The dignified crests adorning various items from Noren curtains to temple roofs are a common sight in Kyoto. These symbols of families and organizations originated over 1,000 years ago. Once the ...

The wooden displays and furniture design are inspired by the Nihonbashi of the Edo period (1603-1868). Different sceneries of that time are featured throughout the indigo and white noren curtains.

It’s easy to spot Toy Box with its signature red noren curtains marking the entrance. The shop offers shoyu (soy), shio (salt) and miso ramen (¥1,100 each), but ...

The town of Nanao in Ishikawa Prefecture is known for its Seihaku Festival, one of the events collectively ins… ...

This place is crazy. Duck in under the noren curtains hanging over the front door, and get hammered by a wall of sound, as grill chefs shout loud welcomes while hovering over long line-ups of ...

So it is a pleasant surprise to find fresh noren curtains and a regalia of iwai hana (celebration flowers) outside a newly opened store.

Noren curtains hang over the front door. Wolter Peeters Then I sleuth the culprit: it's the grill. Not charcoal, and not even gas, but electric.

These noren typically come in one shape — rectangular — but in many sizes and an array of colors, and each signifies an element of the house or building it adorns.