vol.22 (2026)
ONO Junko Department of Japanese Studies, Key words: Tamba textile, Mingei movement, Yanagi Muneyoshi, crafts, women, dyeing Tamba textile is a striped cotton fabric woven in and around Aogaki Town in Tamba City, Hyogo Prefecture. It is a hand-spun and hand-woven textile using locally sourced plant dyes for yarn dyeing and incorporates silk waste yarn, called tsumami ito, in the weft. The fabric has a grid pattern, and the colors are primarily blue, brown, yellow, and green, sourced from local plant dyes and indigo dyeing. Yanagi Muneyoshi, the founder of the Mingei Movement or folk craft movement, recognized the fabric’s aesthetic value. Locally known as Shimanuki or Saji textile, Yanagi named it Tamba textile and supported its preservation. However, the textile which was praised and designated as Tamba textile by Yanagi did not apply to all cotton fabrics called Shimanuki or Saji textile, but rather to certain cotton fabrics that adhered to a defined pattern. Thanks to Yanagi’s appraisal and the efforts of the Mingei Movement, the Tamba textile, which was in decline at the time, was revived in 1954 and continues to be passed down until today. The women who became the bearers of this revived Tamba textile are now referred to as Tamba textile weavers. They received technical instruction at the Tamba textile Center and have continued weaving Tamba textiles as technicians after completing the Center course. It is known that Tamba textile was woven by women in the producing regions during the off-season, which led to the strong association of Tamba textile production as women’s work. Previous research has examined how women responded to the Mingei Movement as its target audience based on interviews conducted in Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture. The Kurashiki City and Saji region cases are similar in that the primary practitioners were women engaged in dyeing and weaving. Therefore, by comparing the two cases, distinctive features of the Saji region case were examined. This paper addresses the social positioning of women’s dyeing and weaving activities from a folklore studies perspective and incorporates a gender perspective, referring to the Saji region case. First, we outline the process by which the Mingei Movement spurred the creation of Tamba textile and subsequently led to its revival and preservation efforts. Next, we focus on the Tamba textile practitioners. Currently, those involved in Tamba textile production are called Tamba textile weavers. Based on these research findings, we analyze how textile activities connect with women, clarifying the working styles and significance of women engaged in textile in modern time. |
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