Yuki Tsumugi

Silk that feels like cotton

Yuki Tsumugi is woven from thread pulled by hand from silk floss. The thread has no twist, just more than a hundred fibres of different lengths tangled together, so the cloth is light, warm and soft, with the simple look of cotton even though it is pure silk. It is made around Yuki in Ibaraki and across the border in Tochigi.

Made entirely by hand

Every step is done by hand. Three of them, spinning, tying the ikat pattern and weaving on the izaribata backstrap loom, are Important Intangible Cultural Properties of Japan. One kimono needs about 30 km of hand-spun thread, and the weaver beats in the weft more than 30,000 times with a shuttle that weighs about 600 g. The ikat must line up to within 1 mm.

Named after a samurai clan

Silk farming has thrived here since ancient times, and the cloth was already sent to the imperial court in the Nara period. The Yuki clan, lords of the area in the Kamakura period, protected the industry, and the name stuck.