--- title: "Where Washi Tape Came From: Kamoi Kakoshi and mt" canonical: "https://stationerytimes.com/stories/washi-tape-history/" description: "How a Kurashiki flypaper and masking-tape maker turned three women's little press into mt washi tape in 2008, with dated tours, exhibitions and overseas spread." category: "Stories" published: 2026-10-21 updated: 2026-10-21 author: "Ellis Penhale" publisher: "Stationery Times" sources: 19 organizations: - name: "Kamoi Kakoshi Co., Ltd." country: "Japan" founded: "1923" brands: ["mt"] source: "https://www.kamoi-net.co.jp/company/history.html" --- # Where Washi Tape Came From: Kamoi Kakoshi and mt > Washi tape began as industrial masking tape. Kamoi Kakoshi, a Kurashiki, Okayama maker founded in 1923, made paper painting tape for builders and car shops. In 2006 three women who loved its tape asked to tour the factory; their request for more colors led to mt, unveiled in February 2008 and sold from March 2008. - URL: https://stationerytimes.com/stories/washi-tape-history/ - Category: Stories - Author: Ellis Penhale - Published: 2026-10-21 - Updated: 2026-10-21 ![A roll of masking tape unrolling into a washi tape timeline strip from 1923 to 2014](https://stationerytimes.com/images/raster/washi-tape-history-16x9.png) *Kamoi Kakoshi's masking tape, from the 1923 flypaper works to mt in 2008 and its first exhibitions, tours and overseas shows (not to scale).* Original drawing (SVG): . Drawings © 2026 Stationery Times, reusable with credit under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ## Key takeaways - Kamoi Kakoshi was founded on February 15, 1923 as a flypaper works and began making paper adhesive tape at a new factory in 1961. - Kurashiki City's 2021 newsletter dates the three women's first contact, an email asking for a factory tour, to 2006; about a year of prototypes followed. - mt was shown at the Gift Show in February 2008, went on sale in March 2008 with 20 colors and won a Good Design Award that year. - The first mt ex exhibition ran October 20 to 27, 2009; mt ex reached Taipei, Bangkok and Seoul in 2012, and an mt store opened in New York on May 14, 2014. - The yearly mt factory tour began May 15, 2012; Kamoi says it draws about 14,000 visitors, and 2025's 14th tour charged ¥500 (about US$3.20). ## Where did washi tape come from? **Washi tape came from Japanese industrial masking tape: Kamoi Kakoshi, a tape maker in Kurashiki, Okayama, turned its paper painting tape into the colored mt brand in 2008.** Before then, masking tape was something builders and car painters used to keep paint off the wrong surface. Kamoi's own history, its mt brand pages and a 2021 feature in Kurashiki City's newsletter tell the same story. Three women who loved plain masking tape sent the company a self-made booklet and asked for more colors. Kamoi's mt page says it started with "a single book". Kamoi still makes mostly industrial tape. A 2022 factory report on the mt site says industrial masking tape makes up about 80% of the company's output. ## Washi tape timeline: Kamoi Kakoshi and mt | Date | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | February 15, 1923 | Toshiro Kamoi founds the Kamoi flypaper works in Kurashiki | Kamoi company profile and history | | 1924 | Exports begin to Korea, Manchuria, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and the Americas | Kamoi history | | 1946 | Company renamed Kamoi Kakoshi Co., Ltd. (カモ井加工紙株式会社) | Kamoi history | | 1961 | New Tomii factory starts making paper adhesive tape (on sale January 1962) | Kamoi history | | 2006 | Three women email asking to tour the factory and send their little press | Kurashiki City newsletter, Dec. 2021 | | February 2008 | mt unveiled at the Gift Show trade fair | Kamoi history | | March 2008 | mt goes on sale with 20 colors; Good Design Award 2008 | Kamoi history; mt brand page | | October 20–27, 2009 | First mt ex exhibition | mt event list | | 2011 | Charity tape for the Great East Japan Earthquake | Kamoi history | | Spring 2012 | Kamoi museum opens in an old factory building on the head-office site | mt birth story | | May 15–27, 2012 | First mt factory tour, Kurashiki | mt event page | | 2012 | mt ex in Taipei (April 27), Bangkok (September 4) and Seoul (October 6) | mt event list | | May 14–26, 2014 | mt store in New York | mt event page | | February 16, 2017 | mt lab., mt's first street-front shop, opens in Kuramae (Kotobuki, Taito), Tokyo | mt event page; Kamoi history | | 2021 | New mt factory building (the "2.5 factory") completed | Kamoi history | | February 15, 2023 | Kamoi Kakoshi turns 100 | Kamoi history | | 2025 | 14th mt factory tour, with a ¥500 (about US$3.20) fee | mt event page | Kamoi's history page lists events by decade. We read each year with the events printed before it, a reading that matches the dates on the mt site, such as mt lab.'s February 16, 2017 opening. ## What did Kamoi Kakoshi make before washi tape? **Flypaper, insecticide and then industrial masking tape.