羽二重 | Habutai | Plain weave silk | Fabric #20

Habutai ( feather-soft silk | 羽二重 ) is a basic plain weave silk. Habutai is commonly used to make the inner lining of some Kimono, most often summer Kimono. The thickness is measured in Mommes with 4 being sheer, 8 being lightweight, and 16 or more being rather heavy.[1][4] Also known by some as Pongee, this is the most common sort of silk you will see in Japanese silk types and is known for defining the silky feeling of Kimono. Habutai is made using unweighted raw silk yarn, leaving a handmade feel to the fabric.[3]

Vantines double page advertisement selling Habutai (1914, PD) archive.org

Yes the 1560 fashion comment made me laugh too

Historically, Habutai was woven in Japan on handlooms to be used in Kimono and was included as part of the Sumptuary laws banned fabrics for lower classes during the time of Tokugawa Ienari (1773-1841 | 徳川 家斉 ), an edict enforced by the likes of Mizuno Tadakuni ( 1794-1851 | 水野忠邦 ) onto Kabuki actors for example.[1][2][9] Habutai was originally woven on handlooms in smaller operations and workshops and was first exported from Japan in 1877 by Naohiro Koriki (active 1877-1887).[6][7] Habutai is a very taken for granted silk, serving as a functional, if luxurious place in the history of KTC, as the Meiji Emperor (1852-1912) for example gifted two rolls of Habutai on an 'imperial' tour around Yamanishi Prefecture to his accomadation hosts in 1880 as thanks.[5] The industrial scale at which products like Meisen were produced at by the 1890s when Habutai began to be widely exported to Europe and the US, beget an industrial enterprise by 1905 with output declining in production and export after 1920.[6][7] Exports increased again in 1937 and 1940 due to regulations and rationing in the Pacific War period for Japan, increasing after 1955.[8] Due to costs, today Habutai is mostly woven in other Asian economies as a blend of rayon and silk warp threads for things like scarves, parachutes and summer clothing.[1]

Bibliography

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habutai

[2] https://www.arket.com/en_gbp/about/knowledge/habotai.html#:~:text=Knowledge%20Habotai%20(or%20habutai)%20means,in%20Japan%2C%20Korea%20and%20China.

[3] https://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Habutai

[4] https://blog.patra.com/2017/06/28/the-different-types-of-silk/

[5] https://sake-shichiken.com/300_years_of_history

[6] The Rise and Fall of Industrialization and Changing Labor Intensity: The Case of Export-Oriented Silk Weaving District in Modern Japan, Tomoko Hashino, Keijiro Otsuka, 2015, pp.1-6 | Available online at https://www.econ.kobe-u.ac.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1501.pdf 

[7] History of the Fukui Silk Textile Association of Japan, Buntaro Matsui, 1921, pp.7-21

[8] The Economic History of Japan 1600-1990; Economic history of Japan 1914-1955, Takafusa Nakamura, Akira Hayami, Kōnosuke Odaka, 1999, p.42, Volume 3

[9] The Economic Aspects of the History of the Civilization of Japan, Yosaburō Takekoshi, 1930, p.230, Volume 3

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紗 | Sha | Plainweave Hitoe Gauze | Fabric #18

Sha (紗) is the older hand woven predecessor to Ro fabric. Sha fabrics often made up the summer kimono, kosode and yukata of the Heian period down to today, and which are normally adopted globally most popularly in the Haori which employ their innovative fabric potentials for summerwear. Woven using the staple Karamiori weave, the weave allows the wearer to reveal the underneath fabric with subtle hinting and shading from the transparency of the weave and width of the eyes that Sha has over Ro. Twists in the warp threads allow larger eyes than Ro eyes, creating emerging patterns in Sha designs.[1]

Heian Sha Example (1922, PD) Tsutomu Ema

Momiji Monsha (2023, CC4.0) TykeLass

Sha began to be made in the Heian period by hand, for the elites of Japanese society to wear as formalwear in the sweltering heatwaves of July and August which Sei Shonagan believed to be unbecoming of feminine propriety.[1] Unfortunately, it was difficult to dye the natural fibers used to make handmade Sha, so Ro was created in the Edo period to do so.[1] By the Meiji period, this was made redundant as Sha fibers could be made using machines and the nature of these light designs made it easy to make fashionable pictures of ladies in revealing hitoe. In the modern day, Sha is made by machine, creating Monsha ( 紋紗 | Pattern Sha) which is made using a mix of Leno and Plain weaves, but most often regular Sha is worn daily by monks.[1]

Bibliography

[1] https://rosha.jp/faq/02_about_ro-sha/ro_sha_chigai/

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絽 | Ro | Ro silk | Fabric #17

