coating for tableware, furniture, and commercial fixtures such as soba-restaurant tools. The shop operates an attached Urushi Craft Museum and takes custom orders plus lacquerware repair and restoration.
Best for Kiso lacquerware tableware and furniture with an on-site urushi museum
Based in Shiojiri, Nagano, Nakamura Shikki Sangyo sells Kiso lacquerware alongside imported lacquer pieces, folk-craft furniture, textiles and ceramics. It also runs related retail lines, including the contemporary lacquerware brand WABI×SABI.
Best for Kiso lacquerware, gift tableware and folk-craft homewares
Nishino Urushi Kobo is the workshop of lacquerer Nishino Takaaki, who trained under the late Sugishita Shigeru, was certified a Kiso lacquerware Traditional Craftsman in 2013, and opened independently in Kiso-Hirasawa in 2019. He hand-finishes chopsticks and small wares in sumi-jiro and shunkei-nuri lacquer techniques.
Best for Hand-lacquered chopsticks by a certified Kiso Traditional Craftsman
Nishino Urushi Kobo is a one-person lacquer workshop on the main street of Kiso-Hirasawa, the Nagano lacquer-trade town recognized by Japan's economy ministry as a traditional-craft production area. It belongs to Nishino Takaaki, an upper-lacquerer (nurishi) who entered the trade in 1988.
Nishino studied in the maki-e department of the Kiso Lacquer Art School under the late Sugishita Shigeru, then apprenticed at established Kiso lacquerware shops before setting up on his own. He was certified a Traditional Craftsman of Kiso lacquerware in 2013 and, in 2016, received the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award at the National Traditional Crafts Public Exhibition — one of the field's higher public honors. He founded Nishino Urushi Kobo under his own name in Kiso-Hirasawa in 2019.
The workshop's core output is hand-lacquered chopsticks and small wares finished in Kiso sumi-jiro, nuribunke ro-iro, and shunkei-nuri techniques, sold through regional outlets including the Kiso no Kurashi Craft Museum, shops in the Narai-juku post town, and department-store lacquerware corners. Nishino has also taken on corporate collaborations applying the same hand-lacquering to everyday objects such as bento boxes and gear-shift knobs, framing the work as pairing traditional technique with newer applications rather than reproducing set forms alone.
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