Traditional craft
Okitama Tsumugi
置賜紬
The name for the hand-woven silks of the snowy Okitama area of Yamagata, from plant-dyed Yonezawa cloth to the tiny ikat patterns of Shirataka.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 26 February 1976
- Type
- Woven textiles
- Region
- Tohoku
- Official name in Japanese
- 置賜紬
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 米沢市、長井市、西置賜郡白鷹町
Three towns, six kinds of silk
Okitama Tsumugi covers all the woven silks of the Okitama area of Yamagata. There are six kinds, each from its own town: plant-dyed and safflower-dyed silk from Yonezawa, weft and double ikat from Nagai, and board-clamped ikat with tiny crosses and tortoise-shell motifs from Shirataka. All are dyed as thread first and then woven in plain weave.
A samurai domain's comeback
Weaving here goes back to the early 8th century. The lord Uesugi Kagekatsu turned it into an organised industry in the early Edo period, and the famous Yonezawa lord Uesugi Yozan later brought in weavers from Echigo and Kyoto and had dye trees planted to help rebuild the domain's finances.
Safflower was once worth its weight in gold: one monme of safflower for one monme of gold.
Good to know
- Pink and red safflower-dyed scarves and small pouches are light, easy souvenirs, and the colour deepens each time the cloth is re-dyed.
- Each town has its own look: plant-dyed colours in Yonezawa, ikat in Nagai, tiny clamped patterns in Shirataka. Compare them side by side before you choose.
Questions travellers ask
What makes Okitama Tsumugi different from other silks?
The thread is dyed before weaving, often with plants such as safflower, and each of the three towns uses its own technique.
Which towns make Okitama Tsumugi?
Yonezawa, Nagai and Shirataka in Yamagata Prefecture.
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.