Ro ( 絽 ) silk fabric is a thin, see through fabric used to make Hitoe ( 一重 | unlined kimono ). It is most often worn in hot weather, which in Japan is between the June to September months. Woven using Karamiori ( | Mojiri weave ), this is what makes the fabric easy to ventilate and gives it its line like gap effects known as (horizontal) eyes. Ro is made by weaving warp threads with an odd number of weft threads to create these see through eyes. Ro can be used in any part of Wafuku production, even undergarments. There exist 3, 5, 13 eye gaps known as Ohonro, Ranro which follows a gap pattern of 3-5-7, and Tatero where the gaps are made by reversing the gap process to an odd number of warp threads, creating vertical eyes.[1]  

Machine Ro Weave with Embroidery (2019, CC4.0) Ineffablebookkeeper

Ro began to made in the Edo period (circa 1600) and existed to be worn as formal summer wear for the rich and monks. Sha fabrics (a more transparent Gauze like weave) was the basis for the Ro weave, with Ro created to allow finer types of dyes and patterns to be made onto the textiles surface often using stencils, painting and sometimes embroidery.[1][2] This allowed patterns like the Mon to be added to Kimono without the blurring effect of Sha fabrics. During the industrial age, mass produced Ro fabrics began to made using the Leno weave and may have made the majority of exported and everyday Ro fabrics during the 19th century and early 20th century.[1] It seems hitoe were also popular with quite a number of the liberally minded living in Edwardian Japan.[3] In the modern day, Tomesode, Houmongi, Tsukesage, Komon, Nagajuban, and detachable Eri are made using Ro, but this is dwindling with the death of new buyers.[1]

Bibliography

[1]  https://rosha.jp/faq/02_about_ro-sha/ro_sha_chigai/ 

[2] https://bellatory.com/fashion-industry/kimono-fabrics

[3] My dodgy 1920s own research into art movements and writers circles.

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茶屋辻 | Chayatsuji | Waterside Indigo | Patterns #12T

Chayatsuji is a pattern which traditionally depicted waterside scenes in summer kimono which are dyed in indigo and complemented by orange-yellows. The term Chaya, refers to Chaya-zome (Chaya dyed) after its origins from the Chaya family (active circa 1575) member Chaya Munekiyo (1593-1627).[4][5] It is guesstimated that this process of going from a dye to design process, helped to inspire Miyazaki Yuzen (1654-1736) in the creation of his fan paintings on Kosode.[1]

Chaya-zome dye with Indigo designs (c1986, CC4.0) Wikimedia Commons 

The Chaya family were an influential Daimyo family in the late Sengoku Jidai (1568-1600).[5] During the early Sengoku Jidai, they adopted a wandering Ronin (  浪人 | clan-less warrior ) from the Nakajima family whom they designated as Chaya Shirojiro ( しろじろきよのぶ | 1545-1596 ) I. Shirojiro I became a Komin, setting up a shop in Kyoto selling fabric to his wealthy friends who introduced him to more Komin pursuits like lacquerware and making tea ceremony paraphenalia.[4] During this time, he befriended people like Honnami Koetsu ( 本阿弥 光悦 | 1558-1637)[4] and Matsudaira Hirotada ( 松平 広忠 |1526-1549).[6] This proved useful later when Matsudaira's son, Tokugawa Ieyasu ( (徳川家康 | 1543-1616) needed a squire for which Shirojiro I, sent Shirjiro II to fill the job vacancy.[6]

In this way, Shirojiro I became very wealthy very quickly, becoming what is known as a Fudai ( 譜代 | Insider of the Tokugawa circle ) samurai by 1573 making all of Ieyasu's clothes and being a spy for the Tokugawa family. They even went to war together! Shirojiro I first acquired a Shuinjo ( 朱印船 | Foreign Traders Licence ) during Hideyoshi's rule by the 1580s, trading silks with South Vietnam. This carried on until his death, when his son Kiyotada (1584-1603) took over the family workshop and fought at the battle of Sekigahara (1600). In 1603, the business was taken over by Kiyotsugu (1584-1622) who began a silk trade monopoly and overseeing the Nagasaki trade port to prevent Christianisation in Japan. In 1612 the Chaya workshop was issued a Shuinjo for Vietnam again resuming their monopoly officially in the new Tokugawa administration.[6]

During this golden period for the Chaya business, Kiyotsugu's successors Kagayoshi and Munekiyo (active 1630-1639) opened two new branches under the silk monopoly income. However, it was during this time that the Bakufu established Sakoku trade policies to enforce the ban on foreign elements gaining ground with the Heimin, plummeting Chaya's profit margins.[6] During this decade (1630-1640), the Komin Chaya Munekiyo (1593-1627) invented the Chaya-zome technique of using indigo dyes to decorate Katabira by the second half of the 1630s.[4] 

