Arimatsu Shibori originated in the Edo Period
and has more than 400 years of history.
First, we begin by engraving the design to create a pattern.
Then we transfer it to the cloth, manually tying them one by one.
We follow by fixing the shape of the bound texture
with either heat or dye.
A manual tie-dye process is done
so gently that more than 100 pattern variations
and shapes delicately come to life.
May you feel familiar with shibori that has been a close part of the daily lives of Japanese people for hundres of years. Shibori is a traditional Japanese tie-dying art that goes back over 500 years to the beginning of the Edo period. With such thought, an apparel brand was born that is a collaboration between the original manufacturers and designers. Our forcus is on a heat setting technique that was innovated along with traditional shibori techiniques that expands the traditional ideas of design and adopts it into a modern life style.
The Arimatsu International Symposium was held in 1992, and this is where the concept called “shape resistant dyeing” was established. This is the invention of a heat setting technique that uses heat to imprint a shape into the fabric. From that point on, a new type of shibori was born that changes from dyeing shibori to shaping shibori. The ancient artfrom is now spreading it’s beauty across the world.
“The shibori town" Arimatsu was founded by Shokuro Takeda and others in 1608 when Ieyasu Tokugawa opened the shogunate gavernment in Edo at the beginning of the Edo period. Arimatsu lies on the Tokaido or East Sea Road, between Tokyo and Osaka. When Arimatsu was founded, the feudal lords of Japan were required to travel to Tokyo (then known as Edo) each year via the Tokaido to swear their allegiance to the Shogun. Along the route were 53 government-sanctioned stops or “stations” where travellers could rest. Arimatsu was established as the forty-second station. As many travelers bought souvenirs such as shibori towels and shibori yukatas ( summer kimono ) to thier hometown, this place became known throughout Japan for their specialty products. It was depicted in ukiyoe (wood-block prints) by famous artists Hokusai and Hiroshige. There are 100 kinds of traditional shibori techniques, and Arimatsu-Narumi shibori accounts for about 90% or more of the Japanese shibori production. It is due to the creativity and ingenuity of 400 years of craftsmanship that shibori is now a treasure worldwide. In addition, the townscape of Arimatsu is a valuable cultural asset that has endured for hundreds of years and conveys the prosperity of old times and the beauty of traditional Japanese architecture. Arimatsu is also the first historically recognized district in the Nagoya city area to be preserved for its cultural, historic, and architectual value.
