Small Japanese Hand Towels Add Festive Touch to Gifts - The Japan News

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Little gifts come in handy this time of year on such occasions as visits home and for summer greetings, and wrapping them in a small tenugui hand towel can add a playful — and traditionally Japanese — touch. The Mamegui store in Tokyo Station’s Gransta shopping area offers small tenugui with about 120 different patterns, ranging from typical summer motifs like watermelons and morning glories to animals such as dogs and cats. Boxes of sweets wrapped up in the cloths are on display in the shop. Compared to a typical tenugui cloth that is about 90 centimeters long and 33 centimeters wide, Mamegui offers pieces that are about 27 centimeters on each side. The shop’s operator, Kamawanu Co., was founded in 1987 as a store specializing in tenugui hand towels in Tokyo’s Daikanyama district. The idea of selling smaller tenugui emerged when the company was preparing to open the Tokyo Station shop in 2007. Tokyo Station is “a landmark for meetings and departures,” and the company decided to offer small towels in the hope they would be used to “wrap gifts imbued with people’s feelings.” Each pattern and design has its own meaning. For instance, hemp leaf represents a wish for a child’s growth because the plant grows quickly. A dragonfly means good luck in winning games because the insect can only move forward.