Impact Objectives

• Undertake research to preserve and recreate fabrics crafted through traditional techniques

• Reconstruct stencil patterns from old clothes and weave a cloth using agave fibre

• Explore the potential that these fabrics hold for tourism and sustainability

Finding and preserving traditional fabrics

Professor Mitsukuni Matayoshi, Associate Professor Tae Hisada and Associate Professor Kunika Sakumoto want to help preserve traditional Okinawan (Ryukyuan who lives in Okinawa, Japan) forms of and fabrics

and it’s important to preserve this. Also, and making a cloth using Tonbyan fibre. traditional items are sustainable because I would also like to create images using they come from locally-sourced materials traditional patterns and to introduce the and don’t rely on extraneous materials. Many concrete examples to local people. In the tourists want to see traditional things that next steps, if I get enough new academic Professor Mitsukuni Associate Professor Associate Professor are different to things found in their country competitive funds such as KAKEN, I would Matayoshi Tae Hisada Kunika Sakumoto and so the utilisation of local, natural, raw like to capture the traditional dances and What is your background in this field? materials as tourist attractions helps support clothes using motion capture devices. local communities. The reproduction of MM: I have been interested in traditional traditional dyeing and weaving is important KS: It has been reaffirmed that the stencil dyeing called Katachiki (recently as tourism resources. As a result, local performing arts in which children participate named Bingata) for a long time. Katachiki people benefit from selling and using the are passed down in various places to foster is so beautiful, but most of the pieces were reproduced articles, and can preserve their culture. This gave me a new awareness lost in the destruction of World War II. lives and traditions in their birthplace. of the environment of early childhood Respecting how our ancestors took care education, as a researcher of early childhood of them, I would like to keep and protect KS: If the value of traditional dyeing and education. I would like to connect to my traditional things like Katachiki that reflect weaving can be enhanced by utilising it as future research of cultural transmission from the heart of Okinawa, Japan. a tourism resource, and the shortage of early childhood. l producers can be solved, it will lead to the KS: While I was studying abroad in London, preservation of culture. UK, I was able to travel around Europe and I noticed that the colours of soil and plants TH: Traditional dyeing and weaving in each country have enriched and provided techniques have been inherited from inspiration in people’s lives and cultures. generation to generation, and some are still At this time, I also became aware of the developing but there are also some which traditional colours of Okinawa, Japan. have been lost. Therefore, it’s important to share as much as possible in order to help TH: I became interested in dyeing and preserve these valuable techniques. weaving in Okinawa while teaching at university and producing dyeing and weaving What are the next steps for your research? products. MM: Tonbyan is known as a lost or Why is traditional dyeing and weaving imaginary cloth in Okinawa. I found the fabrics an important tourist resource? Tonbyan fabrics in Yaeyama and believe that Tonbyan can be a reliable tourism resource. Auspicious patterns (pine, bamboo, plum) on a cloth MM: Our ancestors took great care of them I am hoping to work next on weaving fabric wrapper used by wealthy Ryukyuans

70 www.impact.pub Maintaining magical materials

At Okinawa International University research is underway to preserve, and even recreate, invaluable fabrics created through traditional crafts. These fabrics hold great value for tourism and sustainability

Professor Mitsukuni Matayoshi from the extensive knowledge on colours and patterns. process, although interesting, is very difficult. Department of Industry and Information Their collaboration involves conducting ‘It involves tolerating the stench of decaying Science, College of Industry and Information research on traditional dyed of the leaves and suffering the effects of the juices Science, Okinawa International University, Yaeyama Islands in Okinawa, Japan, that can of the mesophyll fibres causing an itchy rash,’ Japan, is a researcher who is invested in be utilised as a tourism resource. points out Matayoshi. preserving traditional crafts. He explains that Bingata, which up until recently was known as As a tourism resource, the textiles show So far, the team has found just one cloth and Katachiki, is a traditional dyed craft found in promise as new materials, souvenirs one piece in Yaeyama, which provides an Okinawa, Japan. and for their innovative designs. The indication of just how rare, and therefore how researchers are interested in the sustainability special, Tonbyan is. Indeed, getting hold of Bingata is a traditional art that involves a of such textiles, as well as the ways in which Tonbyan has proved challenging for the team. stencilled technique and dates they can benefit tourism. ‘We wish to keep ‘How to more easily obtain the Tonbyan fibre back to the 14th and 15th centuries. ‘Sadly, traditional dyeing and weaving techniques and has proved to be the most difficult aspect of though, along with many other traditional textiles as sustainable sources,’ Matayoshi our research,’ he says. ‘Once we have acquired dyeing and weaving fabrics, Bingata fabrics highlights. the fibres, weaving cloth using the obtained were lost during World War II and, given the Tonbyan fibres will be the next challenge. I am craft’s beauty as well as its extensive history THE VALUE OF TONBYAN currently trying to obtain Tonbyan fibres using in Okinawa, it holds a special place in the One textile the team is particularly interested a new approach.’ hearts of many Okinawan people,’ Matayoshi in is Tonbyan, which is an important vegetable observes. ‘Therefore, preserving the technique string that the researchers are studying. This method for the easy acquisition of the and existing fabrics is important to the local Tonbyan is made from agave leaves, but the agave fibre that Matayoshi is developing community and their traditions.’

