Kyoto Stencil Yūzen Dyeing

Yūzen is a dyeing technique of that uses a resist of glutinous rice paste to differentiate the color of the ground and the design. The procedure involves numerous processes, each of which is handled by a different specialist in assembly-line fashion. When a kimono shop receives an order for a yūzen kimono, someone known as a shikkai (literally, “do-everything”) or, more recently, a senshō (master dyer), makes the rounds of various artisans and ateliers bearing a roll of white cloth. Assorted professionals combine their highly specialized skills over a period of months to produce the finished garment. 

 As Japan entered modernity, chemical dyes (synthetic dyes) were introduced from overseas. Horikawa Shinzaburō (1851–1914) and Hirose Jisuke (1822–1890) developed a technique of coloring textiles with paste-resist using chemical dyes, which formed the technical foundation for stencil yūzen (kata yūzen). This was a forerunner of the technique of printing designs. Some kimono shops employed professional painters to draw the basic designs, resulting in the appearence of more realistic and unconventional patterns. By the Taishō period (1912–1926), there were professional “patternmakers” (zuanka) who created various unique textile designs.

Based on the design, the maker decides on the number of stencils needed for colors and shading. The stencil carver transfers the design sketches onto the stencil using a stylus-like pen and red carbon paper. In the past, stencils were made of handmade washi paper coated with persimmon tannin, but today synthetic paper is also in common use, along with silkscreens. Depending on the design, more than one stencil may be used to dye even a single color. Multi-colored designs commonly call for the creation of dozens or even hundreds of stencils.

There are two categories of stencil yūzen (kata-yūzen): suri yūzen (brush dyeing), where dye is applied directly to the cloth with a special brush, and utsushi yūzen (transfer dyeing), where the liquid dye is mixed with paste made from glutinous rice and rice bran, using a stick of lime. The outward color of the paste differs considerably from the color it produces, so the precise composition of the mixture is decided after repeated trials. After the design is applied to the fabric using colored paste-resist (iro nori) and stencils, the cloth is first steamed to fix the dye and then rinsed in water to remove the paste.  Nowadays specialists who make this kind of paste for resist dyeing have all but disappeared. For this reason,  a mounting sense of crisis is being felt not only by stencil yūzen dyers, but also by hand-drawn yūzen artists and  those making minutely patterned Edo komon, Okinawan bingata, and other types of traditional resist-dyed cloth.

The fabric is attached with a thin layer of paste to a 7-meter-long pinewood frame (yūzen ita) on a stand. The stencils bear marks known as okuriboshi or awaseboshi that serve as reference points for each application of paste and/or dye. Kataoki is repeated over and over, depending on the number of colors and their gradation and shading, and then the fabric is left to dry. Before the background ground is dyed, the other design areas are covered with protective paste so as to resist the background dye. Afterward, just as in hand-drawn yūzen, the dyes are fixed by steaming. Then the fabric is soaked in water and final touches are added.