Kyo-yuzen dyeing

This is a dyeing technique created by Kyoto folding-fan painter Yuzensai Miyazaki in the mid-Edo period that employs noribosen (paste-resist dyeing). The color arrangement requires the same kind of brushwork used in the blurring and dripping techniques of Japanese Painting.

This yuzen dyeing process is more than simply applying colors. In addition to dyes, it also calls for separate applications of pigment and white gofun powder. The artisan must accurately apply many different colors with many different detail brushes. It is a process that requires a delicate sense of color and the ability to consider the overall balance during the work.

This hand painted yuzen dyeing tradition is the oldest technique within yuzen dye processing. It is a proud Japanese tradition, a dyeing technique in which colors are applied like rendering in a painting, and all processes are completed with extreme care through meticulous handwork.

The silent and careful brush movements, which seem to flow one-by-one together with the artisan’s breath, are enveloped in a serenity that alights a sensation of stark composure even in the heart of the viewer. Almost in direct contrast to a brush tip instilled with a sense of tension so strong time seems to stand still, are the soft and elegant patterns that flow from it.