Japanese textile artist Tamaki Babauchi: Dyeing the colors of the Manyoshu with plants

"In all my works, I hope to express the turning of the four seasons through natural colors." Japanese plant-dyeing textile artist Tamaki Babauchi selected ten poems from Japan's oldest poetry collection, the Manyoshu, as inspiration for "Colors of the Manyoshu - Plant-Dyed Woven Kimono Exhibition," currently on display at the Japanese-style building Nanmencho 323 in Taipei Botanical Garden. For each kimono, from collecting plants, boiling dye liquor, and dyeing silk threads to finally weaving the cloth and making the kimono, Babauchi does everything herself, celebrating the rich colors displayed by the plants of the Manyoshu.

Among them, the most unique kimono, "Amaterasu Omikami," has five colors in total: purple dyed from purple gromwell root, red dyed from madder root, yellow dyed from kariyasu, blue dyed from Japanese indigo, and the white of the base layer, corresponding to the poem: "Like the purple spots dyed on the clothing of the Toraijin, my heart is dyed with your color, never to be forgotten."

The true essence of the kimono: the spirit of cherishing things; true abundance comes from cherishing clothing

Babauchi, 46 years old, was originally interested in ukiyo-e and ancient clothing, and later majored in Western-style tailoring. "After the Great Hanshin Earthquake, seeing the way things are mass-produced in daily life, is that really abundance?" This prompted her to want to create crafts that "comfort the soul and embody traditional Japanese culture," so she began studying silk dyeing and weaving in 2003.

Japan has many records and much preservation of kimono culture. Through courses and documents, her learning went very smoothly, but she discovered that the concept of the modern kimono differs from that of the past. "In the past, once a kimono was made, it would be worn for a long time, and when it could no longer be worn, it would be taken apart and used. Now kimono no longer seem to be like this."

A single kimono might be used for decades or even a hundred years. She explained: nobles and samurai bought new kimono at cloth shops; when worn old, they were sold to secondhand clothing stores, and commoners bought them back to wear; when certain parts were damaged, they would be altered smaller for children to wear, and the removed parts were used to make undergarments, wrapping cloths, and rags, not wasting even a bit. They could even finally be burned when no longer usable, and the ashes after burning could be used as fertilizer.

The spirit of the kimono lies in cherishing things. She compared Western-style tailoring with kimono: Western-style tailoring cuts a desired shape from a single whole piece of cloth, while kimono making is assembled and combined from individual pieces of fabric. "If a sleeve gets dirty or torn, it can be removed and repaired or replaced separately." She gestured on paper.

Different temperatures and times create different colors; collecting, dyeing, and weaving take three months

Today's kimono are mostly made of chemical fibers, and even if buried in soil, they are difficult to decompose in a short time. Babauchi chose to make kimono with traditional plant dyeing. The entire process, from collecting, dyeing and coloring the threads, weaving the cloth, to assembling the kimono, takes three months.

"After collecting plants, you must dye quickly while they are fresh." She explained that except for materials that need to be dried for use, everything else is boiled within three hours after collection and then dyed. "Even with the same materials, different temperatures and boiling times will produce different results." She pointed to the different shades of color on the kimono as she spoke, and to prevent color change, the threads must be dipped back and forth in the dye at least 3-6 times.

Work - Kimono Snow Drop, shizuku meaning snow that is melting, designed with inspiration from the clothing of the figure in Utagawa Yoshitama's ukiyo-e "Beauty Portrait," presented in blue tones of different depths, quoting the poem: "Time enters the first month, spring arrives, let us enjoy the plum blossoms and savor the beauty of spring."