This continues from my recent post “Oigawa Kuzufu — Heading East in My Trusty Kei Truck”. Today, at last, the Oigawa Kuzufu workshop begins, where I will learn how to make kuzu cloth. And this time, I’m the student! My first stop was the Oigawa River, once immortalized in the saying “Even a horse can cross Hakone’s eight leagues, but the Oigawa cannot be crossed.”
Before me stood the Oigawa Bridge, completed in Shōwa 3 (1928). Its long succession of blue trusses was striking.
▼ “The Oigawa cannot be crossed.” The Oigawa Bridge, completed in Shōwa 3 (1928), made quite an impression.
The Oigawa was once feared as one of the great obstacles on the old Tōkaidō road. Here in the Reiwa era, however, I cross it in my trusty kei truck 😁. But this time, crossing the river is not the real purpose. What I came for is the kuzu growing along its riverbank.
▼ The Oigawa riverbank. Kuzu spreads as far as the eye can see.
Down on the riverbank, there was kuzu everywhere I looked. First, our teacher showed us how to harvest it. Normally I barely notice kuzu growing along roadsides and on vacant land, but today this is the plant that will become a fine cloth. I find myself looking at it a little differently.
▼ The first step in learning how to make kuzu cloth: being taught how to harvest kuzu.
▼ The harvested kuzu. We bundle the long vines and take them back with us. Is it just me, or do these vines seem a little thick⋯?
How to Make Kuzu Cloth — The Harvested Kuzu Goes into a Big Pot!
Harvesting is only the beginning. Back at the workshop, the kuzu goes into a large pot to be boiled. Seeing such a huge amount of vines packed into the pot is quite a sight. And the kamado hearth for a 100-liter pot that Hitotsuya is currently building may prove useful sooner than expected! I have been documenting that project in “100-Liter Pot | Building a Dyeing Kamado ③ — Testing It with the Pot in Place”.
▼ Boiling the harvested kuzu in a large pot.
Once boiled, the kuzu is rinsed and soaked in water, then placed in a muro, a fermentation chamber. From here, it is left to ferment for a while. Fermentation is another important part of how to make kuzu cloth. For now, the work done by human hands is finished. The next part is left to the kuzu and the power of fermentation.
▼ An important step in how to make kuzu cloth: after boiling, the kuzu is rinsed in water and moved into the muro.
In a blog post, everything up to this point passes in an instant, but in reality it took almost a full day. We began by harvesting kuzu on the Oigawa riverbank, then boiled it, rinsed it in water, and finally placed it in the muro. When you actually try how to make kuzu cloth for yourself, you begin to understand that every single step has a reason. That completes day one of the workshop.
And Then, into the Night in Shimada —
Since I had come all the way to Shimada, it seemed a shame just to go back to my lodging. After the workshop, I wandered around the area in front of Shimada Station, humming “With your lead, Shimada starts to sway ♬”—though that is the only line I know 😅.
▼ Shimada Station at dusk. Now then, I wonder if there’s a good place to eat around here⋯
Then I spotted an izakaya that immediately caught my attention. I went straight in, and between the atmosphere and the handwritten menus covering the walls—perfect! Exactly my kind of place 🤩
▼ This atmosphere, these menus. I can’t stop getting excited 😅
And the food was really good! The fatigue from the first day of the workshop disappeared in no time. Before I had even finished, I had already decided I would come back at least once more while I was in Shimada.
▼ I definitely want to eat this again! A return visit during my stay in Shimada is already decided.
The kuzu is fermenting in the muro, while I’m getting bubbly at a Shimada izakaya! And with that, day one of the kuzu-cloth workshop came to an end. What discoveries will tomorrow bring? There is still plenty more to come!