Kurume Kasuri Crafted by Hand After Numerous Processes

Can you tell us about the origins of Ikeda Kasuri Textile and the woven textiles you produce?

Ikeda Kasuri Textile was established in 1919. Originally, my great-grandfather moved to the Chikugo area when he became an apprentice at a sake brewery in Shiroshima Town. At the time, the kasuri business was thriving, so he changed his apprenticeship from the sake brewery to the Kasuri business, learned a trade, and then became independent, leading to the birth of this workshop.

Our workshop mainly produces textiles through indigo dyeing and hand weaving. There are hand-woven and machine-woven varieties of Kurume Kasuri, and the weaving process for each is slightly different. As a result, differences arise in the uniformity of patterns, density of fibers, and fabric strength (tearing resistance).

The beauty of hand-weaving is that it can express curves, thin lines, and meticulous patterns. The pattern becomes slightly uneven, which adds a unique flavor only found in hand-woven textiles. As you actually use it, the charm of hand-weaving, such as "maintaining strength, lacking uniformity, and having a good sense of play", becomes more evident.

Hand-woven machines come in two types: flying shuttle (nage-hi) and foot-operated machines; our workshop handles both.

Moreover, in general, weavers of hand-woven textiles tend to stick to indigo dyeing exclusively. However, our workshop uses common reactive dyes and colorfast dyes as well. Of course, we stick to indigo dyeing, but we are not obstinate about it. Nowadays, the demand is mostly for clothing, so the characteristic of our workshop is that we make items based on this demand.

Do you have any selection criteria or preferences for the yarn or the dye used for indigo dyeing?

We don't have any particular criteria for the thread, but we basically use spun yarn made in Japan. The count (thickness) of the yarn changes depending on the pattern we want to create or the item we want to make. The finer the pattern, the higher its reproducibility when using thinner yarn.

We import sukumo (raw material for indigo dye) from Tokushima. The quantity and quality inevitably varies year by year, so we carefully stock up on good quality sukumo and store a 2-3 year supply.

How many weavers who hand weave are there in the Chikugo region?

There are about 20 weavers in the entire production area, but I think that only about 8 of them are doing hand weaving. However, even among those, there are few who are constantly producing. Our studio is probably the only one who is producing in quantities for distribution.

Ikeda Kasuri Textile is indeed a valuable presence. How is Kurume Kasuri made?

Kurume Kasuri has about 30 manufacturing processes, and it's even more if you detail each step. Important steps include designing, warp arranging, tying (tying with thread to prevent dyeing), dyeing, and weaving.

Kurume Kasuri has been designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Property of the country, and the certified conditions are 'using hand-tied Kasuri yarn', 'dyeing with pure natural indigo', and 'weaving with a hand weaving loom using a throwing shuttle'.

Items that meet these conditions and pass the inspection will have the seal of Important Intangible Cultural Properties and be sent to the market, so the tying, dyeing, and weaving processes are particularly important.

So, it's produced through many processes. Are there any particularly difficult processes?

All the processes are specialized and difficult, so much so that even my father (the third generation of our studio) still has moments where he says, "I don't really know."

Originally, the production of Kurume Kasuri was clearly divided among different roles, so the product was completed through the hands of various people.

However, as the market size has decreased and the number of people involved has become hard to cover within the weaving houses, a single artisan must now do everything themselves.

Learning each process takes time, so there are probably many artisans who never fully master all processes.

Nevertheless, the intriguing aspect of Kurume Kasuri lies in its continuous pursuit. The reason why many people continue to do it even as they age might be there.

Cherishing Connections through Kurume Kasuri while Tackling Collaborations & Community Contributions

I heard that you are collaborating with various companies. Could you tell me about these initiatives?

We have an initiative with a company many people are familiar with, Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd. While it's a service available only at the Daimaru Fukuoka Tenjin store, we offer indigo dyeing of products purchased at MUJI at a reasonable price. This service has been ongoing for about 10 years.

Also, in 2020, we started services such as retailing offcuts of Kasuri fabrics and a collaboration with BEAMS' CATHRI, a relaxing wear brand.

Although the chances to make it public are few, we often get requests from individuals running their own apparel businesses who want us to make original products, or from textile companies asking us to do dyeing.

It seems you value your relationships with various companies, regardless of their size. How do you keep in touch with market needs and trends?

We believe it's important for us to go out and gather information ourselves to grasp the market needs and trends. Actually seeing, touching, and buying things - we make sure to go through this cycle frequently.

For instance, we participate in direct selling events and get inspired by talking with people in different industries. We read a lot of magazines, too. We always have our antennae up and try to actually realize anything that piques our interest.

