Traditional craft
Tokamachi Akashi Chijimi
十日町明石ちぢみ
A sheer, crisp silk crepe from Tokamachi in Niigata, once the most fashionable summer kimono in Japan, made with thread twisted up to 3,500 times per metre.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 1 November 1982
- Type
- Woven textiles
- Region
- Chubu
- Official name in Japanese
- 十日町明石ちぢみ
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 十日町市
The star of pre-war summers
Akashi Chijimi is a sheer silk crepe with a cool, crisp feel. Before the war it was the summer kimono everyone wanted. Output fell after the war, but the technique lives on as a speciality of Tokamachi in Niigata.
Twisted thousands of times
Patterns are made the same way as in Tokamachi Gasuri. The difference is the thread: the weft is first twisted about 300 times per metre, dyed, and worked by hand with plant-based paste weighing 30 to 40 percent of the thread. Then a hatcho twisting machine gives it 3,000 to 3,500 twists per metre, which creates the crinkle.
Inspired by Kyoto
In the late 19th century a sample of Nishijin summer cloth was brought back from Kyoto and its ideas were tried on Tokamachi's own sheer weave. After years of work on hard-twisted weft, the new crepe went on sale in the mid-Meiji era as Akashi Chijimi.
Good to know
- Hold it to the light: good Akashi Chijimi is almost see-through, which is why it feels so cool in July and August.
- It is a summer-only kimono cloth in Japan, so you see it most in shops from late spring.
Questions travellers ask
Why is Akashi Chijimi so cool to wear?
Its weft is twisted very hard, so the cloth is sheer and crinkled and barely touches the skin.
Where is Akashi Chijimi made?
In Tokamachi, Niigata 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.