** Kamoi's history says founder Toshiro Kamoi started the company in 1923 to make flat flypaper under a "rising sun" trademark, and added the hanging Ribbon Haitori flypaper in 1930. ("Hai" is Okayama dialect for fly.) Kurashiki City's newsletter says flypaper sales fell after the war as hygiene improved, so Kamoi moved its "sticking" know-how into adhesive tape. Its history dates paper adhesive tape to the Tomii factory in 1961. The tape went to car painting as mass-market cars spread, to packaging as cardboard replaced wooden crates, and to building sites. High-rise construction from the late 1960s brought demand for sealing tape. Kamoi's history says it answered with a washi sealing tape, No.3303, which it still sells. The newsletter adds that Kamoi tested tapes with painters and builders on site and gave them nicknames such as "Masamune" (for a sword-straight edge) and "Lupin" (peels off without a trace). ## Who were the three women behind mt? **Three masking-tape fans whose self-published booklet showed Kamoi what its tape could do.** An April 2022 report on the mt site names them as Ogihara (Nami Ogihara, whose name the mt stock project carries), Inomata and Tsujimoto. Toyo Keizai's January 28, 2010 article says they lived in Tokyo. The report says they had made a little press about masking tape and wanted their second issue to show where it was made. They contacted several companies, and Kamoi was the only one to answer. Ogihara recalls seeing colors at the factory she had never seen before. Kurashiki City's newsletter dates the first contact to 2006: an email asking for a factory tour. Kamoi had never hosted public visitors, but the booklet, with writing on tape and layered strips that let the colors show through, persuaded a director to say yes. The titles differ slightly. The city calls him the then 常務 (managing director); the mt report names Taniguchi, the 専務 (senior managing director), as the one who saw "a new possibility for masking tape". ## How did mt launch in 2008? **After about a year of prototypes, Kamoi unveiled mt at the Gift Show in February 2008 and started selling it in March 2008.** The women had asked for "more colors", and Kamoi set up a project team to make them. Toyo Keizai says three employees began the work. The newsletter says everything was new, because lengths, sizes and sales channels differed from industrial tape. mt started with 20 colors drawn from Japanese traditional colors; the brand page names ruri (lapis), uguisu (bush-warbler green), wakanae (young rice green), himawari (sunflower) and haimurasaki (gray-purple). Toyo Keizai reported 83 colors and patterns by January 2010, with sales beating plan by more than 1.5 times each year. The mt report says some people at the time predicted the boom would be over in three years. Our [mt washi tape guide](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/mt-washi-tape/) covers today's basic roll: 15 mm wide, 7 m on current Japanese single rolls, ¥231 (about US$1.50) at Maruzen Junkudo. ## What makes washi different from other tape papers? **Washi is thinner and more supple than the crepe and kraft papers used for many masking tapes, yet strong enough to peel off in one piece.** mt's birth-story page says Japan's washi masking tape is thinner than foreign-made tape but still strong, sticks well and peels without leaving adhesive behind. Kamoi itself also makes kraft-paper tape and a heat-resistant painting tape on crepe paper, according to the mt history page. Kurashiki City's newsletter says about 80% of Kamoi's adhesive tape uses washi, that Kamoi designs even the fiber direction for clean edges, thinness and strength, and that it uses FSC-certified washi. The mt brand page says the thin, smooth washi tears easily by hand, follows the shape it's stuck to and doesn't break partway when peeled. The same paper turns up in washi stickers such as [Furukawashiko washi flakes](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/furukawashiko-washi-flake-stickers/) and [Midori Yuru Log stickers](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/midori-yuru-log-stickers/). ## How is mt washi tape made? **Kamoi coats a large roll of paper, mostly washi, with adhesive on one side and a release agent on the other, dries it, winds it and slits it to width.