I would like to introduce customized noren culture in Japan to the world.
In Japan, there are certain amounts of demands for customized noren curtains. This is because many restaurants, shops and hotels hang their own noren curtains at entrances for appealing their names and logos. Original noren curtains are advertisements. This custom dates back presumably to the 13th century.
Following are examples of noren curtains at each shop entrance.
 |
| Japanese style hotel (Ryokan) |
 |
| A shop of room interior |
 |
| A public bath (sentou) |
 |
| A Japanese bar and restaurant |
 |
| A lumberyard |
 |
| A ancient bank (money transfer) |
A customized noren curtain usually costs 30,000JPY (approximately $250 USD) or more, but this is considered to be an advertisement cost in Japan.
When a noren curtain is displayed at an entrance, it means that the shop is open. When a noren curtain is put away behind the entrance, it means the business hour is over.
Besides advertising mean, a noren curtain is helpful for preventing sunshine reflection and wind into a shop.
 |
| A noren curtain helps preventing strong sunshine reflection into a shop. |
When you hang a noren curtain outside a shop, you need to hang it under an eave or an overhang roof. A long time exposure to direct sunshine will make a noren curtain degrade its color very quickly. You can expose a noren curtain to sunshine for a few hours a day, but all time exposure is not recommended.
 |
| Direct sunshine exposure should be limited within a few hours a day. |
I hope more people in the world will try noren curtains for adding different atmosphere both at home and at shop.
Thank you for visiting our blog!
