OGIMI, Japan >> As light as a dragonfly’s wing, a traditional Okinawan textile possesses a unique texture that keeps the wearer cool even in hot and humid climates.

Kijoka no bashofu is a traditional fabric from the Kijoka district of Ogimi, a village in northwest Okinawa. Bashofu is woven using thread made from the fibers of itobasho, a relative of the banana plant.

As a specialty product of the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429-1872), bashofu clothing was gifted to the Tokugawa shogunate and China’s Qing dynasty. In the 1930s, developments in manufacturing improved its quality.

But production began to wane in the wake of the Battle of Okinawa during World War II. The U.S. military cut down itobasho plants to limit the number of breeding mosquitoes to control the spread of malaria, and the tradition was in danger of disappearing.

Kijoka native Toshiko Taira (1921-2022), along with other locals, made efforts to revive bashofu production. When the war ended, Taira was in Kura­shiki, Okayama prefecture, studying textiles. She returned to the village in 1946 to cultivate farmland for growing itobasho and revived the tradition, which was in disarray. Taira later became a living national treasure for her work.

Complicated process

Bashofu production involves many steps, which are completed by some 80 workers.

Peak harvest season of itobasho runs from October to February. Workers harvest plants that were grown for three years and stand as tall as a human, and strip off the plant fibers, which are used to produce thread. About 200 plants are needed to make one kimono.

The plant fibers are then boiled in alkaline wood lye. Each thread obtained from the fiber is less than 1 meter (about 1 yard) long, and several threads must be tied together to create a thread long enough to weave. The process requires a high level of skill.

The strings are twisted to increase their strength and then dyed.

Only natural dyes are used: Ryukyu indigo creates colors of blue and navy blue, the fukugi tree delivers bright yellow and Indian madder produces red. For green, considered a noble color in Kijoka, the threads are initially dyed with fukugi and dyed again with indigo.

Because itobasho thread is vulnerable to dryness, humidifiers keep weaving rooms at about 80% humidity, and misters spray the thread.

Unlike the studios in which silk and cotton weaving machines make a fast and rhythmic sound, bashofu studios are quiet. Fabrics are woven carefully to prevent threads from breaking. (If they do, they are rejoined with spare thread.)

It takes about a month to weave enough fabric to make one kimono, depending on the weavers’ skills and the patterns created in the cloth.

After a few additional steps, the durable, high-quality bashofu clothing is complete.

Moving forward

Kijoka no bashofu cloth was designated an important national intangible cultural property in 1974, and a society to preserve the product was established.

The group currently has 11 members, selected from among highly skilled bashofu craftspeople. Though the society is focused on fostering successors, the number of bashofu craftspeople — particularly those skilled in tying threads — has been declining, and the group faces challenges in passing on their skills to the next generation.

When the Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum in Naha held an exhibition of bashofu clothing from Oct. 1 to Dec. 1, it drew double the number of visitors at other exhibits. Likewise, a Noh performance in Kijoka in November featuring bashofu clothing drew a crowd exceeding 400 people.

“I hope these kinds of events will increase and more people will know how good bashofu clothes are,” said Mieko Taira, 76, head of the Bashofu Preservation Society of Kijoka.