It is likely these designs made use of easily accessed indigo in light of the rising cost of importing other fabrics and dyestuffs by 1635. It is perhaps likely influenced by the avant garde aesthetic world of the Kyoto elites and Komin who resided there at the time, who sought out 'Wamono' in their work to get around the new Sumptuary Laws and used new techniques like direct painting which Machi-Eshi in their untraditional splendour were apt to take up to make sales. It was this 'Shari' ( Witty design ) environment forged by Sengoku Jidai Daimyo excess from the 1590s - 1610s and patriotic Machi-Shu Wamono Yamato-E Shari culture from 1620-1660 which came before the Ukiyo world of the Kambun era.[4][7] This shift from Daimyou to Chonin patronage may be the catalyst for the switch to indigo designs, eventually being the source of fame for the Chaya wholesaler, who became popular with the masses for their Chaya-zome Katabira by 1640.

The origins of the Chaya-tsuji motif comes from the Kambun era (1661-1673) when the design was first printed on Hemp Katabira (帷子) Kimono. Katabira being the predeccessor of Hitoe Kimono and Yukata. The first text appearance of the motif is in the On-Hiinakata (first Kosode pattern book; 1667) which uses the dye Chaya-zome as a ground colour for the Kosode. It is thought the Chaya wholesale store made popular Kosode with waterside motifs using indigo dye, which is how the Chayatsuji motif came to be born at least by the beginning of the Enpo period (1673-1681), during which time this referred to a graduated dye pattern of indigo and light oranges or yellow-greens worn by women.[1][4] By the Genroku period (1688-1704) a technique called Noribosen (two sided resist paste stencil) was created. After this time the stencil depicted delicate patterns, often related to water or fans, and Chayatsuji was born.[1] 

With the introduction and popularity of Yuzen-zome, the fad of Chaya-zome and Chayatsuji waned as Yuzen designs took over by 1705.[1] These were changes driven by the wealthier Chonin classes though as: 

when the Sankin Kotai was enacted [...] from 1635 [this lead to] the rise of the new Chonin class. This changed [...] by 1685 in reaction from the Bakufu by their growing rich people disgust of the merchant classes spending said money. This came in the form of the sumptuary laws, and saw the rise of more covert expenditure, and eventually this meant the start of hierarchical fashion laws (and their cultural reaction of 'Iki') [...] in a bid to curb the outragerous spending habits of Osaka merchants and Edo Chonin in the creation of GKTC (1688-1704).[2]

During this bout of sumptuary laws, one of these such initiatives to keep the Bakufu afloat and I quote 'Yoshimune found it necessary to shelve certain Confucian principles that were hampering his reform process.'[3] In other words, he threw out centuries old principles because he was cash strapped, but is still ordering his subjects to go without and lecturing them on their spending habits. Some things never do change do they? Either way, Yoshimune enacted the Kyoho reforms ( 享保の改革 |1736 sumptuary and rice-as-money restructuring reforms), and Chaya-zome Kosode, which was an expensive Kosode to own and have made, were dropped by the Chonin inline with more Iki styles. Samurai ladies though had other ideas and began wearing them, and down the years the patterns became smaller and smaller until it was accepted by the cultural elites as a motif rather than a whole design by 1711.[1] 

By 1850, the design was considered so bourgeois that it was part of the domestic court dress of Edo castle for the ladies in waiting to wear. It was at this point, that the motif became fixed as it is known today. Today the pattern is worn mostly on Houmongi (formalwear Kimono) and Tomesode (black formalwear Kimono).[1]

Bibliography

[1] https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/culture/Chayatsuji.html 

[2] See A man of Yoshiwara in Bijin #12

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%8Dh%C5%8D_Reforms#Purpose_of_the_reforms

[4] Japanese Art, Aesthetics, and a European Discourse: Unraveling Sharawadgi, Wybe Kuitert, 2014, No.27, p.86, Japan Review

[5] Japan Encyclopedia, Louis Frederic, 2002, p.109

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaya_Shir%C5%8Djir%C5%8D

[7] See The Town Painter in Bijin #15

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網目 | Amime | Net Mesh | Patterns #8

 The Amime pattern is a repeating series of ovals, whose tailends resemble brackets stuck together to make a pattern like fancy chicken wire. Some resemble more of a wavy line. The pattern therefore is said to resemble mesh which finds its origins in fishing and hunting nets and recommended to be worn in summer.[1] The pattern is said to take its name from the space between the lines of fishing netting.[2] This ties in with the phrase 'Ichimou Daijin' meaning to always have a large catch, or to be victorious in your fishing pursuits.[4]