** That's the process the 2022 mt factory report describes. The adhesive is made in-house from natural rubber imported from Thailand. The report says the printed mt designs go onto plain white washi on presses at the Kurashiki head-office factory. It also mentions mt only a few millimeters wide, which is hard to cut cleanly. ## When did the mt factory tours and exhibitions start? **The first mt ex exhibition ran October 20 to 27, 2009, and the first mt factory tour May 15 to 27, 2012.** mt's event list then shows mt ex shows in Kyoto and Sapporo in 2010, Fukuoka and Hiroshima in 2011, and Sendai in 2012. The factory tour has been held at the Kurashiki head office and factory most years since, reaching vol.14 in 2025. Kamoi's mt company page says it draws about 14,000 visitors from around the world. For the 2025 tour, places were drawn by lottery (applications January 9 to 14) and Kamoi began charging ¥500 (about US$3.20) a visitor, paid in cash on the day. The tour sells tour-only tapes, outlet rolls and tape cut to a chosen width. ## How did washi tape spread to Korea and the US? **Through Kamoi's own exhibitions and local distributors: mt ex reached Seoul in October 2012, and an mt store ran in New York in May 2014.** mt's event list puts mt ex Taipei from April 27, 2012, Bangkok from September 4, 2012 and Seoul from October 6 to 23, 2012, followed by Singapore and Hong Kong in 2013 and another Seoul show, mt EX in the Paper Gallery, in 2018. In the US, the mt site lists an mt store in New York from May 14 to 26, 2014, and an mt booth at the NY NOW trade show in August 2018. Its distributor list names Sweet Bella, LLC for the USA and Doosung Paper Co., Ltd. for Korea. Kamoi's company profile also lists KAMOI Europe GmbH in Pulheim, Germany. For how mt fits Japan's wider stationery industry, see our story on [Japanese stationery culture](https://stationerytimes.com/stories/japan-stationery-culture/). ## Which awards has mt won? **mt won a Good Design Award in 2008, and its exhibitions have won D&AD, One Show, red dot and Cannes Lions awards.** mt's English award page lists a D&AD 2010 Silver for mt ex Tokyo, a D&AD 2016 Black Pencil for mt expo 2015, and a 2013 Cannes Lions Design Gold for mt ex Sendai. The Japanese company page gives "Cannes Lions 2016 Gold" instead of 2013, so one of the two pages is off. We use the English page's itemized list. ## How is washi tape used in journaling today? **As borders, tabs, labels and a way to hold photos and tickets in a page without damage.** Our [best journaling stickers and washi tape](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/best-journaling-stickers-and-washi-tape/) roundup picks mt as its washi tape. Planner keepers use it in a [Hobonichi Techo](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/hobonichi-techo-original/) or a [TRAVELER'S notebook](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/travelers-notebook-regular/), where it peels off thin paper cleanly. ## Frequently asked questions ### Who invented washi tape? No single inventor is named. Washi-based masking tape was an industrial product in Japan long before crafts; Kamoi Kakoshi made paper painting tape from 1961. The decorative category grew from mt, which Kamoi developed after three women asked for more colors and launched in 2008. ### When did mt washi tape come out? Kamoi Kakoshi's company history says mt was unveiled at the Gift Show in February 2008 and went on sale in March 2008. Toyo Keizai reported a February 2008 launch. Some shops give 2006, which is the year the three women first contacted Kamoi. ### Who inspired mt washi tape? Three women who made a little press (a self-published booklet) about masking tape; an April 2022 report on the mt site names them as Ogihara, Inomata and Tsujimoto. Kurashiki City's newsletter and Toyo Keizai describe them only as three women; Toyo Keizai says they