Our indigo dye, " Hon-Aizome ", is one of the rare "living dyes" in the world that can be dyed by fermentation of fungus.

"Sukumo", which is made by fermenting the indigo plant,

"Lye" which is made from wood ash and water,

"sake," "bran," and "lime"

are used to prepare natural dyes and grow fungi to make dye liquid.

We follow traditional techniques from the Edo period and do not use any chemical dyes or chemicals.

Our indigo is alive.

We check the health condition and take good care of them every day.

Depending on the sukumo and lye used, the condition at the time of indigo liquid making and the working condition after that, each pot has a different color, has its own characteristics.

 

Since it is alive, it is important to adjust the work amount (dying amount).

If it works too hard and get tired, it is not be able to produce beautiful colors, they can no longer be dyed.

Although it takes time and effort, it is impossible to dye a large amount all at once.

We do not do wax-resist dyeing or paste dyeing, only tie-dyeing. This is because we think that we do not want to add extra things as much as possible to keep the health of indigo, and we feel that the colors created by tie-dyeing can express all the colors of Hon-Aizome.

 

It is often difficult, but the reason why we have been able to continue this indigo dyeing is to think about which pot we used and how to dye, depending on the material, the color we want, and the condition of the indigo dyeing, and we could dye better than we thought, we feel very happy.

Also, we find it fun and interesting that we can dye with the power of indigo.