Many of you are familiar with sekka itajime shibori, or clamp resist dyed shibori which ends up looking something like a flower, in this case, sekka or a snowflower.  And as this shibori technique was commonly used for diapers, many of you are used to seeing this type of shibori done small, like this.As sekka shibori is a fairly straightforward and relatively easy-to-do shibori technique, it was used a great deal in old Japan, especially in the 20th century.  Here we see it covering a marvelously large area as 6 standard-sized loom widths are machine stitched together to create a futon cover (which is now opened, as shown here).  But sekka shibori was also used for undergarments and yukata.In addition to the snowflower motif, you’ll also see an all-over configuration of hexagons.  This could be read as kikko or tortoiseshell, and, as you can imagine, it is a traditional motif that conveys wishes for a long life.This is a huge piece.  It measures 89″ x 72″ or 226 cm x 183 cm and it’s in quite good condition.  Every so often there’s a match head-sized hole, but the cotton is bright white and the indigo is a rich sapphire blue.  It was probably made in the 1950s or 60s.

In Japan it seems that everybody’s in love with mame shibori–I know I am, too.  Mame is “beans”–like edamame.  Of course you can see why this style of pleated shibori is called “beans shibori.”Shown here is a contemporary, hand-dyed tenugui–the unfinished, simple cotton towel that is multi-purposed.  Just two days ago when I was at the wonderful Kyoto-style Brooklyn izakaya, Hibino, all the cooks were wearing tenugui tied around their heads, which is a Japanese custom.  I bought this mame shibori tenugui at a well-known Kyoto shop called Sou-Sou, which specializes in gorgeous patterned tenugui, clothing, tabi, bags and shoes–some of the clothing being hand dyed shibori from Arimatsu, as was this mame shibori tenugui.  Mame shibori tenugui are routinely out of stock at Sou-Sou. There’s just too much demand for them.Have a look at the very quick clip below which shows the voila! moment of mame shibori being unveiled at an Arimatsu dyer (clip courtesy of the aforementioned Sou-Sou).