Kumejima Tsumugi

Kumejima Tsumugi is a silk textile from Kumejima Island, off the west coast of the Okinawan mainland, in which a single weaver handles every stage of the process by hand, from raising silkworms through dyeing to weaving. Sericulture is thought to have already been practiced on Kumejima by around the 15th century, and after the textile was designated a tribute cloth to the Ryukyu royal government in 1637, its intricate techniques were refined further. Japan's tsumugi kasuri weaving techniques are said to have spread from Kumejima to the Okinawan mainland and Amami Oshima and on to mainland Japan, and it is considered one of the origins of tsumugi textiles nationwide, including Oshima Tsumugi and Yuki Tsumugi. Its defining feature is that a single weaver carries out every stage from spinning the thread to choosing the pattern, dyeing, and weaving. After repeated dyeing with plant materials such as fukugi and gūru (sarsaparilla) and tekachi (Chinese hawthorn), the cloth is iron-mordanted through mud dyeing using the island's soil, producing a deep, subdued blackish-brown sheen. It was designated a national Traditional Craft in 1975 and a national Important Intangible Cultural Property in 2004. The Kumejima Tsumugi Cooperative leads the transmission of the technique, and the Kumejima Tsumugi no Sato Yuimaru Hall offers tours of the production process and weaving and dyeing experiences.