Recently, we've been having more collaborative research projects with local universities. We often list research themes from perspectives such as how to approach local traditional crafts and industries, and how to give back to society.

You're also working collaboratively with your local community. Is there anything else you're doing in terms of "community engagement"?

We accept company training programs and elementary school students for facility tours. We get visitors from not only the local areas but also from far away.

In addition, we're contributing to women's employment. Kurume Kasuri was created by a woman named Den Inoue, and it was a job created to increase women's earnings. It's said that it was established as a job that even people like mothers raising kids, retired people who want to work at a relaxed pace, or those who want to work while caring for others can do.

With Kurume Kasuri, women drape the fabric loosely and weave it, creating a soft finish.

Moreover, Kurume Kasuri is often seen as attractive to those in their later years, so I think one of its charms is that we can offer a place to work for such individuals. In fact, among the 10 artisans at our workshop, there's one who's over 90 years old.

If their bodies are in good condition and their eyes and brains are functioning well, they can continue to work. I think one of the good points of our workshop is that we provide an environment and a place where people can keep working for 20 or 30 years even after they retire.

Respecting Each Weaver's Work While Aiming for the Whole Production Area's Development

Do you see any issues with Kurume Kasuri, Ikeda?

I think there are three issues: people, tools (looms), and distribution. However, there are no longer any people who can make the tools. Even the loom we use, we're not sure when it was made. It's difficult to make new parts, so we're in a state where we're maintaining it by replacing the broken parts with parts from looms given to us by businesses that have closed down.

The fundamental reasons for the lack of tools and people are, I think, the shrinking market size. If it's not profitable as an industry, we can't pay salaries, and hence, we can't secure manpower.

We have been moving in a relationship between wholesalers and weavers, where the buyers have power and it's hard to make profits. However, these days, weavers can sell directly using the web. They can make profits more easily now, so I think they'll be able to create a virtuous cycle where they can hire people with decent wages, make tools, and so on.

Even at our workshop, we finally set up a website around 2021. Not just to introduce our company overview, but it focuses on the people.

We posted photos of our artisans and messages from our clients. We made sure it showcases the gentle atmosphere unique to our workshop and conveys what we're doing.

However, solving Kurume Kasuri's issues cannot be done by our workshop alone. Kurume Kasuri is fortunate in that there are about 20 weavers, so we can form a production area. If the weavers share a direction and start moving together, I think the entire production area can quickly move in a better direction.

However, it's not that simple because everyone has their own circumstances, such as their approach to work and their relationships with customers. These aspects must be respected, and as someone who has been receiving assistance from wholesalers for many years, I want to respond to their requests as best as I can and deliver goods to them. Also, I believe that wholesalers play a crucial role when it comes to reaching out nationwide.

The right answer from our workshop can be easily figured out, but when you think about it from the perspective of the entire production area, it is quite challenging to solve problems.

It's great to see you're aiming for development across the entire production area. Have you ever undertaken any projects at this scale before?

At the end of July 2023, we hosted an event at the Daimaru Fukuoka Tenjin store that lasted about a week, featuring products from our entire production area. This was the first such effort for Kurume Kasuri production, and it was also the first time that a department store dedicated an entire event space exclusively to Kurume Kasuri. Initially, there were concerns about the budget being too tight, but as it turned out, we had a large number of visitors every day.

As a result, everyone involved was able to achieve what we could certainly call successful results. If we had attempted this solely within our workshop, we couldn't have achieved such significant numbers, which really highlighted the potential of working at the scale of the entire production area.

Another aspect is the tying process, which the cooperative has been developing machines for over the past decade or so, enabling computer control. Only recently have we managed to get them to a satisfactory level of performance. Since there are hardly any craftsmen skilled in the tying process these days, having started on the machine-building early has enabled us to keep going so far.

Going forward, improving the precision of these machines is vital, as well as increasing their number to meet demand. This is something our workshop, as well as the cooperative, must focus on over the next decade or so.

Please tell us what you would like to focus on as Ikeda Kasuri Textile to distribute Kurume Kasuri in the future.

There are still many markets in Japan that we haven't reached yet, so we want to take the initiative and deliver to new customers.

Also, it will be an important point in the future to see how we can collaborate with universities and local governments, and we hope to successfully integrate that aspect.

Kasuri has several types, such as hand-woven and machine-woven, and there are many items available at relatively affordable prices. I suggest you start by getting hold of just one product. You could try wearing Monpe, or if you're a woman, a dress might be a good choice.

Even if you don't grasp the charm of Kurume Kasuri straight away, you'll gradually come to understand its fantastic appeal the more you see it. I would be delighted if you could experience that charm up close.