▼ Do you know this plant?
▼ The undersides of its leaves are white.
This plant, used for karamushi weaving, is karamushi—the Japanese name for ramie. In Japanese it is written 苧麻. It is a perennial plant in the nettle family, and its stems yield strong, flax-like textile fibers.
Karamushi fiber has been used as a textile material in Japan since ancient times. Traditional ramie textiles are still carried on today, including Echigo Jōfu, Ojiya Chijimi, Miyako Jōfu, and Yaeyama Jōfu. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database entry on “Ojiya Chijimi and Echigo Jōfu” also explains that ramie has long been used as a raw material for Echigo Jōfu.
■ Karamushi Weaving | Wanting to Weave a Simple, Rustic Cloth
Rather than trying to make an exquisitely refined textile like jōfu, I wanted to weave a simple, rustic cloth reminiscent of Japan’s shizen-fu (yamanu no), or “natural cloth,” using karamushi I had grown myself. With that thought in mind, I had been cultivating karamushi in a corner of the Hitotsuya（ひとつ屋） Textile Farm.
And now, at last, I have completed a very, very small piece.
▼ Here is the little piece I made with karamushi weaving.
It is a small vase mat, about 20 × 40 cm. I have to say, I am rather pleased with how it turned out.
The full process—from harvesting the karamushi and extracting its fiber to actually weaving the cloth—is introduced in the follow-up article, “Karamushi Weaving ②”.