Woven Gold in Kyoto

摘要

During our stay in Japan, we had the opportunity to visit a small family-run weaving workshop in the Nishijin textile district of Kyoto that produced exquisite cloth for the temples. This was not ordinary silk weaving, but intricately woven silk brocade, some with patterns of pure silver, gold and platinum threads. The small workroom was set up with four floor looms, each warped in different stunning dyed colour silks. Until two years ago they had operated with Jacquard punched cards; these have since been replaced by computers. Each loom was no more than 30 inches wide, about 100 inches in length and about two feet apart, just wide enough for a central heater, and to walk around for warping and adjusting the tension of the threading. The looms were set up directly on an earthen floor, which may have affected the room's humidity and made it easier for handling the silk and precious metal threads. Each one had a low bench set over a pit for the weavers to sit comfortably for hours on end, but as the father said, they could only work until three o'clock each day as it was impossible to stay sufficiently focused to concentrate on the pattern for longer periods of time. Depending on the complexity of the designs they may only weave one centimetre a day, and pieces could take months to produce.