Indigo a dye that never fades

Lasting Tradition By Tatsuya Sakamoto

Indigo leaves have long been used for processing into a dye because the shades they create do not fade over time. They mature like vintage wine.

Indigo is popular not only in Japan, but also in Europe and the United States, where the color is often called "Japan blue."

That the color retains its attractiveness over the centuries can be seen in pieces of cloth kept in the Shosoin Treasure House in Nara that were dyed in the mid-eighth century when the building was built.

The art of indigo dyeing has survived the passage of time, having been passed down to current-day artisans.

One of them is Yoshio Mori of Yasu, Shiga Prefecture, who was born in 1941 into a family that has been making indigo dye since 1870.

In those days, many households dyed the clothes they made from homespun cotton with indigo.

Faithful to the traditional method, Mori and his family grow their own indigo plants.

The plants are first reduced to ashes, which are added to water to form an alkaline solution.

During the dye-making process, which is carried out entirely by hand, Mori collects and ferments indigo leaves by soaking them in the alkaline solution, and then kneads them into balls of dye.

Fermenting the indigo leaves, the most critical part of the process, takes three months and starts in late January.

Throughout this period, the leaves must be kept damp by sprinkling water on them regularly.

The leaves heat up to 60 C as fermentation commences. Members of the Mori family take turns staying up at nights, fanning cooler air onto "hot spots" in an effort to keep leaves at a steady 60 C.

This is crucial to creating high-quality dye. Uncontrolled fermentation results in a poor-quality dye.

The 20 dye pots sunk into the floor of the family workshop have been continuously in use since the workshop was built 135 years ago.

Four pots make up one unit, and each unit is grouped around a central fire pit in which rice husks are burned during cold spells to keep the temperature of the indigo solution in the pots at 20 C.

Mori says the indigo solution "develops a bad mood" if it is contaminated by bacteria or "runs a temperature."

"We have to calm it down," he says.

Indigo dye can be used for a variety of purposes, and Mori has dyed wallpaper and fusuma sliding doors for use in the Katsura Detached Palace in Kyoto, an Imperial villa first built in the mid-19th century, and later rebuilt.

Indigo-dyed paper is often used to repair cultural assets and sutra books, while indigo-dyed silk threads are used to repair antique clothes and festive ornaments.

But Mori says the demand for indigo-dyed clothes is declining.

To stimulate demand, the family dyes noren curtains and scarves. Both are popular with customers because of the attractive color they develop over time.