To learn about Okan Arts’ 12-day textile tours to Japan +click here
By Patricia Belyea
BACKGROUND INFO
WHAT IS CHUSEN DYEING?
Chu (注) means to pour or inject; Sen (染) means to dye. Chusen dyeing is a traditional Japanese technique used for dyeing cotton for yukata and tenugui.
WHAT IS A TENUGUI?
That’s a good question.
Essentially a tenugui is a rectangular piece of cotton, 14”W x 36” long. It’s an authentic Japanese hand towel with a flat-woven texture that’s quick drying.
A tenugui can double as a headband, a dishcloth, gift wrap, or a lap-covering napkin. (I sometimes cut them up and use them in quilts!)
The ends of the tenugui are unfinished. Over time, fraying stops and the cloth is fringed.
Piles of 14” wide cotton, fresh white or dyed a solid color, filled the first room. Around the corner the action began.
The first set of artisans prepped the cotton for dyeing. They pulled squeegees of seaweed paste across prepared screens, adding a resist pattern — one meter at a time — to a pile of cotton. 
The second set of artisans, chusen dyers, added more seaweed paste to the top layer of cotton. Using oversized piping bags, they extruded long lines of gray goop around each color area — creating miniature dye dams.
With dye pots that resembled a cross between a watering can and a long-spouted tea pot, the dyers poured vibrant dyes though the piles of cotton.
Then the dyers flipped the piles over, added more dye dams, and poured more dye to ensure vivid colors on both sides of the cotton.
Infusing dye through all the layers would be physically impossible except that each dyer worked on a vacuum table. As they poured the dyes, they pressed a foot pedal to activate the vacuum. The powerful suction pulled the dye through pile of cotton.
The next step involved water. Lots of water. Look at the man standing in the knee-high pool of water. It’s gray — the same color of the resist that was washed out of the cotton. 
The next washing pro stands in clear water. After she does the final rinse, four huge wads of dyed cotton were spun in an industrial-sized extractor.
The almost-dry fabric was hung high up in a warm room with a fan creating billowing ribbons of color.
Before the seaweed resist, the dyes, the water, and the light breezes came Nijiyura’s production team. They are the brilliance behind the delightful designs and color combos.
Fumi Kuma manages the product development. Her ebullience overflows, which explains why the vibe of the workshop feels young and happy.
My host, Hiro, spent his whole morning shepherding me through the workshop. I was full of questions which he patiently answered. I am truly thankful for his generous welcome.
My Nijiyura visit was made possible by Yuki Mizuki, a textile artisan from Kyoto. Yuki picked me up in her cute new van and drove us to Sakai, a city just south of Osaka.
INTERESTING FACTS
-The Nijiyura dye facility is located in a part of Sakai called Tenugui Town.
-There are 12 companies in the district involved with tenugui production (weaving, bleaching, finishing) and only three are chusen-dyeing companies.
-Nijiyura produces 600,000 tenugui per year.
SEE THE SHOP
To read a blog post about the Nijiyura shop in Kyoto +click here
To learn about Okan Arts’ 12-day textile tours to Japan +click here
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ABOUT US: Okan Arts, a petite family business, is co-owned by mother-daughter duo Patricia Belyea and Victoria Stone. Patricia and Victoria import vintage Japanese textiles, host in-person and online creative quilting experiences, and lead textile tours to Japan.
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