[The Story of Katazome]
The Teshigoto Forum's Japanese Handicraft Calendar, which receives great acclaim every year, has been renamed the “Koichi Odanaka Calendar” and is available again this year in limited quantities. Koichi Odanaka's “katazome” works possess a simple warmth and playful spirit, evoking nostalgic scenes of Japan.
Katazome is a traditional Japanese dyeing technique that uses stencils (katagami) to apply patterns onto fabric. It flourished during the Edo period, giving rise to distinctive regional techniques such as “Ise katagami,” “Edo komon,” and “Bingata.”
Ise katagami stencils, used for dyeing patterns on Edo Komon and Yuzen fabrics, developed primarily in Shirako, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture. This traditional craft boasts over a thousand years of history. The stencils, made by layering multiple sheets of persimmon-tanned Mino washi paper (shibugami) and carving patterns by hand, possess a precise and delicate beauty.
Edo komon are kimonos dyed with refined, intricate repeating patterns that emerged within samurai and merchant cultures. Spreading from samurai formal wear to merchant kimonos, playful and stylish patterns soon flourished. When extravagant kimonos were banned by the Edo period's sumptuary laws, people devised intricate patterns that “appeared plain from a distance but revealed designs up close.” This evolved into today's meticulously detailed Edo komon.
Okinawan bingata is a traditional Okinawan dyeing technique originating during the Ryukyu Kingdom era (14th-15th centuries) when trade flourished. Created as attire for royalty and nobility, it features vivid colors, bold color combinations, and simple geometric motifs. Patterns inspired by Okinawa's natural landscapes and the beauty of nature (flowers, birds, wind, and moonlight) carry meanings wishing for good fortune and bountiful harvests.
These Japanese techniques gained significant attention in the art and craft world of late 19th to early 20th century Europe under the influence of Japonism. They are considered one of the inspirations for the later development of silk-screen printing techniques. The silk-screen printing method patented in Britain in 1907 dramatically advanced stencil techniques using templates, eventually spreading into modern commercial printing and the art world, including Andy Warhol's pop art.
Inheriting this Japanese stencil dyeing tradition and further embodying the spirit of mingei was Keisuke Serizawa, a Living National Treasure for “kataezome” (stencil-painted dyeing). Katazome dyeing is a technique that uses stencils carved with patterns on shibugami (Japanese paper coated with persimmon tannin) and a resist paste primarily made from glutinous rice to dye patterns onto fabric. It developed a unique expression by incorporating elements from various regional crafts, such as bingata and Ise katagami. Serizawa joined the Mingei Movement alongside Muneyoshi Yanagi and others, pursuing “beauty in daily life” and finding artistic value even in everyday items like noren curtains, kimonos, bookbinding, architectural interiors, and calendars.
His disciple, Koichi Odanaka, cherishes the traditional production methods of stencil dyeing, personally handling every step from stencil carving to resist paste application, dyeing, and steaming. He carries forward the philosophy and aesthetic sensibility of mingei into the modern era. While inheriting Serizawa's innovations, such as the vivid colors seen in bingata and the three-dimensional “blurring” technique, Odanaka expands his expression through his own sensibility.
His representative works span diverse fields: the book design for Kenji Miyazawa's “The Restaurant of Many Orders,” packaging for Morioka's famous “Walnut Cookies,” dyed textiles like tenugui towels, and graphic design for calendars, posters, and books. His collection of works, “Shapes of Work,” is scheduled for publication in mid-November, which I am already looking forward to.
Teshigoto Forum's Koichi Odanaka Calendar
https://www.shokunin.com/en/teshigoto/calendar.html
Showroom Information
https://www.shokunin.com/en/showroom/
References
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/伊勢型紙
https://waknot.com/local/1767
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/紅型
https://kimono-iseya.com/gofuku/blog/22370/
https://www.ryukyu-bingata.com/bingata/history/
https://kimono-nagami.com/edokomon/
https://www.seribi.jp/sakuhin.html
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/芹沢銈介
https://colocal.jp/topics/art-design-architecture/monozukuri/20170808_100586.html
https://nostos.jp/archives/161098
https://tenote.kurashi-co.com/story/モチーフの味わいあふれる、型絵染ふきん/
