- Source: Echigo-jofu
Echigo-jofu (越後上布) is a fabric of Echigo, Japan on national Important Cultural Properties listing in 1955, and UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list since 2009. It is made from fine bast fiber from the ramie plant (Boehmeria nivea), also called hemp, although not directly related to cannabis hemp. After it is woven on a jibata backstrap loom (地機), the fabric is spread on snowfields (yuki-zarashi) where ultraviolet light from the sun creates ozone and bleaches it white.
Echigo-jofu has even been found in the Shōsōin repository from over 1,200 years ago. The production of Echigo-jofu is recorded in detail in the encyclopedic work of human geography describing life in the Uonuma area, Hokuetsu Seppu
Production
In the early 2000s, about 34 bolts were produced a year. It is now currently estimated at about 10 bolts a year.
Uses
The fabric is used to make summer kimono and other traditional garments, cushions and bed linens.
See also
Snow bleaching
Notes
References
Further reading
Rinne, Melissa M. (2007), "Preserving Echigo Jofu and Nara Sarashi: Issues in Contemporary Bast Fiber Textile Production", in Hamilton, Roy W.; Milgram, B. Lynne (eds.), Material choices: refashioning bast and leaf fibers in Asia and the Pacific, Fowler Museum at UCLA, ISBN 9780974872988, LCCN 2006033706, OCLC 191890941 UW Press page
External links
National Treasures-Manufacturing Process of Ramie 전통방식으 Ariang Culture on YouTube
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Daftar Warisan Budaya Takbenda UNESCO
- Echigo-jofu
- Ojiya-chijimi
- UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists
- Kimono
- Snow bleaching
- List of Living National Treasures of Japan (crafts)
- Intangible Cultural Property (Japan)
- List of Important Tangible Folk Cultural Properties
- Japanese craft
