Hakata-ori
culturally important Japanese fabric produced in Fukuoka Prefecture
Hakata-ori (博多織) is a traditional Japanese textile that has been produced in Fukuoka Prefecture for more than 770 years.
There are two varieties of hakata-ori: kenjo hakata-ori and mon ori hakata-ori. Kenjo hakata-ori is woven in a traditional pattern related to Buddhist beliefs, and was influenced by fabrics produced in Sui dynasty China. Mon ori hakata-ori is the name used for hakata-ori containing multi-coloured designs.
Hakata-ori is most commonly found as the material for men's obi, though both men and women wear hakata-ori obi. Hakata-ori is also used to produce a number of different products not related to kimono and kimono accessories, such as handbags, neck ties and scarves.
History
Hakata-ori traces its history back to 1235 CE (Kamakura period Japan), when a Japanese merchant from Fukuoka Prefecture, Mitsuda Yazaemon, travelled to Song dynasty China with the Buddhist monk Shoichi Kokushi to learn Song-period trades and traditions, such as the making of manjū (traditional Japanese cakes), ceramic production techniques, gold leaf,, the production of musk tablets wheat noodles and textile production techniques.
Six years later (1241 CE), they returned to Japan, with Yazaemon bringing along the technique of textile production which would later develop into hakata-ori and utilising it to begin his textiles business.
250 years later in the 16th century, Yazaemon's descendant, Mitsuda Hikosaburo, returned to China (Ming dynasty) to further study in-depth the production of their textiles. Having learnt new Ming dynasty-period techniques, Hikosaburo then combined these with the Song dynasty-period textile techniques previously brought back by his ancestor.
The public source identifies “Hakata-ori” as culturally important Japanese fabric produced in Fukuoka Prefecture. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Hakata-ori, culturally and important.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hakata-ori” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.