What Is the Former Textile Processing Factory?
The Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Textile Processing Factory (青梅織物工業協同組合旧織物加工工場, Kyū Orimono Kakō Kōjō) is a single-story wooden factory under a sawtooth roof in Nishiwakecho, Ome City, Tokyo, built around 1935 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on November 29, 2016.
At 715 square meters it is by far the largest of the cooperative's four registered buildings, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs counts it as the biggest sawtooth-roofed factory surviving in the area. It was renovated in 1997 and 2006.
Why the Factory Was Registered, and What It Processed
The Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Textile Processing Factory was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2016, number 13-0371, and it is the only one of the four registered under the criterion of serving as a model of design. What earned it that standing is the structure itself: a large timber shed spanned by a row of trussed sawtooth roofs.
Sources disagree on what the factory was for. The Agency for Cultural Affairs says it was built for sizing, the step before weaving in which warp yarn is soaked in a starch or glue mixture so it is strong and smooth enough not to snap on the loom. Ome City's newsletter instead describes a shared finishing plant for cloth bound for export. One is a treatment for yarn before weaving, the other a treatment for fabric after it, so this article follows the agency and notes the city's account alongside it.
Either way, the Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Textile Processing Factory gave the district's small weaving shops equipment few of them could have afforded alone, a piece of shared infrastructure owned in common.
What to Look for at the Factory
Four sawtooth bays facing north
The roof runs in four sawtooth bays clad in steel sheet, each carried on a King post truss. The near-vertical face of each tooth is glazed and turned to the north, letting in even daylight all day without direct sun, which made it easier to judge the color of yarn and cloth and kinder to the materials.
The profile reads best from one of the short ends of the Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Textile Processing Factory, where you can sight along the roof and count the four teeth set at the same pitch.
Clapboard on the long walls
The long side walls are finished in Shitami-itabari clapboard. Covering 715 square meters on a single floor in timber, and dressing it in nothing more than plain boards, is typical of early Showa industrial building.
The cinema that went next door
A 2024 interview recalls that when a cinema was being planned for the grounds, this factory was the first candidate. It proved too large, with a damaged frame, a leaking roof and constant drafts, and the cinema went into the former testing station next door instead. The factory is now divided into studios.
Visiting the Former Textile Processing Factory
According to the cooperative, the Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Textile Processing Factory is used as six studio units under the name Sakura Factory and is not open to the public as a matter of course. The exterior can be seen from the paths on the grounds. People work in the studios, so please do not peer in or photograph the interiors without permission (checked October 1, 2026).
Directions are on the Ome Textile Industry Cooperative page.
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Q&A
- Why does the Former Textile Processing Factory in Ome have a sawtooth roof?
- The glazed faces of the teeth point north, bringing in steady daylight without direct sun. That helps when judging the color of yarn and cloth and protects the materials.
- How big is the Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Textile Processing Factory?
- It covers 715 square meters on one floor under four sawtooth bays, the largest sawtooth factory in the area according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
- What was done at the Former Textile Processing Factory?
- The agency says sizing of yarn before weaving; Ome City says finishing of export cloth. The sources disagree.
- Can I go inside the Former Textile Processing Factory?
- It is let out as studios and not regularly open. The exterior can be seen from the cooperative's grounds.
- Under what criterion was the Former Textile Processing Factory registered?
- As a model of design. Of the four buildings registered in 2016, it is the only one under that criterion.
Basic Information
| Name | Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Textile Processing Factory |
|---|---|
| Location | 123 Nishiwakecho 3-chome, Ome City, Tokyo, and other locations |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2016 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 715 square meters, wooden, single-story, 4 sawtooth bays |
| Owner | Ome Textile Industry Cooperative |
| Public Access | Interior not regularly open (used as studios); exterior visible from the grounds |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs Database: Former Textile Processing Factory (in Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011273
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Textile Processing Factory (in Japanese)
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/299119
- Koho Ome, January 15, 2017: The Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Buildings (in Japanese)
- https://www.city.ome.tokyo.jp/uploaded/attachment/6820.pdf
- Ome Textile Industry Cooperative official site (in Japanese)
- https://omeorimonokougyoukyoudoukumi.jimdosite.com/
- LIFULL HOME'S PRESS: How Cinema Neko Came to Be (in Japanese)
- https://www.homes.co.jp/cont/press/reform/reform_01371/
Last verified: 2026.10.01
