Indigo Dyeing (Aizome)
Also written: 藍染め · 蓝染
A traditional craft known abroad as “Japan Blue,” offering hands-on workshops that are especially popular with international visitors.
An Illustrated Japan / Tokushima / Culture & Tradition
About this place
Aizome, indigo dyeing, is Tokushima's emblematic craft known abroad as Japan Blue. It arrived in Awa Province in the Muromachi period 1336-1573, after seeds came from south China and Indochina. Yoshino River floods made rice farming difficult but carried fertile soil ideal for indigo, an annual plant about 80 cm high with small red or white flowers. Lord Hachisuka Iemasa promoted cultivation and it peaked around 1903 as Japan's largest producer. Demand surged early Edo as cotton spread and bright indigo was one of few colors allowed to commoners. The British chemist Robert William Atkinson, who taught at Tokyo University in the.
