Japan · Textile / Natural Dyeing and Weaving
ウージ染め (Ūji Zome)
Ūji Zome (ウージ染め) is dyeing and weaving with sugarcane (ūji in Okinawan), developed in Tomigusuku as a village-revitalization project of the local Chamber of Commerce in 1989. It is a modern craft, not an old one, and was recognized as such: it won the national Chamber of Commerce President's award at a nationwide village-revitalization exhibition in 1990. The dye is boiled from sugarcane leaves and flower ears. It gives greens from young-leaf to moegi and yellows up to gold, and the hue shifts with steeping time and season: summer's lush leaves dye a stronger yellow, winter's a more astringent tone. The cooperative uniquely combines saki-zome (dyeing yarn, then weaving) with ato-zome (dyeing finished cloth, including shibori and paste-resist brushwork). A processing plant opened in 1991 with 13 trainees, the name was trademarked in 1993, and the cooperative was incorporated on 6 September 1994 with 12 members (5 yarn-dyers, 7 piece-dyers). In 2005 it developed kaho-zome, a pale pink from the sugarcane flower ear, trademarked in 2008. In 2007 its dyeing method won the Minister of Education's Creative Ingenuity Award.
Risk level: Stable · Not inscribed. Not a METI or prefectural traditional craft; 'Ūji-zome' (1993) and 'kaho-zome' (2008) are registered trademarks
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