Born in 1948 in Nibutani, Biratori Town, Hokkaido. In the past, attus(※1) weaving was common in every household in Nibutani. She helped her mother, Nagano Chieko, an attus weaver, with thread-making from a young age. When she was in the third year of junior high school, she started serious activity by weaving and selling attus in place of her hospitalized mother. She married the late woodcarver Fujiya Noriyuki in 1967. Around 1983, she learned embroidery and garment tailoring from Kayano Reiko. She found joy in seeing the attus she wove turned into finished garments, which made weaving even more enjoyable. After the passing of Noriyuki in 2007, she continued to dedicate herself to training successors as a vocational training instructor (weaving course) in Nibutani.

Her fans appreciate her unique-textured and colored woven attus garments, drawstring bags, and carefully embroidered, brightly colored matampus (headbands). She is particular about natural dyeing for attus and embroidery threads, especially indigo, which is popular among fans as "Rumiko Blue." She also uses various plants such as mugwort and marigold, as well as walnut husks (the soft outer part of the shell), coffee, and wood shavings from yew leftover from her husband’s woodcarving. For mordants, she frequently uses iron and alum. The embroidered Ainu patterns emphasize the unique style of Nibutani handed down in the Saru River basin.

She is not only engaged in the creation of crafts, but also devotes herself to the promotion of Ainu culture and the fostering of human resources, drawing on her extensive knowledge and experience through her roles as Vice President of the Biratori Ainu Cultural Preservation Society, Advisor to the Foundation for Ainu Culture, and Board Member of the Nibutani Tourism Association.

She is the owner of Fujitani Mingei Shop, a member of the Nibutani Craft Association, is one of the makers of the traditional craft “Nibutani Attus,” and holds the title of Traditional Crafts Master.

※1 Attus is a traditional Ainu textile, plain-woven from fibers extracted from the inner bark of trees such as the Japanese elm (Ulmus laciniata, also known as lobed elm), as well as the garments made from it. Nibutani Attus, woven using traditional techniques handed down in the Nibutani region of Biratori, is a designated Traditional Craft Product of Japan. Nibutani Attus is a special brand that can only be called as such when created only by specially recognized weavers.

Contact Information

Fujiya Mingeiten (Fujiya Folk Crafts Shop)
Nibutani, Biratori-cho, Saru-gun, Hokkaido 055-0101, Japan
TEL (International): +81-1457-2-3408