TL;DR: A fukuro obi is the formal one: full width end to end, about 4 to 4.5m long, patterned on one face. A nagoya obi is the everyday one: shorter, and stitched down to half width along part of its length, so it has an obvious step in it. A hanhaba obi is the casual one: about half the standard width, no accessories needed to wear it. For decor the type decides everything practical, because it sets the length you get, the width on your table, and a good part of the price.
Almost every listing you will read says “vintage Japanese obi” and stops there. The type is the first thing we record on a piece after the fibre, because a buyer who knows it can predict the dimensions before reading them, and can tell when a price does not match what is being sold.
The three at a glance#
| | Fukuro obi | Nagoya obi | Hanhaba obi | |—|—|—|—| | Width | Around 30–32cm, constant | Full width in the body, folded to half at one end | Around 15cm, constant | | Length | Roughly 4–4.5m | Shorter, roughly 3.1–3.5m | Shorter and variable | | Formality | Formal; weddings and ceremonies | Everyday to semi-formal, depending on the pattern | Casual; yukata and everyday wear | | Pattern | On one face only, typically over about sixty per cent of the length | Often concentrated where it shows when tied | Frequently reversible, two patterns | | Accessories to wear | Needs obijime cord and obiage scarf | Needs them | Can be tied without either | | As a table runner | The default choice; full length, full width | Workable, but the stitched half-width section has to be hidden or used as the fall | Narrow; better on a console or shelf | | Price as vintage | Highest of the three, all else equal | Middle | Lowest |
The formality ladder in the middle row is the one that drives value in this market. Formal pieces were made in better materials with more work in them, which is why the same fibre and era can carry very different prices across the three types.
How do you recognise a fukuro obi?#
Lay it out and it is the same width all the way along, with no stitched-down section, and it is long. That combination is the tell.
The construction detail behind the name is worth knowing: fukuro means bag, and the type is so called because it is made as a tube or a doubled cloth rather than a single thick sheet, with the patterned face joined to a plainer reverse. That is lighter than the older maru obi it replaced, which was patterned on both faces and heavy enough to be a burden. The pattern on a fukuro obi typically covers most but not all of the length, because the sections that end up hidden inside the knot do not need decorating. When you use one as a runner, that unpatterned run is exactly where you fold or where you let the plain section disappear under a centrepiece.
Both pieces currently in our shop are fukuro obi from the late Showa era, 440cm long and around 31cm wide, one in champagne brocade with gold and silver metallic threadwork and one in silver with relief embroidery. If you are choosing a first piece for a dining table, this is the type you want, for the simple reason that it is the only one long enough to cover a long table without joins.
How do you recognise a nagoya obi?#
By the step. Part of a nagoya obi is folded in half along its length and stitched that way at the factory, so the sash has a full-width body and a narrow tail. Nothing else in the category looks like that. The type was designed in the early twentieth century as a simpler, faster thing to put on than a fukuro obi, which is exactly why it is common: it was the practical everyday choice for generations.
For decor that stitched section is the question to settle before you buy. You can fold the runner so the half-width tail hangs off the end of the table, where it reads as a deliberate taper, or you can position it under a centrepiece. What you cannot do is pretend it is not there. A nagoya obi is also shorter, so on a long table you may be covering two thirds of the length rather than all of it.
Patterns on nagoya obi run from very plain to genuinely fine, and a well-woven one in silk can be a better object than a mediocre fukuro. The formality ladder sets the starting price, not the ceiling.
How do you recognise a hanhaba obi?#
Han means half and haba means width, and that is the whole description: roughly 15cm rather than roughly 30cm. It is the type worn with yukata and everyday kimono, and it can be tied without the cord and scarf the other two need, which is why it survives in modern casual wear.
As a table runner down the centre of a dining table it usually looks underfed. Where it earns its place is on narrow surfaces: a console table, a sideboard, a mantel, a shelf edge, or as a vertical strip on a wall where a full-width obi would dominate. Many hanhaba obi are reversible with a different pattern on each face, which is a genuinely useful feature for decor: one object, two schemes.
Prices sit at the bottom of the range, which also makes a hanhaba the sensible piece to practise on if you are still learning to read fibre and condition.
Does the type tell you anything about age or value?#
It narrows the field rather than settling it. Four factors set what a vintage obi is worth, and type is only the first.
- Type and formality. Fukuro at the top, then nagoya, then hanhaba, all else equal.
- Fibre. Pure silk above silk blend above polyester, and this is the single largest factor in the price. The four home tests in our guide to telling silk from polyester are the ones to run before paying a silk price.
- Era. Meiji before 1912 above Taisho from 1912 to 1926 above early Showa above late Showa after 1960. The nagoya obi as a type only appears in the twentieth century, which is itself a small dating clue.
- Weave and condition. Brocade, tapestry weave and gauze command premiums; hidden staining under the folds, moth holes, edge fraying and colour fade take them away. Light fold lines are expected on any stored piece and are not a defect.
The practical use of that list is catching mismatches. A piece described as a formal fukuro obi that is 3.2m long with a stitched half-width section is a nagoya obi, whatever the listing says. That is usually carelessness rather than dishonesty, but it changes what the thing is worth, and it tells you how carefully the rest of the description was written.
Choosing by what you want to do with it#
- Long dining table, runner, full coverage: fukuro obi. It is the only type with the length.
- Small or round table: any of the three; a fukuro folds double and gains presence rather than losing it. The fold options are in our guide to styling an obi as a table runner.
- Wall hanging at eye level: fukuro or a well-patterned nagoya, so the motif has room to be read. Mounting is covered in the obi wall hanging guide.
- Console, sideboard, mantel or shelf: hanhaba, or a nagoya with its narrow tail positioned to fall.
- First piece, learning the category: a hanhaba or an entry-tier polyester nagoya, cheap enough that handling it teaches you something without costing much.
Whatever the type, the care is the same and it is strict: spot clean only, out of direct sunlight, stored rolled rather than creased. The reasons behind each of those are in our care guide, and the vocabulary for the whole category is in the complete guide to vintage obi as home decor.
Every piece in the KINU Tokyo shop is listed with its type, fabric, era, exact dimensions and condition, and each one is one of one.