Japanese Glass Fishing Float in Net (2007, CC3.0) Jon Zander

Historically Amime can be found in the Edo period, combined with fish motifs by Heimin/Shomin.  This idea comes from the popular Edo retelling of how the Boddhisattva Kannon made the area today, Asakusa into a bountiful fishing settlement. On 18 March 628, the fishermen brothers Hinokuma Hamanari and Takenari had a statue of Kannon get stuck in their fishing net. The statue repeatedly got stuck in their net, and was eventually given over to Buddhists, which is now where Sensoji Temple stands. It was was said the area flourished and by the 9th century, was a highly prosperous fishing and pilgrimage site. By the Edo period with the new Tokugawa shogunate move to the Eastern capital of Edo, the legend took on new significance and became more popular, becoming affiliated with the Amime pattern and worn as a popular Yukata pattern.[3][4] Common motifs worn in the 18th and 19th centuries included fish, Ebi ( 海老 | Shrimp), Tako ( 蛸 | Octopus) to contrast the back and foreground.[5] It was used by samurai as it was thought to allow the wearer a guaranteed victory or catch.[1] Certainly by the Taisho era, Amime continues with Tobiuo ( 飛魚 | flying fish) motifs as popular fashion that I can recall seeing around online. 

Patterns #9 will be on Higaki.

Bibliography

[1] https://int.kateigaho.com/articles/tradition/patterns-13/

[2] https://www.vamakitchens.net/products/amime

[3] https://uk.hotels.com/go/japan/senso-ji-temple

[4] https://www.kimono-gara.com/season/natsu/amine/

[5] https://www.kimono-kyoto.jp/mt/archives/2008/02/post_119.html

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阿波 しじら織 | Awa Shijira-ori | Crinkled Cotton Weave | Fabrics #7

Awa Shijira-Ori is a woven fabric which resembles a crinkly cotton finish. This uneven finish is known as Shibo ( Down-up | 凹凸 ). Shijira is originally made in Tokushima, and is usually worn as a summer textile for workwear or as yukata, being able to combat the humid Japanese summers easily as it is commonly woven using cotton threads with an open weave in indigo dyes.[1][3]

Shijira weave is made by sorting, measuring and scouring your yarns. The yarns are then dyed and rinsed as the colour dictates, measured and dried. These yarns are twisted into threads, as tight uneven weft threads and immersing the yarn underwater in a vat. These are removed being left out to air-dry with 'gloiopeltis glue' added which stops the threads from 'fluffing'. The warp threads are re-submerged in hot water, (75 degrees) to remove the glue and the process repeated and are at times dyed in another colour simultaneously.  The two warp and weft threads are combined into the loom and woven together, the warp threads being more shrunken due to their greater exposure and treatment, creating the 'crepe' or crinkle finish in their bid for freedom from the tighter weft threads. The fabric is measured and resized with the rolling the cloth into a Tan ( 反 | Kimono fabric roll ) fabric bolt of around 1100cm length, 40cm wide. This creates a varied pattern of alternating bumpy threads and one separately dyed warp threads as the threads shrink and dry, creating a vivid Shijira weave stripe pattern with its definitive Shibo quality.[1][3][4]

Tokushima Prefecture (2007, Public Domain) Bobo12345

During the Edo period, the lord of Awa decreed that Heimin (commoners | 平民) were not to wear silk, part of the Sumptuary legislation in reaction to the wealth of the merchant classes (1604-1685) and regulation of export and imports of foreign trade in silk and cotton (1615-1685) in the wider Edo culture and tightening of the textile trades.[2] Instead therefore, the Heimin created and found new beauty in textiles such as Shijira weave or Tatae-Ori as it is known in Tokushima, which was worn by farmers, becuase of its light and durable nature and fun patterns. During the Meiji period, the technique was recovered in Awa's Atake village by Kaifu Hana c.1860-1869, when a striped Kimono had been left out in the rain, and dried in the sun. Hana noted that sections of the cloth had shrunk, producing the Shibo effect.[5] Inspired, she recreated the effect after much trial and error by reweaving warp threads in a cotton weave, creating the desired puckering or Shibo.[1] By the of the 1890s, production of the cloth totalled 2 million bolts a year, today only in its thousands by a handful of family owned businesses.[3] By the 1910s, the  traditional association with indigo dying was superseded by brighter chemical dyes, but was revived after 1945 and designated in 1978 under Awashouai-Shijirao as a traditional craft.[5] The textile is now protected and still made locally in Tokushima Prefecture in industrial quantity.

Next Fabric post will be on Chirimen.

Bibliography

[1] http://www.jtco.or.jp/en/japanese-crafts/?act=detail&id=252&p=36&c=33

[2] See the Bijin Series Timeline and Bijin post #3

[3] https://theardentthread.com/2010/02/03/awa-shijira-ori/

[4] https://voyapon.com/kimono-japanese-traditional-clothing/

[5] Swatch Favourite Fabric No 41 Awa Shijira-ori, Sarah Jane Downing, March 2018, Issue 81, p.98, Selvedge Magazine, London | https://issuu.com/selvedgemagazine/docs/81_japan_blue

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