DESIGN

Kokontozai: KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts — Dorozome

『カーサブルータス』2024年7月号より

July 8, 2024 | Design | KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts | photo_Keisuke Fukamizu hair & make-up_Masako Osuga editor_Masae Wako　translation_ Mika Yoshida & David G. Imber

Searching all of Japan for handcrafted items that express its heart and soul, our proprietor, KASHIYUKA, presents things that bring a bit of luxury to everyday life. This time our trip took us to Amami Ōshima in Kagoshima prefecture, where we delved into a technique characteristic of the island called dorozome, mud-dyeing. It’s used to color the fabric that will be used for the local traditional kimono, called Ōshima tsumugi.

With a history of over 1,300 years, dorozome, mud-dyeing, has been employed expressly in the coloring of the fibers used, as well as for the process of kasuri, a hand-dyeing technique, in the making of kimono textile known as Ōshima tsumugi. Here, with Mr. Kanai Yukihito, who has been working to produce a wide range of items using the traditional techniques, our shopkeeper KASHIYUKA chooses furoshiki (wrapping cloths) dyed with doro, or plain mud (left); aidoro, a mix of indigo and mud (center); and indigo (right).

I learned that on Amami Ōshima, the island in southwestern Kagoshima prefecture known for its crystalline blue seas, there is a method for dyeing fabric that is unique in the world. It’s dorozome, mud-dyeing, and it’s used to dye the fibers and create the traditional kasuri patterns of Ōshima tsumugi textiles, the traditional craft for which the area is famous.

Purchase No. 74【Dorozome】The beautiful dye method brought forth from Amami's island nature, and into everyday life.

“We color the fabric with a dye that is made of boiled sharinbai, a hawthorn tree indigenous to this island, and mud from the natural mud fields. These fields contain high-quality iron, leached into them from a giant stratum dating back 1.5 million years. A chemical reaction occurs between the tannic acid in the sharinbai and the iron in the mud, turning the material a rich, black color,” explained Mr. Kanai Yukihito, second-generation director of Kanai Kōgei in Tatsugō-cho, an area on the north side of the island. Mr. Kanai is a dye crafter specializing in mud-dyeing for Ōshima tsumugi, as well as indigo and other plant-based dyes.