Traditional craft
Kyo Yuzen
京友禅
Kyoto's famous dyed silk kimono, painted with flowers, birds and landscapes in many colours, a style many people picture when they think of kimono.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 2 June 1976
- Type
- Dyed textiles
- Region
- Kansai
- Official name in Japanese
- 京友禅
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 京都市、宇治市、亀岡市、城陽市、向日市、久世郡久御山町
The kimono most people picture
With its flowers, birds and landscapes, Kyo Yuzen is close to a synonym for Japanese kimono. It uses many colours yet stays refined and graceful, shaped by Kyoto's thousand years as the capital. It is made in Kyoto city, Uji, Kameoka, Joyo, Muko and Kumiyama in Kyoto.
Up to 14 steps by specialists
Kyo Yuzen is silk dyed either by hand painting (tegaki yuzen) or with stencils (kata yuzen). A piece can pass through as many as 14 processes, each done by a separate specialist. The stencils come in a huge range of designs.
A fan painter changes kimono
Dyeing techniques have been handed down in Japan since the 8th century. In the Edo period, Miyazaki Yuzensai, a fan painter popular in Kyoto, brought his painting style into kimono design, and yuzen dyeing was born. Many-coloured, picture-like kimono flourished in the mid-Edo period, when merchant culture was booming. In the Meiji period, utsushi yuzen, which prints yuzen patterns with stencils, was developed. His later teaching in Kanazawa shaped Kaga Yuzen.
Good to know
- Kyoto's dyeing federation publishes a guide map of workshops and dye houses that welcome visitors, handy for a Kyoto walk.
- For a souvenir, small yuzen pieces are easier to carry than a kimono bolt.
Questions travellers ask
Who started Kyo Yuzen?
It is said to have been established by Miyazaki Yuzensai, a popular Kyoto fan painter of the Edo period.
Can I visit a yuzen workshop?
Yes, some Kyoto workshops and dye houses are open to visitors and listed on the dyeing federation's guide map.
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.