Tsumugi (紬) is a traditional slub-wovensilk fabric from Japan. It is a tabby weave material woven from yarn produced using silk noil, short-staple silk fibre (as opposed to material produced using longer, filament yarn silk fibres). The short silk fibres are degummed[1] and, traditionally, the yarns are hand-joined to form a continuous length before weaving,[2] a technique also used for cheaper bast fibres. Yarns are joined by twisting the ends to be joined in the same direction, then twisting both ends, bundled together, in the other direction, to make a two-ply yarn at the overlap.[3] It might alternately be loosely handspun, with few twists per unit length.[4] Because of this structure, tsumugi is rough-surfaced, soft and drapey, softening further with age.
Between 1910 and 1925 (late Taishō to Shōwa era), it became common to spin as well as weave silk noil by machine (see meisen for the technological developments that made this possible).[5][6] This machine-spun meisen cloth largely displaced tsumugi as one of the cheapest silk fabrics. Prices dropped drastically, and silk materials and clothing was suddenly within the budget of most Japanese;[6] stores also began to sell off-the-peg, ready-to-wear kimono at about this time.[7]
Originally, tsumugi was homemade from domestic or wild-gathered silkworm cocoons that had been broken by hatching[8] or were irregularly formed.[4] Unlike the long-fiber silk, such cloth was permitted to peasants.[9] Traditionally a peasant cloth, handmade tsumugi is very labour-intensive to produce, and has become expensive over time, valued as a luxury folk-craft.
In the kimono canon
The term tsumgi is broadly used to describe many types of casual woven kimono, even if they do not use tsumugi silk. One of the most famous examples is Ōshima-tsumugi, which though is considered a tsumugi is not made with tsumugi thread.[10] Additionally, cotton kimono with fine kasuri patterns are considered to be tsumugi.
Tsumugi with a dyed mon, showing slight unevenness in thread diameter.
Coin purse made from tsumugi. The thicker portions of yarn visible in the weave are called slubs.
Another purse with woven stripes
Mobile tea room and kimono made with Oitama Tsumugi[12]
Regional Varieties (産地)
Tsumugi was originally a homespun textile, produced using silk fibre deemed unusable for the production of finer fabrics, and many regional variations existed. Some of these regional variations still exist today and are recognized as meibutsu, famous products of their place of origin.
Yūki-tsumugi kimono are often made with thread spun by hand. It can take up to three months to make enough thread for one kimono by an experienced weaver.[14]
Ōshima Tsumugi kimono are dyed with mud and dyed from the bark of Sharinbai Tree creating a deep black color. Mud dyed kasuri threads are hand woven together to create patterns.[15]
^ ab"UNESCO - Intangible Heritage Home". ich.unesco.org. A yarn [sic][for tsumugi] should be spun by hand out of silk floss. A hard twist yarn cannot be used
^ ab"Komon". Kimono mochi: kimono collection. The lowly komon kimono is the workhorse of the kimono wardrobe, worn for trips to town, to friends houses, in any situation which is outside of the home but informal. Despite their name, which means 'small design', komon can have large or small imagery, and the repeat can be staggered widely. painted, closely stencilled, woven, Printed, striped, spotted, shibori, silk, jinken, modern polyester—if it's a repetitive design, short-sleeved, and without kamon, then it's a komon. [this quote given as the title in the metadata]
^"Furisode". Kimono Mochi: private kimono collection photographs and text. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
^Dalby, Liza Crihfield (2001). Kimono : fashioning culture. London: Vintage. p. 156. ISBN9780099428992. the cloth that peasants wove for themselves from the broken filaments of wild cocoons after the moths had emerged, or from the leftovers of the cultivated crop that had been spoiled or broken by hatching the seed moths that would lay the eggs for the next season's crop of silkworms.
^Ruth M. Shaver (1966). Kabuki Costume. Tuttle Publishing.