Traditional craft
Uetsu Shinafu
羽越しな布
A coarse, earthy cloth woven from the bark of linden trees in the mountain villages on the border of Yamagata and Niigata, still made entirely by hand.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 22 September 2005
- Type
- Woven textiles
- Region
- Tohoku, Chubu
- Official name in Japanese
- 羽越しな布
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 鶴岡市 新潟県／村上市
One of Japan's oldest kinds of cloth
Long before cotton, people in Japan wove cloth from wild plants and tree bark. Shinafu is one of the few that survive. It is made from the bast fibre of linden trees that grow in the Uetsu mountains, in the Sekikawa area of Tsuruoka in Yamagata and in Murakami in Niigata. The texture is rough and crisp, with a calm, natural colour.
Too hard for machines
The fibre is drawn from the bark, joined and twisted into thread, and woven on traditional floor or high looms. Because it is bark fibre, the work cannot be mechanised and still depends on hand labour.
From work clothes to bags and hats
Shinafu was used for work clothes, fishing nets, strainers and storage sacks until modern life made it nearly disappear. Village revival efforts from the late Showa era brought it back, and it is now made into obi sashes, bags, hats and small goods.
Good to know
- Bags, hats and coasters are the most practical buys, and the fabric softens slowly with use.
- Its crisp, airy texture works well in hot weather, so a shinafu bag suits a summer outfit.
Questions travellers ask
What is shinafu made from?
From the inner bark fibre of the Japanese linden and two closely related lindens that grow in the Uetsu mountains.
Where is Uetsu Shinafu made?
In the Sekikawa area of Tsuruoka, Yamagata, and in Murakami, Niigata.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- 140 years of Japan Wine: Koshu and Ushiku
- Dewa Sanzan: the journey of rebirth across three mountains
- Flame-style pottery of the Shinano River: Jomon art from snow country
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Oyama Mairi: the Edo people's pilgrimage and day out
- Tokamachi, the ultimate snow country
- Tsuruoka: silk made by samurai
- Yamadera and the safflower culture of Yamagata
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.