Kihachijyo is silk texture that has been passed down from old times in Hachijyo-jima. It was designated as National Traditional Craft in 1977, and Yaoko Yamashita was designated as a technician of Tokyo Metropolitan-Area designated intangible cultural properties. She learned about kihachijyo from her great-grandfather, Yozouemon Yamashita, and she also learned it from her mother, Meyu Yamashita who was also designated as a technician of Tokyo Metropolitan-Area designated intangible cultural properties. They inherit traditional techniques from generation to generation.
Yaoko Yamashita’s twill kihachijyo just cannot be ignored. It cannot be pulled together with other kihachijyo and only she can weave this. This approximately 10 meters of texture contains distinctive colors and precise works. Even though the same color yarn is woven over and over, it makes us want to look it forever once you see it, since it shows various aspects and depth of color. Her texture is woven by traditional dyeing technique which has been passed down in Hachijyo-jima. It is created by moderate colors which are yellow, kite color (brown) and black and those colors precisely mix by twill weave. Yaoko Yamashita’s kihachijyo is considered first-class quality among other kihachijyo, it is lustrous and the texture is very elastic compared to others. She passed away December 2009 and number of her texturea are decreasing. Unfortunately, it is getting difficult to find this wonderful textures.
Kihachijyo is vegetable dyeing method which uses vegetation that grow naturally in Hachijyo-jima. Silk yarns are dyed with “yellow”, “reddish yellow (kaba)” and “black” colors in order to use as main colors, and they are woven with plane white by hand as striped pattern or checked pattern. When you create the color, you cut vegetation, boil down them for a day and make the origin of color called fushi. Then, you put yarns in the boiled down liquid, and cover it with a cloth not to expose with air until next day. Next morning, you take out the yarns, wring them out, and dry them outside until early evening. When they dry out completely, it repeats the method with new boiled down liquid. Usually this process is repeated about 15 to 20 times, and move on to next mordanting method called akuzuke. In general, iron(II) acetate, alums, and copper sulfate are used for mordanting. However, if you dye with those mordant solutions, it might turn out differently from vegetation’s original hue, so kihachijyo is used mud or lye which is produced by burning tree for mordanting. That makes kihachijyo very deep and beautiful color.
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