Tsumugi Akari

is a traditional slub-woven silk fabric from Japan. It is a tabby weave material woven from yarn produced using silk noil, short-staple silk fibre (as opposed to material produced using longer, filament yarn silk fibres). The short silk fibres are degummed and, traditionally, the yarns are hand-joined to form a continuous length before weaving, a technique also used for cheaper bast fibres. Yarns are joined by twisting the ends to be joined in the same direction, then twisting both ends, bundled together, in the other direction, to make a two-ply yarn at the overlap. It might alternately be loosely handspun, with few twists per unit length. Because of this structure, is rough-surfaced, soft and drapey, softening further with age.

Between 1910 and 1925 (late Taishō to Shōwa era), it became common to spin as well as weave silk noil by machine (see for the technological developments that made this possible). This machine-spun cloth largely displaced as one of the cheapest silk fabrics. Prices dropped drastically, and silk materials and clothing was suddenly within the budget of most Japanese; stores also began to sell off-the-peg, ready-to-wear kimono at about this time.

Originally, was homemade from domestic or wild-gathered silkworm cocoons that had been broken by hatching or were irregularly formed. Unlike the long-fiber silk, such cloth was permitted to peasants. Traditionally a peasant cloth, handmade is very labour-intensive to produce, and has become expensive over time, valued as a luxury folk-craft.

In the kimono canon

The term tsumgi is broadly used to describe many types of casual woven kimono, even if they do not use tsumugi silk. One of the most famous examples is Ōshima-tsumugi, which though is considered a tsumugi is not made with tsumugi thread. Additionally, cotton kimono with fine kasuri patterns are considered to be tsumugi.

File:Silkworm cocoons in Japan for Yuki tsumugi.jpg, Silkworm cocoons in Japan for Yuki tsumugi
File:Spinning in Japan for Yuki tsumugi.jpg, Handspinning silk noil for tsumugi thread
File:Yokohama Silk Museum 020.JPG, Weaving tsumugi cloth at a jibata (low loom), later largely replaced by takahata (high looms).
File:Awase-kimono.jpg, A lined () kimono.
File:MET 2001 428 48 det mon on tsumugi.jpg, with a dyed
File:MET 2001 428 47 mon.jpg, with a dyed , showing slight unevenness in thread diameter.
File:Coin purse made of Ushikubitsumugi.jpg, Coin purse made from . The thicker portions of yarn visible in the weave are called slubs.
File:Porch made of Ushikubitsumugi.jpg, Another purse with woven stripes
File:Null-Beni-An Nouvelle Neant.jpg, Mobile tea room and kimono made with Oitama Tsumugi

Regional Varieties (産地）

was originally a homespun textile, produced using silk fibre deemed unusable for the production of finer fabrics, and many regional variations existed. Some of these regional variations still exist today and are recognized as , famous products of their place of origin.

Independent Tsumugi Weavers (Sakka,作家）

* Junko Ebigase海老ケ瀬順子
* Miyuki Otaka 大高美由紀
* Shinya Yanagi 柳晋哉
* Junko　Tsuchiya 土屋順子
* Ryoko　Murakami 村上良子
* Yaeko Hirayama 平山八重子

See also

*Dupioni
*Pongee
*Shantung
*List of Traditional Crafts of Japan

References

{{Authority control

Japanese weaving techniques
Textiles
Sericulture