Ise
Kimono
1988 (made)
1988 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Shimura Fukumi, the designer of this kimono, weaves with tsumugi, a type of fabric made from silk drawn from wild cocoons or the spoiled leftovers of cultivated silk production. Apart from indigo, which she obtains from a specialist supplier, Shimura makes all her dyes from plants grown in her own garden. This kimono is woven with yarns of indigo blue, yellow derived from eulalia, brown from onion skins and green produced by dyeing with eulalia over indigo. The name of the kimono, 'Ise', is inspired by the 10th century Tales of Ise, one of the most famous works of Japanese literature. In 1990 Shimura was awarded the title of Living National Treasure, Japan's highest accolade for those working in the field of traditional crafts.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Ise (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Plain weave <i>tsumugi</i> silk |
| Brief description | Kimono, titled 'Ise' by Shimura Fukumi, plain weave tsumugi silk, Japan, 1988 |
| Physical description | Plain weave silk with plain warp and handspun (tsumugi) weft. The skeins of silk were dyed blue, yellow and brown in advance of weaving using natural plant dyes. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Credit line | Purchased from Shimura Fukumi, 1989. |
| Object history | Purchased. Registered File number 1989/895. Indigo was used for the blue dye, eulalia for yellow and onion skin for brown. Indigo was dyed over the yellow for the green colour. All the plants except indigo, which comes from a specialist supplier, are cultivated by the artist on a plot of land near her house. This kimono was shown in the 1988 Traditional Crafts Exhibition (Dento Kogeiten), an exhibition to which the artist has contributed regularly since 1957. The title 'Ise' alludes to the 10th century 'Tales of Ise' and more specifically to a scroll painting, inspired by the same famous text of Japanese classical literature, by the artist Tawaraya Sotatsu (fl. 17th century)which is characterised by vibrant hues of blue and green. |
| Historical context | The tsumugi textiles of Shimura Fukumi (b.1924) speak of traditions of humble origins. Tsumugi is a general term for the sturdy plain-weave cloth that peasants throughout Japan used to weave for personal use from silk obtained from wild cocoons or from the spoiled leftovers of cultivated silk production. Designs were executed in the form of stripes, checks or kasuri and the cloth had a distinctively nubbled texture resulting from irregularities in the hand-spun floss silk yarns. Indigo blue was the predominant colour. Widely recognised as one of Japan's leading textile artists, Shimura Fukumi was appointed a Living National Treasure in January 1990. |
| Summary | Shimura Fukumi, the designer of this kimono, weaves with tsumugi, a type of fabric made from silk drawn from wild cocoons or the spoiled leftovers of cultivated silk production. Apart from indigo, which she obtains from a specialist supplier, Shimura makes all her dyes from plants grown in her own garden. This kimono is woven with yarns of indigo blue, yellow derived from eulalia, brown from onion skins and green produced by dyeing with eulalia over indigo. The name of the kimono, 'Ise', is inspired by the 10th century Tales of Ise, one of the most famous works of Japanese literature. In 1990 Shimura was awarded the title of Living National Treasure, Japan's highest accolade for those working in the field of traditional crafts. |
| Associated object | |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | FE.11:1-1989 |
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| Record created | March 16, 2000 |
| Record URL |
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