SUSTAINABILITY AND TOURISM Matayoshi’s research focuses on traditional fibres and stencil patterns, and he also looks at old documents for traditional fabrics in Yaeyama. Back in 2018, he researched the traditional clothing of Taiwan’s original inhabitants and realised that their clothes and ornaments are similar to those seen in old documents of Yaeyama.

He is working alongside Tae Hisada, a dyeing and weaving author, who is Associate Professor Faculty of the Arts (Correspondence Education) Department of Fine and Applied Arts, and Associate Professor Kunika Sakumoto of Okinawa Christian Junior College, who is an artist and brings to the table A replica of the traditional pattern from old cloth will become a very precious tourism resource

www.impact.pub 71 involves tearing the leaf in a vertical TECHNIQUES AND DEVICES direction along the length of the fibre. ‘The In their work, the researchers employ a range Project Insights assumption is that the process of decay of techniques and use an array of devices, will be accelerated by using torn leaves,’ including PCs, digital microscopes, digital FUNDING he comments. ‘Next, the torn leaves cameras, digital video, scanners and image This work was supported by the Japan were placed into a rectangular receptacle processing software, including Photoshop Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS), KAKENHI, Grant number 16K02101 containing water and left overnight. Then, and Illustrator. ‘We use such equipment to fermentation was assisted with the addition take photos (of individual pieces as well TEAM MEMBERS of yoghurt.’ Matayoshi found that decay was as the fabrics as a whole), to measure the Professor Mitsukuni Matayoshi, Associate not occurring quickly enough so performed size of traditional fabrics, to take photos to Professor Tae Hisada, Associate Professor the processing again to accelerate the decay identify the fibres, to measure weft and warp Kunika Sakumoto

CONTACT DETAILS Professor Mitsukuni Matayoshi It is not capital goods that originate with ancestors, but T: +81 98 893 7468 rather traditional knowledge and treasures E: [email protected] W: https://www.okiu.ac.jp/gakubu/ sangyojoho/teacher/matayoshi_mitsukuni process. He found that the addition of density and to record colours and patterns,’ yoghurt helped to prevent the onset of the Matayoshi reveals. Another important BIOS Professor Mitsukuni Matayoshi has been unpleasant odour. Ultimately, he was able to element is listening to and recording based at the Department of Industry and obtain the necessary materials while avoiding information from the people involved in the Information Science, Okinawa International the usual unwanted effects. He hopes that dyeing and weaving of fabrics. University since 1999. His research interests the method can be used by craftspeople in include genetic algorithm and evolutionary the production of materials. So far, the ongoing work has culminated in algorithm in computer science, as well Matayoshi having written a number of papers traditional dyeing and weaving methods. RESPECTING ANCESTRY and a book. Looking ahead he is seeking to Associate Professor Tae Hisada is based For Matayoshi and the team, when establish further concrete research results. at the Faculty of the Arts (Correspondence conducting research on the fabrics of the One of which is the creation of a picture Education), Department of Fine and Applied Yaeyama Islands, a crucial element is gaining using obtained traditional stencil patterns Arts, Kyoto University of the Arts. She is a the trust of the locals as, naturally, they as a prototype. He is hopeful that his work dyeing and weaving author and is interested are protective of their fabrics, which have can help support valuable crafts while also in painting-like expression through fabric. immense traditional, cultural and sentimental assisting with local tourism in Yaeyama as value. ‘Traditional methods and crafts are well as promoting sustainability. l Associate Professor Kunika Sakumoto works at the Okinawa Christian Junior College, kept and protected by local people carefully,’ where she is Chair of the Department of Matayoshi observes. ‘Without gaining their Early Childhood Care and Education. Her trust, I could never see and research them. area of specialisation is art education that It is not capital goods that originate with stimulates imagination and creativity using ancestors, but rather traditional knowledge the natural materials of Okinawa. and treasures.’

For Sakumoto, when considering the use of fabrics as a source of tourism, colour and pattern play an important role and she is assisting with this. ‘It is important to clarify the similarities and differences with neighbouring cultures and their uniqueness,’ she explains. ‘I would like to help verify them Dyed using Fukugi (Garcinia subelliptica) which through their colours and patterns.’ comes from Yonaguni island coral reef minerals

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