Wednesday, June 27, 2007

natural plant dying at ohara kobo, north of kyoto

this is the view of ohara kobo, a plant dye workshop in ohara, which is a small town an hour north of kyoto. i was really excited to try their dye course. we stayed overnight at a traditional japanese onsen ryokan, and went here on sunday morning. it was great. the guy spoke some english, and gave us lots of information (more so when we kept asking detailed questions!).

this is the view from their back porch, with dyed cotton hanging.
inside the shop/example area of the workshop, showing all the scarves and colors available.
in the dyeing shed, with the proprietor at the stove. he was a very entertaining fellow.

yarn dyed with loquat, or japanese medlar, or 'biwa' in japanese
madder plant (grown very very locally). in japanese 'akane'.
traditional cotton spinning wheel in use. they grow a small amount of their own cotton.

4 comments:

M. said...

hello! i came by your blog by looking up the chionji tezukuri market (i actually live right by it) and was wondering if you knew whether or not it will still be on tomorrow? (damn typhoon...havent been to chionji market in two months...withdrawal...)

and by any chance when you said in your description that you are a research student that you are on a fellowship from the japanese govt? (i am a research student too, from nyc in kyoto till march 2008). just curious ;-)

liz said...

i think the market is postponed until the 16th this month because of the typhoon. my japanese isn't very good, but i think that's what it said on their site: http://www.tedukuri-ichi.com/index.html

julia said...

Wow! I was googling "Ohara Kobo", and I found your blog! I was there probably a few weeks before you posted this entry! I recognize the people in the photographs, and have many pictures that are similar to yours! Take care!
-Julia

liz said...

hi julia,
isn't it a great place? too bad they don't have a website;-)
cheers,
liz