Q1：What kind of encounter did you have with Kokura-ori?

I did not graduate from an art university and my family business was not related to Kogei, so, my approach was rather different. I like literature since my childhood and when I was a university student, I was attracted by early modern Japanese theater styles and started to learn about Zeami (Noh actor). Subsequently, I started studying weaving as I was fascinated with the stage costume of Noh. At the time, I often visited antique stores, and that was where I found a small swatch of Kokura-ori. It was made of cotton, but had a silk-like luster and it also looked like leather. I recognized this small cloth as Kokura-ori as I am familiar with its texture growing up in Kokura which is my hometown and I wanted to reproduce this fabric that no longer existed.

Before I encountered Kokura-ori, I had woven Kimono with tsumugi-ori (Japanese silk fabric) for about four to five years. The woven color of tsumugi is a mixture of warp and weft. Somehow, at that time, I developed a preference for colors on the warp yarn. After thinking about the color that I wanted to achieve on the warp weave and preparing my warp yarn, the color would change by the effect of the weft. It was while I was thinking about how I could retain the warp color that I encountered the small piece of Kokura-ori. Moreover, the fabric was from the place where I was born and grew up in. That was a happy encounter. Also, the small piece which I encountered for the first time was splendid. After that, I saw various old Kokura-ori and some of them did not fit my sense. This splendid cloth was from children’s hakama, a simple gradation of white and indigo, but the expression was straight, it was a fantastic piece.