Somé・Seiryukan　～dye museum／kyoto～

A great variety of dye techniques have been developed in Japan, beginning with the pattern dye techniques known as "The three kechi of the Tempyo era" (rokechi, kyokechi and kokechi, exemplified in pieces preserved to this day in the Shosoin Imperial Treasure House in Nara. The advanced dye culture of traditional Japan has lately blossomed into a new and highly artistic expressiveness, outstanding even when compared to the numerous dye styles and techniques that have evolved over time. The technique known as roketsu or wax-resist dyeing died out in the early period, and has been revived bout a handred year before. It evolved to enable the development of a varieety of individual resist wax techniques, and allows for relative expressive freedom, so it is a favored technique among artists seeking for expressive beauty in dye creation. Katazomé (paste-resist dyeing with stencil) involves the creation of paper cut-out patterns. These are placed over the cloth and paste is applied, which meets the cloth through the holes in the paper, forming a surface locally resistant to dye. This technique allows for repetition of a pattern, and enables same-patterned cloth to be repeatedly produced. The constraints imposed by the use of stencil cut-out lends the resultant pattern a uniquely simple, clear-cut beauty. The name kata-e-zomé is used to distinguish the artistic form of katazomé, that makes full use of this unique creative potential, from the rote mechanical production of printed cloth with its mechanical division of labor. Dye techniques that use a printing technique include katazuri (also known as "stencil work"), in which the dye is applied with a brush, and nassen, where dye and paste are mixed and applied to the cloth through the pattern cut-out. (This is termed katagami nassen when a paper pattern is used, and there is also the technique known as "screen printing", which uses a screen pattern.) The technique known as yuzen-zomé had its inception back in the Genroku era (1688-1704). It is able to create subtle and elegant effects by the use of fine threads of wax resist paste to delineate the outline of shapes, and its development led to a great flowering of dye art. Today too it is a favored technique with craftspeople in the world of traditional dyeing. Shibori-zomé (tie dyeing) is a technique involving the physical tying, wrapping, twisting, sewing or wringing of cloth to produce resist patterns when dyed. In the past, shibori attained great heights with versions such as kyoroku no ko and arimatsu naruumi shibori. Today we see the shibori technique in the cutting edge new technique called "shaped dye", which has shaken off the fetters of traditional methods.
Senshoku to Seikatsu-sha ／Sato Yoshifumi