Swords, hip-hop and the samurai who smells of sunflowers

A wild, breakdancing outlaw and a calm, bespectacled ronin are about to be executed when a young waitress saves them, on one condition: they help her find a mysterious samurai who smells of sunflowers. Their road trip across old Japan is set to hip-hop beats, full of scratching records, graffiti and swordfights that move like dance battles. Samurai Champloo is one of the coolest anime ever made, and its soundtrack helped shape the lo-fi music people study to today. A Samurai Champloo-inspired rug brings that mix into a room: a sunflower field, a woodblock wave with a turntable, a vinyl record, Edo-style graffiti or a lo-fi sunset. Every design is printed into soft velvet and goes in the washing machine.

Samurai Champloo-inspired designs

Design	The look	Best in
Sunflower field	Tall sunflowers under a blue summer sky	Bedrooms, living rooms
Woodblock wave	An old-style wave with a turntable riding it	Music rooms, studios
Vinyl record	A spinning record on a round rug	Music corners, dorms
Edo graffiti	Spray-paint tags on paper screens and wood	Teen rooms, game rooms
Lo-fi sunset	A warm, hazy sunset over rooftops	Study corners, bedrooms
Flying squirrel	A tiny squirrel gliding across the sky	Kids' rooms, cozy corners

The series

Samurai Champloo is an original anime made by the studio Manglobe and directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, the director of Cowboy Bebop. It aired in 2004 and 2005, 26 episodes in all. Set in Japan's Edo period, it mixes history with modern hip-hop style, from beatboxing to graffiti. Mugen, a reckless fighter from the Ryukyu Islands with a breakdance-inspired style, and Jin, a quiet, disciplined ronin, can't stand each other, but they agree to escort Fuu, a determined young woman, on her search for the samurai who smells of sunflowers. Along the way, they meet gamblers, artists, outlaws and a surprising number of historical references.

Sunflowers

The whole journey is a search for a man who smells of sunflowers, and the flowers bloom through the series' most memorable moments. A rug of tall sunflowers swaying under a bright blue summer sky is a joyful, warm design for a bedroom or a living room, and a beautiful floral rug to anyone who hasn't seen the show. As a round rug, a single huge sunflower fills the circle. Our round rugs come from 2.6 to 5.9 ft (80 to 180 cm) across. For more blooms, see our flower rugs.

Woodblock waves and turntables

The series' look blends Edo-period woodblock prints with hip-hop culture. A rug of a classic curling wave in Prussian blue and cream, in the style of old Japanese prints, with a turntable riding the crest, is a clever, striking design for a music room or a studio. Our office and studio rugs page has more setups.

Ukiyo-e

Woodblock prints, called ukiyo-e, or pictures of the floating world, flourished during the Edo period, showing actors, travelers, landscapes and everyday life in bold lines and flat colors. Artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige became world famous, and their work influenced European painters in the 1800s. Samurai Champloo borrows that look and adds a beat.

Vinyl records

Episodes open with the sound of a needle dropping and scratching on a record. A round rug printed as a spinning black vinyl record, with a label in the center bearing your own name, is a cool, simple design for a music corner or a dorm. For more, see our vinyl record rugs.

Edo graffiti

In one episode, a gang of artists sprays graffiti across the city, centuries before spray paint existed. A rug of bold spray-paint tags and drips across paper screens and old wooden walls is a fun, rebellious design for a teen's room or a game room. For more, see our graffiti rugs.

The lo-fi sunset

The soundtrack, created by the producers Nujabes, Fat Jon, Force of Nature and Tsutchie, mixed jazz, soul and hip-hop into mellow, dusty beats. Nujabes, who died in 2010, is widely credited as a forerunner of the lo-fi hip-hop that fills study playlists today. A rug of a warm, hazy sunset over tiled rooftops, in soft orange, pink and purple, is a calm, dreamy design for a study corner or a bedroom.

The flying squirrel

The heroine travels with a tiny pet flying squirrel that hides in her clothes and pops out at the worst times. A rug of a little flying squirrel gliding across a pale sky, with tiny sunflowers below, is a cute design for a kid's room or a cozy corner. For more, see our cute rugs.

Champloo

The word champloo comes from the Okinawan chanpurū, a stir-fried dish of mixed ingredients, and it means mixed together. That's the whole idea of the series: old and new, East and West, swords and beats, all thrown in one pan. A rug that mixes your own favorite things, a record, a flower and a wave, fits right in.

Dango and teahouses

The story begins in a teahouse, and the heroine never stops being hungry, especially for sweet dumplings on a stick. A rug of colorful dango skewers in pink, white and green, scattered across cream, is a sweet design for a kitchen or a dining nook. In a kitchen, choose Standard, 5 mm crushed velvet on a non-slip faux leather back, about 500 g/m², which stays put on tile.

Opposites on the road

The two swordsmen are total opposites: one wild and loud, the other calm and precise. For brothers or roommates, a pair of rugs, a graffiti wall and a quiet woodblock wave, is a fitting nod to their rivalry and the friendship hiding underneath it.

