Kyo Kanoko Shibori

Spots like a fawn

Kanoko means fawn spots, and the name comes from the little bound dots that look like the markings of a young deer. In hitta and hitome shibori, the dots are so precise and so raised that the cloth has a three-dimensional feel found nowhere else. Makers combine many binding techniques to build a design. It is made in Kyoto city, Kameoka and the towns of Ide, Kasagi and Wazuka in Kyoto.

Passed from hand to hand

• An underdrawing is printed onto the cloth.
• Binders tie the dots; each binder specialises in a single technique.
• For several colours, areas are shielded with wrapping or tubs (boshi and oke shibori).
• The cloth is dyed, dried and the threads untied.
• Steam is used to open out and even the width.

Court dress to Edo fashion

Japan has used tie-dye for more than a thousand years, first for patterns on court costume. From the Muromachi to the early Edo period it flourished as tsujigahana dyeing, and kanoko shibori reached its peak in the mid-Edo period. The finger skills have been handed down ever since.