This was a must-visit destination for me in Kyoto and I had been warned that it was hard to find. My perseverance was rewarded when I turned from the covered Shinkyogoku mall down a narrow corridor.
Emerging into the courtyard there is a small wooden store set in the middle of a quiet garden.
The store itself was small but immaculate. There was another visitor inside when I arrived and the two of us pretty much took up the whole space.
Misuyabari (bari means needle in Japanese) has been making handmade needles one at a time for 400 years.
Their points are super sharp and the eyes are round so they are easily threaded.
One of the most delightful finds was the tiny sewing kits fitted into kiri wood boxes with a silk pin cushion inside the lid, needles, thread and a handy pair of scissors.