For teens and adults

Samurai Champloo has swordfights, violence and mature themes, so it suits teens and adults. The sunflowers, the vinyl record and the lo-fi sunset are the most widely appealing designs.

Study corners

Few anime are more linked to studying than this one, thanks to the lo-fi beats it inspired. A sunset or sunflower rug under a desk, with headphones and a playlist, makes a calm space to focus. Under a desk chair, choose Standard in 3.3×5 or 4×6 ft, which stays put and lets the wheels roll.

Music rooms

For a room with turntables, speakers and a crate of records, a woodblock wave or vinyl rug under the setup ties it together and softens some echo from a hard floor. For more, see our music rugs.

Hallways

Down a hallway, a custom runner up to 10 ft long printed as a woodblock-style road winding through hills, rice fields and little villages is a lovely nod to the trio's long journey on foot across Japan. Choose Standard, which stays put as people walk by.

Bedrooms and dorms

A sunflower or sunset rug brings warmth to a bedroom or a dorm. Choose Standard on hard floors. For a softer bedroom rug, choose Premium, 7 mm plush velvet on a bamboo and cotton back, about 700 g/m². Our bedroom rugs page has more layouts.

Pairing with furniture

These rugs suit relaxed, creative rooms: low wooden furniture, floor cushions, a record player, a few plants, paper lanterns and framed prints of your own.

Colors

Samurai Champloo-inspired designs look best in sunflower yellow, woodblock blue and cream, with warm sunset oranges and pinks and the bold colors of graffiti.

Other anime

For the director's other masterpiece, see our Cowboy Bebop rugs, and for more samurai, our Vagabond rugs and all our anime and manga rugs.

Gifts

A Samurai Champloo-inspired rug makes a great gift for a hip-hop head, a student or an anime fan. The vinyl record with their name is the most personal; the sunflower field is the most cheerful.

Your own design

Want a record label with your own name, a woodblock wave in your favorite colors or graffiti spelling your initials? Our custom rugs can print it in any size up to 5′11″ × 10′, or cut it to shape with our shaped rugs. Please only send artwork you're allowed to use; official character art, album covers and stills belong to their owners. Custom rugs are made just for you and can't be returned.

Sizes, shipping and returns

Rectangles come in 2×3, 2.6×3.9, 3.3×5, 4×6 and 5×7 ft. Round rugs come from 2.6 to 5.9 ft (80 to 180 cm) across, and shaped rugs from 2.6×2.6 up to 5.2×5.9 ft (80×80 to 160×180 cm). Custom sizes go up to 5′11″ × 10′, including long runners. Every rug is printed to order in 1–3 business days and ships from Turkey; US delivery usually takes 2–5 business days after that. Unused rugs can be returned within 30 days on US orders; custom rugs can't be returned.

Care

Machine wash on a gentle, cold cycle and let it air dry flat. Vacuum on a low setting between washes, and blot spills with cold water right away. The design is printed into the fibers, so the sunflowers stay sunny, wash after wash.

Mugen, Jin and Fuu

Samurai Champloo's three travelers couldn't be more different. Mugen, a wild swordsman from the Ryukyu Islands, fights with a chaotic, breakdance-like style, flipping and spinning in a short red jacket and metal-soled geta sandals. Jin, a calm, disciplined ronin, wears glasses and a dark blue kimono and fights with the precise technique of a classically trained samurai. Fuu, the girl who hires them, carries her flying squirrel, Momo, and a single goal: to find the samurai who smells of sunflowers.

Their journey across Edo-period Japan blends history with anachronism: hip-hop beats, graffiti and modern slang. Nujabes, the Japanese producer whose jazzy beats shaped the soundtrack, became a legend among lo-fi fans, and his music is a big part of why the show still feels fresh.

Those characters inspire rugs that capture their contrast. A pair of round glasses resting on a folded blue kimono is a quiet tribute to Jin for a study. A red jacket pattern with a scattering of geta prints suits Mugen fans in a game room, and a sunflower field with a small flying squirrel peeking from the stems is a sweet design for Fuu.

The series, directed by Shinichirō Watanabe and animated by Manglobe, aired in 2004 and 2005. For fans who love both its style and its sound, a rug that combines woodblock waves, a turntable and three silhouettes walking toward a sunset captures the whole road trip.

For lo-fi music fans who study or work to Nujabes and similar beats, a Champloo-inspired rug in a study corner becomes part of the ritual: headphones on, a cup of tea, a sunset on the floor. Pair it with warm lighting, a turntable and a few plants, and the room feels like a quiet teahouse on the road between towns, the perfect place to focus or to relax after a long day.

Padrift is an independent studio. Samurai Champloo is named to describe what our designs are inspired by; we are not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by Manglobe, Shinichirō Watanabe or the series' rights holders, and our rugs do not use the characters' likenesses.