Vintage & Antique Japanese Fabrics by Piece: Other Type Fabrics

7267:1960's Japanese Pongee Silk Ohshima Tsumugi,59 inches Arai-Hari

Rare Japanese Textiles:

1960's Ohshima Tsumugi (Pongee) Silk Fabric Arai-Hari
Fine Detailed Floral Medallions Grid

Catalog# 7267

Width:14.25 inches / 36.2 cm
Length: 59 inches / 149.86 cm

US$20.00 per piece
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Item Details and Description

Fabric History/Pedigree: 1960's fabric from kimono pieces from an Arai Hari (special Japanese kimono cleaner -- see info on Arai-Hari HERE from John Marshall, expert on Japanese textiles .)

This is a special delicate lightweight Ohshima tsumugi silk from Amami Islands, Japan. Details on this part of Japan's special pongee silk-making process can be found on the National Foundation for Promoting the National Costume of Japan website, which explains the natural plant dyes and mud etc. used in making Ohshima Tsumugi, quoted here:

Characteristics: A plain woven silk fabric with pre-dyed scoured threads both for warp and weft. The color is refined and calm and the fabric is soft and difficult to wrinkle. Threads are dyed with plant dyes such as "Techiki" (Raphilolepis umbellata) and indigo (Persicaria tinctoria) with a technique, peculiar only to "Oshima Tsumugi," called "Ori Jime." As a variety, an additional treatment is made to the dyed thread by dipping them in muddy water. It is "Doro(mud) Zome(dyeing)." There are several kinds of "Oshima Tsumugi":"Doro Oshima," "Ai(indigo) Oshima," "Doro Ai Oshima," "Iro(color) Oshima" and "Natsu(summer) Oshima."

Fabric Description Details:

This thin fabric is a translucent Oshima Tsumugi silk with designs the same on both sides; Background color is dark navy blue(almost black), but most of the background is rendered in circular medallion shapes in a perpendicular grid; these shapes average 2 inches/5.08cm X 1.5 inches/38.1mm and use traditional renderings of blossoms, pine trees, and leaves; in alternating rows, there are .5 inch/12.7mm rings made of small circles; In usual Ohshima Tsumugi fashion, there is full use of tiny pixelated mesh backgrounds; other colors are light gray and several other dark blue to indigo; please view close-ups; fabric slightly stiff, little drape.

Colors: Please use our text color descriptions to complement your sense of the fabric due to differences in contrast and color on different devices.

Condition: EXCELLENT,

Popular with our antique Japanese textile aficionados and collectors.