Traditional craft
Yuntanza Hanaui
読谷山花織
Cloth from Yomitan in Okinawa with tiny flowers floated in coloured thread on indigo, once woven only for the Ryukyu court.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 2 June 1976
- Type
- Woven textiles
- Region
- Kyushu & Okinawa
- Official name in Japanese
- 読谷山花織
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 中頭郡読谷村
Little flowers on indigo
Hanaui means flower weave. Small flowers are floated in coloured thread over a dark indigo ground and combined with ikat, so the cloth looks almost embroidered. There are three basic flower motifs, coin flower, pinwheel and fan flower, arranged in many ways. It is made in Yomitan village in Okinawa.
Woven on a high loom
Flowers are made either with extra flower heddles or picked by hand with a small shuttle, and ikat threads are tied by hand. Dyes come from Ryukyu indigo, sharinbai, fukugi bark and other plants. The weaver throws the shuttle by hand on a high loom.
Cloth for the court
Records of hanaui sent as gifts to Korea and from Java to the Ryukyu kingdom suggest it was made by the 15th century, when Yomitan was a busy trading port. It was cloth for the royal court, and apart from Yomitan's own people, ordinary folk could not wear it.
Good to know
- Look for tisaji, hand towels woven with flowers: Yomitan women once gave them to the man they loved.
- Table runners and obi are easier buys than kimono cloth and show the patterns well.
Questions travellers ask
What does hanaui mean?
Flower weave, from the small flower patterns woven into the cloth.
Where is Yuntanza Hanaui made?
In Yomitan village in central Okinawa Island.
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.