Traditional craft
Tokyo Muji Zome
東京無地染
Silk dyed in a single plain colour, matched exactly by dyeing twice, a Tokyo craft that grew from the Edo dyers' purples, indigos and browns.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 30 November 2017
- Type
- Dyed textiles
- Region
- Kanto
- Official name in Japanese
- 東京無地染
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 千代田区、新宿区、墨田区、江東区、中野区、杉並区、豊島区、北区、板橋区、練馬区、足立区、神奈川県/川崎市
No pattern, only colour
Muji means plain. With no pattern to hide behind, everything rests on getting the colour exactly right. Tokyo's plain dyers match each colour by layering dye. It is made in Shinjuku, Sumida, Koto, Nakano and other wards of Tokyo, and in Kawasaki in Kanagawa.
Dye twice, get it right
- The silk is dyed stretched on bamboo shinshi, fed through a bath section by section, or wound on poles.
- The first dyeing adjusts the colour and the second fixes the exact shade ordered.
- For black or thick cloth, the first dyeing uses spent dye.
- The colour is set by washing or an acid rinse.
- For crested kimono, a crest stencil and paste keep the crest white, and the crest is painted in after dyeing.
Edo purple and Edo brown
The craft grew from the plain dyeing done by dyers in the mid-to-late Edo period, in colours such as Edo murasaki (purple), indigo, safflower red and Edo-cha browns. It is one of the newer designations, added on 30 November 2017.
Good to know
- Plain-dyed silk is the base for many kimono; next time you see a solid-coloured kimono in Tokyo, it may well be this craft.
- Ask about Edo murasaki, the purple strongly linked with old Edo.
Questions travellers ask
Why dye twice?
The first dyeing adjusts the colour and the second fixes it to the exact shade.
Is it only made in Tokyo?
Mostly in Tokyo's wards, and also in Kawasaki, Kanagawa.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- Hakone Hachiri: walking the Edo stone road over Hakone
- Kamakura: the samurai capital as a mosaic of history
- Mount Takao and Hachioji, the city of silk
- Oyama Mairi: the Edo people's pilgrimage and day out
- The stone islands of the Seto Inland Sea
- Yatsushiro's stonemasons: the bridge builders of Japan
- Yokosuka, Kure, Sasebo and Maizuru: Japan's naval port cities
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.