Japan · Textile / Weaving / Figured and Ikat
首里の織物 / 首里織 (Shuri no Orimono / Shuri-ori)
Shuri textiles (首里の織物) are the court and aristocratic cloths of Shuri, the former Ryukyu royal capital — a family of figured weaves and ikat rather than a single technique. Two were reserved for the royal house and nobility and woven only in Shuri: hanakura-ori (花倉織), the most prestigious Okinawan textile, a summer cloth for queens and princesses alternating hanaori float-weave and ro gauze in checkerboard or lozenge layouts; and dōton-ori (道屯織, also rōton-ori), a reversible plain weave with locally densified threads used for men's official robes. Around them sit hanaori float-weaves, Shuri kasuri (ikat) tied by the hand-measured habagwā-yui method, and Shuri minsā belts. Materials are chiefly silk with cotton, ramie and bashō fiber, dyed with Ryukyu indigo, fukugi, tekachi and other plants. The umbrella name 'Shuri-ori' was coined only in 1983, for the METI traditional-craft application. The national Important Intangible Cultural Property 'Shuri no Orimono' was held by Miyahira Hatsuko from 1998 until her death in 2022, and has been held by Shukumine Kyōko since 2023.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not inscribed. National Important Intangible Cultural Property 'Shuri no Orimono' (holders: Miyahira Hatsuko, 1998–2022; Shukumine Kyōko, 2023–). METI Traditional Craft Product 'Shuri-ori' (name coined for the 1983 application)
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