koukechi　纐纈

KEY WORD :　art history / crafts

Bound resist. An early type of resist dying for textiles, along with wax resist roukechi 臈纈, and carved wooden-block resist kyoukechi 夾纈 it was originally imported from China and from the Nara period made domestically in Japan. Fragments of these textiles in the *Shousouin 正倉院 show fabrics dyed with the cloth tied, sewn and pulled taught, folded and bound with boards from both sides, rolled on a board, and wrapped in bamboo skin. Yellow and indigo, or yellow and green were common color combinations. The roukechi and kyoukechi techniques died out by the early Kamakura period, but the koukechi technique remained popular, eventually developing into *tsujigahanazome 辻が花染 and hittashibori 匹田絞. Roukechi utilized wood stamps to make repeated patterns. The simplest type utilizes only dye color, while two or three colors are used for complex patterns. The technique fell into disuse at the end of the Heian period because wax was no longer imported from China. Roukechizome 臈纈染 (batik) was introduced from Java in the Meiji period and does not have any traditional connection with roukechi. Kyoukechi, also written 纐纈, was made by folding thin silk between a pair of thick board carved with bilaterally symmetrical relief patterns in group of patterns of bird-and flowers; the back of the boards have holes through which the green, indigo blue, or red dye is cast. The sections of cloth held between the convex boards remain white.

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