Traditional craft
Nibutani Attus
二風谷アットゥㇱ
A tough, water-resistant cloth woven from tree bark in the Ainu village of Nibutani, Hokkaido, with tools that have barely changed in over a century.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 8 March 2013
- Type
- Woven textiles
- Region
- Hokkaido
- Official name in Japanese
- 二風谷アットゥㇱ
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 沙流郡平取町
Cloth made from tree bark
Attus is a cloth woven from thread made of the inner bark of the ohyo elm or the Japanese linden. The name is Ainu, and so is the loom it is woven on, the attus-karpe. The result is unusually strong for a natural fibre, shrugs off water and breathes well. It is made only in Hokkaido.
How it is made
Weavers strip the bark, process it and split it into strips about 2 mm wide. The strips are knotted end to end, twisted into thread and then woven by a weaver sitting on the floor, with the loom held taut by a strap around the waist.
A trade good since the Edo period
Attus has long been made along the Saru River, and by the Edo period it was already traded with other regions. Today it is made in Biratori town, with tools almost the same as those used more than 100 years ago. It was recognised as a traditional craft of Japan in 2013.
Good to know
- Full kimono fabric is rare and costly. Small items, wall hangings and accessories are the easier way to take some home.
- Look closely at the weave: the slightly uneven texture comes from hand-split bark, not a flaw.
Questions travellers ask
What is attus made from?
Thread made from the inner bark of the ohyo elm or the Japanese linden, split by hand into strips about 2 mm wide.
Where is Nibutani Attus made?
In Biratori town in the Saru district of Hokkaido, along the Saru River.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- Coal, steel and port: Hokkaido's northern industrial revolution
- Esashi: the herring town that outshone Edo
- Gyoda: the town of tabi storehouses
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Masuda: a medieval masterpiece of Japan
- Otaru, the heart of Hokkaido: a merchant city saved by its people
- Sacred land of salmon: 10,000 years on the Nemuro Strait
- Takaoka: the castle town that became a merchant town
- The Kamikawa Ainu: living with the kamuy of Daisetsuzan
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.