Hemp fabrics formed a mainstay of traditional Japanese clothing culture from the most functional of work clothing to the ritual attire of religious pilgrims. Strong as well as beautiful hemp fabrics appear in a wide variety of roles.
Japanese hemp yarn for weaving fine fabric is formed from narrow strips of carefully prepared bast strips joined from base to tip by splicing.
The label reads "大麻極細糸" (taima gokubosoi ito; hemp extra fine thread).
Stronger hemp yarns are used in the tensioned warp of more sturdy hemp fabrics.
Stiffer hemp fabrics were softened by persistent pounding with a wooden mallet.
Noren curtains are frequently seen above the doors of businesses and private homes. Although today they are rarely made of hemp fabric, the symbolism remains that a noren brushing a person’s head as they pass beneath purifies them as they enter the space within.
Hemp grain sack with repair patches of un-dyed hemp fabric, blue resist-dyed ramie fabric, and a light pink cotton fabric.
Likely made during Meiji period (1868-1912). Honshu Island, Japan.
Traditional Japanese hanten and yukata were often woven of hemp. Hemp cordage was also used to twist the straps of geta slippers. Possibly by Hokusai.
Noragi jacket of fine indigo hemp fabric with kasuri resist-dyed patterning.
Rural Japanese workers in many trades wore
long-wearing hemp fabric noragi jackets.
Well-used and repeatedly repaired fragile hemp jacket.
The outer fabric with kasuri indigo resist-dyed motifs, and the gauzy natural colored lining are woven of hemp yarn. Likely Meiji period (1868-1912).
Natural hemp linen, three fabrics of indigo resist-dyed warp and weft kasuri,
and one of warp ikat.
"In Japan the most common method of pattering hemp linen is with kasuri resist dying. A technique that originated in Indonesia and is commonly called ikat is based on dying bundles of either warp yarns, weft yarns (or both) with string to prevent the dye from penetrating, that when woven together create patterns. Weaving requires careful calculations before the warp yarns are set up on the loom, and the weft yarns are organized. A characteristic of tied and dyed ikat is an apparent "blurriness" in comparison to weft float patterns."
Colored studio portrait with traditional Shinto priest's hemp cloth robe.
Back of a stamped pilgrimage robe.
Meji (1868-1912) or Taisha (1912-1926) period.
Shikoku Island, Japan.
"In Japan hemp linen is associated with Shinto and Buddhist traditions. Hemp coats worn by pilgrims on Shikoku Island were often embellished with commemorative stamps from each temple or shrine visited."
Hanten robes called suzukake are worn by Shugensha or Yamabushi
practitioners of Shugendo, a unique religion combining
Buddhism, Shintoism, and nature worship.
Auspicious hemp cloth banner embellished with resist-dyed images of a shimenawa Shinto shrine rope with paper and fiber shime and auspicious bamboo, pine and cherry blossom longevity motifs.
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