lived in Tokyo. ### Why is it called washi tape? Because the tape is made of washi, thin Japanese paper. Kamoi itself calls mt masking tape (マスキングテープ). Kurashiki City says about 80% of the adhesive tape Kamoi makes uses washi. ### Can you visit the mt washi tape factory? Only during the yearly mt factory tour at Kamoi's Kurashiki head office and factory. The first ran May 15 to 27, 2012; for the 14th, in 2025, places were drawn by lottery and Kamoi charged ¥500 (about US$3.20) a visitor, cash only. ### Who sells mt washi tape in the US and Korea? mt's list of official distributors names Sweet Bella, LLC for the USA and Doosung Paper Co., Ltd. for Korea. Canada (DeSerres), the UK and Ireland (Stone Marketing) and France (OZ International) have their own distributors. ### Is all washi tape made by Kamoi Kakoshi? No. mt is Kamoi's brand, but other Japanese paper and stationery companies make washi tape and washi stickers too. This story covers mt because Kamoi's own history documents how it began. ### How many mt designs are there? mt's brand page says more than 1,000 designs; the 2022 report on the mt site and Kurashiki City's newsletter both say more than 4,000 types. Both are lower bounds, and the larger count may include sizes and limited editions. ## Sources - [Kamoi Kakoshi (Japanese): 沿革・ヒストリー, company history 1923–2023 (flypaper works 1923; paper tape 1961; mt at the Gift Show February 2008, on sale March 2008; Good Design Award)](https://www.kamoi-net.co.jp/company/history.html) - [Kamoi Kakoshi (Japanese): 会社概要, company profile (founded February 15, 1923; capital, 470 staff, factories, Thai and German affiliates)](https://www.kamoi-net.co.jp/company/profile.html) - [Kamoi Kakoshi (Japanese): ごあいさつ, president's message (the company started with Kamoi flypaper)](https://www.kamoi-net.co.jp/company/message.html) - [mt (Japanese): 誕生ストーリー, mt birth story (a mini-book by three women; 20 colors; Kamoi museum spring 2012)](https://www.masking-tape.jp/brand/story/) - [mt (Japanese): ブランド, brand page (20 traditional colors; over 1,000 designs; washi tears by hand, doesn't break when peeled)](https://www.masking-tape.jp/about/brand/) - [mt (Japanese): 歴史, brand history (1923 to the 2008 launch)](https://www.masking-tape.jp/brand/history/) - [mt (Japanese): 会社概要, company page (awards; exhibitions in Bangkok, Seoul, Taipei, NY, Paris; about 14,000 factory-tour visitors)](https://www.masking-tape.jp/about/company/) - [mt stock (Japanese): REPORT 工場見学編 2022.4月, factory visit with Nami Ogihara (the three women, the little press, about a year of prototypes, 80% industrial)](https://www.masking-tape.jp/mt-stock/report1.php) - [mt (Japanese): mt ex展, exhibition list 2009–2022 (first mt ex October 20–27, 2009; Taipei, Bangkok, Seoul 2012)](https://www.masking-tape.jp/event/mt-ex/) - [mt (Japanese): mt factory tour, past tours vol.1 2012 to vol.14 2025](https://www.masking-tape.jp/event/mtfactorytour/) - [mt (Japanese): mt factory tour 2012 開催 (May 15–27, 2012, Kurashiki head office and factory)](https://www.masking-tape.jp/event/details/?id=408) - [mt (Japanese/English): 第14回 mt factory tour (2025; ¥500 participation fee, lottery entry)](https://www.masking-tape.jp/event/details/?id=591) - [mt (Japanese): mt 初の路面店「mt lab.」オープン！ (first street-front shop, from February 16, 2017, Kotobuki 3-14-5, Taito, Tokyo)](https://www.masking-tape.jp/event/2017/01/mt-lab.html) - [mt: mt store in New York (May 14–26, 2014)](https://www.masking-tape.jp/event/2014/05/mt-store-in-new-york.html) - [mt (English): Awarding result (Good Design 2008, D&AD, Cannes Lions, red dot)](https://www.masking-tape.jp/en/sp/brand/award/) - [mt (English): Official mt Distributors (USA: Sweet Bella, LLC; Korea: Doosung Paper Co., Ltd.)](https://www.masking-tape.jp/en/sp/officialdistributors/) - [Kurashiki City (Japanese): クラシキ文華新聞 Vol.27, December 2021, feature on Kamoi Kakoshi (2006 email; little press; 80% washi; FSC washi; tours since 2012) (PDF)](https://citysales.city.kurashiki.okayama.jp/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/newsletter27.pdf) - [Toyo Keizai (Japanese), January 28, 2010: マスキングテープ article (three Tokyo women; February 2008 launch; 83 colors and patterns; sales 1.5 times plan)](https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/3629?display=b) - [Sweet Bella (US wholesale): mt masking tape and mt CASA](https://www.sweetbellausa.com/)