kasuriori　絣織

KEY WORD :　art history / crafts

A plain weave fabric with designs developed in India and brought to Japan via Indonesia (where it is called ikat), then Okinawa or China prefectures. It is made by weaving patterned yarn, resist dyed by binding it with string in predetermined areas then immersing it in dye. The bound areas thus reveal a white splashed design. There are three types of design: tategasuri 緯絣 or vertical, geometric designs formed when vertical warp threads are dyed and woven with monochromatic, horizontal weft threads; yokogasuri 経絣 or pattern-dyed weft threads, woven to make free-form images; and the specialized egasuri 絵絣 (picture kasuri), where designs such as cranes, tortoises, flowers, clouds, or dog footprints are woven into indigo-dyed fabric. From the Edo period, the lower classes used cotton or hemp kasuri for clothing, bed coverings, and other functional textiles. They often utilized tsumugi 紬 (pongee), a cheap silk spun from the textured floss of leftover cocoons. Yuuki tsumugi 結城紬 from Yuuki village in Ibaraki prefecture. and Ooshima tsumugi 大島紬 from Amami Ooshima 奄美大島 in Kagoshima prefecture, are famous today. Cotton kasuris include those from Kurume 久留米, Satsuma 薩摩, Iyo 伊予, Sakushuu 作州, and Hirose 広瀬; silk kasuris include those from Ryuukyuu 琉球 (Okinawa), Amami Ooshima, and Yuuki. Kasuri was occasionally used for noshime 熨斗目, a kimono 着物 type worn by samurai 侍 for formal ceremonies and for some *nou 能 and kyougen 狂言 roles.

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