Traditional craft
Kyo Kuro Montsuki Zome
京黒紋付染
Kyoto's black dyeing for formal crested kimono, where a hidden base of red or indigo gives the black its depth.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 3 August 1979
- Type
- Dyed textiles
- Region
- Kansai
- Official name in Japanese
- 京黒紋付染
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 京都市
A black with colour underneath
Montsuki, black kimono with a white family crest, is Japan's most formal dress. Kyoto's black is never just black: the silk is first dyed red or indigo, so that even with modern dyes the final colour has depth and subtle character. The crest is then added by hand painting or with a stencil. It is made in Kyoto city in Kyoto.
Dipped or brushed
The white silk is stretched on a wooden frame and steamed to even its width. Paste is laid on the crest areas so they stay white. Then comes one of two methods:
- Immersion: after a red or indigo base, the cloth is soaked in black dye.
- Brush dyeing: after the base dye, black is brushed on. In the sando-guro method, plant dye and mordant dye are each brushed on at least twice.
The crest painting is the very last step.
From samurai wear to national dress
Black dyeing goes back to the 10th century and was established as black montsuki dyeing in the early 17th century. From the mid-Edo period, binroji-zome over an indigo base became the main method, and samurai favoured black crested kimono. In the Meiji period, crested haori and hakama were made the nation's formal dress, and the craft spread widely. Kyoto dyers learned British techniques and studied French and German dyeing, which led to today's faster methods in place of laborious binroji-zome. Nagoya has its own take: Nagoya Kuro Montsuki Zome.
Good to know
- Look at a Kyoto black kimono in daylight; the red or indigo base gives the black a faint warmth or coolness.
- Crested black kimono are worn at weddings and other very formal events, so you will most likely see them at ceremonies.
Questions travellers ask
Why dye red or indigo first?
The base colour gives the final black more depth and subtle character, even with modern dyes.
Is the crest dyed or painted?
The crest area is kept white with paste, then the crest is painted by hand or applied with a stencil at the end.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- 800 years of Japanese tea in Uji and southern Kyoto
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Lake Biwa Canal: the waterway of hope from Otsu to Kyoto
- Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage: Japan's 1,300-year journey of the heart
- Tango chirimen: 300 years of silk on Kyoto's north coast
- Yokosuka, Kure, Sasebo and Maizuru: Japan's naval port cities
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.