How is wide kasuri made?

When you hear the word of "Kasuri," the first thing you probably think of is a pattern for kimono or work clothes.
All of those are generally called "Kijyaku", which is a 35cm wide kasuri.

Bingo-Fushiori's kasuri patterns are wide (100cm to 120cm), but do you know how wide kasuri is made?
Today I will introduce a simple composition of such wide kasuri.

• General Kimono Width Kasuri

The general kasuri made since olden times is called "warp and weft kasuri." The pattern is made by overlapping warp and weft yarns that have been dyed or antidyed in advance.
The width of the cloth is as narrow as 35cm, so the distance the weft moves is short, and a major feature is that patterns can be created freely to a certain extent.
For example, it is possible to create curved lines, circular shapes, and patterns.

These pictures are "Kurume kasuri" which is typical small-width kasuri.
The geometric patterns and leaf-like patterns are lovely.

It is said that in the old days there were almost exclusively indigo-dyed dark blue kimonos, so people enjoyed a bit of fashion by developing these kinds of patterns.

• Kasuri of Bingo-Fushiori

On the other hand, Bingo-Fushiori's kasuri has only really simple patterns.

Because the shuttle (weft) has to travel 100 cm in width, it is difficult to make the warp threads and the pattern match up properly for the kasuri.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to express curved lines or circular kasuri like in kimono shaku because the pattern is inevitably misaligned and the reproducibility is not high.

Bingo-Fushiori's kasuri uses only warp threads to produce the pattern, so various patterns are created by dyeing and arranging the patterns.



Vertical square pattern (the white area is the dyed area that was dyed by the dyeing process)

It looks complicated, but this too is created by shifting the warp threads to create the pattern.

It can even make amazing patterns like this using only warp yarn!

This pattern is a mix of stripes and kasuri.

I believe that wide-width kasuri has the advantages of wide-width kasuri.
Although the flexibility of the pattern is inferior to that of the small width, it has fewer peculiarities and goes well with plain fabrics.
It retains the simplicity of old-fashioned cotton, while also responding to the diversity of the modern age.

This is the one and only wide-width kasuri existing in Japan.
A warm and relaxing material, please try it for yourself.