"Shoai-hiyashizome" (refined indigo dyeing) is a dyeing and weaving technique passed down through generations of the Chiba family in Kurihara City, Miyagi Prefecture, based on techniques passed down since the Heian period. We visited Chiba Matsue, the heir to the oldest surviving "Shoai-hiyashizome" indigo dyeing, to talk about her life with indigo, which blends with the seasons.

Matsue lives in Kurihara City, a mountainous area overlooking Mount Kurikoma. The Nisasame River, which provides the abundant water essential for indigo dyeing, flows right in front of her home, making it a land blessed with water and greenery. It takes just over a year from planting indigo seeds in this natural setting until the leaves are ready for indigo dyeing. While in recent years, indigo dyeing has become possible year-round by heating the indigo bottles, Matsue does not use heat in her dyeing process. Even when it comes to indigo fermentation, it is dependent on the temperature, which changes with the seasons. Therefore, indigo dyeing using Shoai-hiyashizome can only be done for one month, from the end of May to the end of June. After more than a year of mind-boggling work, it finally takes just one month to dye the fabric a clear indigo blue.

Matsue's life with indigo is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process that truly embodies her symbiosis with nature. We would like to introduce Matsue's life with indigo through the seasons.

■The Four Seasons with Indigo -- Life in Spring and Summer

After the long Tohoku winter ends and the earth emerges in April, Matsue sows indigo seeds. By June, the indigo plants have grown to palm-high height and she replants them in the field. Then, in August and September, during the short northern summer, she harvests the thriving indigo leaves in several batches, with the help of neighbors and the whole family. After drying the picked leaves in the sun, they are kneaded on straw mats (*1) for further drying.

Matsue still stubbornly adheres to the teachings of her grandmother-in-law, Chiba Ayano, the founder of Seiai Reizome dyeing. Heavy rains this summer caused a landslide from the mountain behind Matsue's fields, and the indigo leaves close to the ground, just as they were in harvest season, were covered in mud. Even though many of the leaves were covered in mud, Matsue picked only the leaves whose tips were undamaged by the mud, saying, "My grandmother told me never to put indigo that had mud on it." Even though production has decreased, she adheres to her grandmother's teachings. In this way, Seiai Reizome dyeing has been passed down, retaining the traditional techniques.

■ Four Seasons with Indigo -- Living in Autumn and Winter

During autumn, the indigo harvested and dried in summer is stored in the attic. Autumn is the time of year for farmers, marking a major event: the rice harvest. Just as the Chiba family has long combined indigo dyeing with farming, farming life and indigo dyeing often go hand in hand, not just in this area.

When the snow arrives in January, the dried indigo is taken out from the attic and the leaves are washed and loosened in cold water. This work takes place in the snowy mountains of Tohoku, where hands and feet become numb. In the winter cold, when your breath turns white, the indigo leaves are loosened in cold water and then placed between straw and straw mats for a process called "tokofuse" (laid on top of the bed) to slowly ferment.

From January to March, when the whole area is covered in a blanket of white snow, the indigo wrapped in straw and straw mats slowly ferments, and by April, when the sunshine returns, the indigo has turned into a clay-like substance, with most of the leaves still retaining their original shape, and is ready to be called "sukumo*2." The remaining hard parts of the clay-like sukumo, such as the stems, are pounded with a stone mortar and pestle to form a paste, which is then rolled into balls to create "ai balls."

It takes a year from sowing the seeds to finally form the indigo balls that will become the dye for indigo dyeing. After the passage of time, spanning the four seasons, the raw materials for "seiai reizome" are finally complete.


*1) Straw mat - A simple mat made from woven plants such as straw and rushes
*2) Sukumo - A dye made from fermented and aged indigo leaves


To be continued in the second part.