A Tale Of Hachioji In Days Of Yore Told By An Old Indigo Dyeing Craftsman

When I returned to the Noguchi Studio of Edo-style Nagaita Chukei Indogo Dyeing, which I have been introducing in my recent posts, Mr. Noguchi was working on new fabrics that have a nice gray color. It was still unfinished since fabrics have to be dipped into dyes many times to make a fine color in the traditional way. 

While I was gazing at the finished beautiful gray fabrics on the upper left end photo, the aged craftsman started to tell me about the old days of this studio...

Actually the original work of Noguchi Studio was only dyeing. They received fabrics already masked for the design, then they just dyed those fabrics. In old times, there were many small studios in textile business circle and specific tasks were assigned for each studio. For example, some studios were making ingredients for dyeing, while some other studios were  masking fabrics with stencils to put designs. It was like a big production line participated by many private studios to complete Kimono fabrics.

In addition, there were many textile mills nearby that provided plain fabrics. In fact Hachioji city had been prosperous with fabric business and it was a widely known "textile town". However, people started to wear Western clothes and with the declining demand for Kimono fabrics, small studios and textile mills disappeared one by one. Noguchi Studio had to undertake the work of other small studio's in order to keep going. Now they buy plain fabrics and perform the entire work of Indigo dyeing for Kimono all by themselves. 

The only thing reminds us of the old days of thriving textile business are old buildings in the area as you can see in the photos on the bottom. These are remains of old textile mills although they are now owned by different companies. Mr. Noguchi remembers when he was little the textile mills were still running with many young factory girls working within. 

Apparently the factory girls could receive their factory products sometimes, as a role of fabric, as an additional compensation. They made a new Kimono by themselves. Sewing Kimono was a very easy work for them, however, making a plain white cotton Kimono was a problem. In Japanese culture, plain Kimono in pure white is actually a clothing for one's last journey. Therefore, the girls used to come to Noguchi studio, which was just in a few minutes away, and asked to dye their white cloth received from their company. 

Today, I think even Japanese can't easily imagine these situations of the old days in Hachioji. I love Kimono and Kimono culture but it's been decades since Kimono stopped being everyday wear. However, this area would be a good place to see the history of the textile town Hachioji!