About Textiles

染織とは私たちの生活には欠かすことのできない布を、染めたり織ったりする技術のことです。現代の染織工芸は、平安時代の公家文化や安土桃山時代の武家文化、江戸時代の町人文化などによって生み出された、伝統とおしゃれに対する美意識の結晶といえるでしょう。染織とは文字の通り、「染（糸や生地を染めること）」と「織（糸で織機を使って布を織ること）」することで制作された作品を指します。

What is Textiles?

Textiles are the technique of dyeing or weaving fabrics that are indispensable to our daily lives. Contemporary dyeing and weaving kōgei can be considered as the crystallization of traditions and aesthetics of fashion, created by the noble culture of the Heian period, the warrior culture of the Azuchi-Momoyama period, and the merchant culture of the Edo period. Senshoku or dyeing and weaving in the direct translation, refers to the making of artworks by dyeing (coloring threads or fabric) and weaving (weaving fabric with threads) .

Making Process of Textiles

① Make threads

② - 1 Weave threads to make a fabric → Dye patterns on the fabric

② - 2 Dye threads → Weave dyed threads

③ Complete the fabrics into kimono or obi

Types of Threads Used

The threads used in Japanese textiles are basically silk, linen, and cotton, each of them is made from different materials.

Silk thread is a natural thread made from the cocoons spun by silkworms. Silk threads are divided into raw silk and tsumugi silk. Raw silk is a thread that is directly drawn from the cocoon and can be over 1000 meters long as a single strand, with uniform thickness, allowing for the creation of high-quality fabrics. Tsumugi silk is made from spinning cocoons into silk floss and then spinning them into threads.

Linen threads are made by slitting and connecting fibers of the stem of a perennial plant called ramie. Since it is a plant fiber, it feels smooth and is very sturdy, making it suitable for summer kimonos.

Cotton threads are extracted from cotton balls that surround the seeds of the cotton fruits that have burst open. Cotton is cultivated worldwide, and the fabrics made from this thread have good absorbency and a pleasant feel, so they are widely used as clothing material.

Techniques

[Dyeing] Patterns are dyed on white fabric with various colored dyes. There are techniques such as Yuzen dyeing, which draws patterns with a paste called Yuzen-nori, and kata dyeing, which uses stencils for dyeing.

[Weaving] By weaving warp and weft threads on a loom in alternating combinations, fabric is created. Various patterns can be created depending on dyeing and weaving methods, and no matter how complex it may seem, it is created by the combination of warp and weft threads.

＜Source: "What is Traditional Kōgei?" Edited by Japan Kōgei Association East Japan Branch / Published by Unsodo, P18~19>