Kyo Textiles 13/13
Overview:
The Kyo Textile technique is arguably the most recognizable out of every kimono technique I have covered. Dating back all the way to the Nara period, this textile has had lots of history behind it. Coming out of the Kyoto prefecture, this dyed textile uses motifs from everyday life to animals and nature. Precise lines and painfully beautiful gradients this technique reigns supreme. A signature technique that artisans use that are not used in other processes is starch being added to the outside to not allow the color to bleed and to create sharp lines along the textile. Kyo textiles also implement embroidery into the textile as well.
History:
Starting in the Nara period, the textile stayed the same until fan painter Yuzensai Miyazaki who I have talked about before created Kyo Yuzen. Because Yuzensai was a fan painter, he primarily used the fan to create his designs. What really set this apart was Yuzensai’s mastery in rice paste dyeing methods. This created a huge fissure between his textile and the other textiles at the time. The upper middle class people of the edo period started to gain attraction to this textile and started to wear it because it was elevated and at a fair price, and different than the lower class kimono at the time showing their wealth. Later on a man named Jisuke Hirose used chemicals to create a new faster dyeing process which is used today. Although there are artisans who still use the old techniques still as well.
Process:
First, a pattern is sketched onto the fabric mainly using nature, animals or day to day life in the design. This process takes many artisans and takes heavy collaboration to create a design. Then the starch is applied to the edges. Soybean broth is then plastered onto the fabric where it then sits over a fire to dry. After it dries the color is applied to the fabric. Then wax is applied to the fabric. This actually used to be a community event where the people of Kyoto would take it down to the rivers and do the final wash together. Finally the final touches are added such as embroidery, gold leaf, silver dust, really anything pretty.
Thank you to everyone who reads these posts. This is my last post of the series. It was fun to write about traditional Japanese textiles.
Some videos here also talk about this process in further detail:
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