Traditional craft
Kumejima Tsumugi
久米島紬
A glossy, dark-brown silk from Kumejima island in Okinawa, dyed with plants and mud and woven entirely by hand, on the island said to be the birthplace of Japanese tsumugi.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 17 February 1975
- Type
- Woven textiles
- Region
- Kyushu & Okinawa
- Official name in Japanese
- 久米島紬
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 島尻郡久米島町
Dark, glossy and timeless
Kumejima Tsumugi is woven from hand-spun silk floss and dyed with island plants and mud, giving a deep, glossy dark brown with brown or yellow ikat. Its quiet colours mean one kimono can be worn by two or three generations just by changing the obi. It is made on Kumejima, an island of Okinawa.
Every step by one pair of hands
Dyes come from tekachi (sharinbai), guru (a wild sarsaparilla) and Ryukyu persimmon, followed by mud dyeing. Everything is done by hand, and the weaver throws the shuttle by hand while working two treadles, setting each ikat thread carefully in place.
Where tsumugi began
A weaving method with Indian roots reached the island through southern trade around the 14th century, and islanders learned silk farming from China. Kumejima is said to be the birthplace of Japanese tsumugi. From the early Edo period to the late Meiji era, islanders paid their poll tax in this cloth.
Good to know
- Table runners, noren curtains and small goods are easier to buy than kimono cloth and show the same mud-dyed colour.
- Kumejima is reached by plane or ferry from Naha, so plan an overnight stay rather than a day trip.
Questions travellers ask
Why is Kumejima called the birthplace of tsumugi?
Silk farming and a weaving method with roots in India reached the island around the 14th century, earlier than most of Japan.
How is the dark colour made?
Threads are dyed with plants such as tekachi and guru, then dyed in mud, repeated until the colour turns a deep, glossy brown.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.