Yellow-green Tokyo Some-Komon silk clasp eyeglass case with a dense white floral pattern on a pure white background.
Yellow-green Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case beside a notebook and pen on an indoor desk.
Yellow-green Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case on a side table beside an indoor reading chair.
Yellow-green Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case arranged on an indoor dressing table.
Close view of the small white floral pattern on a yellow-green Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case in soft daylight.
A single yellow-green Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case presented as a craft gift on a simple indoor table.
Yellow-green Tokyo Some-Komon silk clasp eyeglass case with a dense white floral pattern on a pure white background.
Yellow-green Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case beside a notebook and pen on an indoor desk.
Yellow-green Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case on a side table beside an indoor reading chair.
Yellow-green Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case arranged on an indoor dressing table.
Close view of the small white floral pattern on a yellow-green Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case in soft daylight.
A single yellow-green Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case presented as a craft gift on a simple indoor table.
Somenosato Ochiai, General Incorporated Association SKU: BJ_P_00013

Tokyo-dyed Komon, Small Floral Pattern in Yellow-Green Gama-guchi Eyeglass Case · Floral Komon

Price
Regular price ¥17,476
Regular price Sale price ¥17,476
Save ¥-17,476
/
  • Low stock - 1 item left
  • Backordered, shipping soon

Taxes and duties, where applicable, are calculated at checkout.

Shipping calculated at checkout.
  • Secure payments
Product Details

PRODUCT DETAILSSmall flowers, held in a clasped curveCut from 100% silk tsumugi and finished as a compact clasp eyeglass case, this piece brings Tokyo Some-Komon into an everyday ritual. A yellow-green ground carries a dense field of small white flowers, while the...
Craft Heritage

CRAFT HERITAGE

Craft Heritage

The origins of komon dyeing reach back to the Muromachi period, but the practice became widespread during the Edo period. A production center developed in Edo to dye the formal kamishimo worn by feudal lords who gathered there from across Japan.

Initially associated with samurai dress, komon spread among townspeople in the mid-Edo period and flourished under the influence of urban culture. It was worn by both men and women during the Edo period, but became exclusively women’s attire in the Meiji period.
How It’s Made

HOW IT’S MADE

How It’s Made

About the Making Process

Tokyo Some-Komon is produced in a single workshop, from preparing the colored paste through final drying.
An approximately 20-centimeter stencil is placed repeatedly along a bolt of white fabric about 12 meters long, with precise alignment required to create an uninterrupted fine pattern.
To reproduce the carver's design accurately, the dyer monitors the condition of the fabric, stencil, and paste throughout the process.

1. Carving the Stencil
  • Two or three sheets of handmade washi are laminated with persimmon tannin to create the stencil paper.
  • The carver cuts the intricate pattern using awls, small knives, and specially made carving tools.
2. Preparing the Colored Paste
  • Glutinous rice flour, rice bran, and a small amount of salt are mixed, steamed, and kneaded into a base paste. Dyes are then added.
  • The base color and pattern color are adjusted through repeated test dyeing.
3. Applying the Stencil Paste
  • White silk is stretched taut across a long, solid fir board. A cypress spatula is used to press resist paste through the stencil.
  • The stencil is repositioned along an approximately 12-meter bolt by aligning tiny registration points called okuriboshi. Its moisture is carefully controlled because drying can alter the stencil’s dimensions and disrupt the alignment.
4. Drying on the Board
  • The resist paste is dried while the fabric remains attached to the board. For multicolored designs, the stencil application is repeated.
5. Ground-Color Dyeing (Shigoki)
  • Once the resist is dry, the fabric is removed from the board and ground-color dye paste is spread evenly across the surface with a large spatula.
6. Steaming
  • Before the dye paste dries, the fabric is steamed at 90–100°C for approximately 15–30 minutes to set the color.
7. Washing
  • The steamed fabric is thoroughly rinsed to remove the resist paste and excess dye.
8. Drying and Finishing
  • The fabric is dried, returned to its proper width through a steam-finishing process called yu-noshi, and carefully inspected.
Meet the Maker

MEET THE MAKER

Meet the Maker

MAKER · OCHIAI, TOKYO

A Dyeing Culture Carried by a Community

Some-no-Sato Ochiai preserves more than finished textiles. It carries forward the knowledge of how designs are drawn, stencils are cut, color is judged, cloth is stretched, and skill is passed from one person to another.

A person in a blue kimono standing at a timber entrance associated with Some-no-Sato Ochiai.
Yoko Takaichi, Representative Director and Cultural Steward

Yoko Takaichi’s path into this world began through the neighborhood itself. Raised close to kimono through her mother, who worked in tailoring, she later created a local community publication while raising her family. A visit to the dye house Futabaen led to her involvement with Some-no-Komichi, a community project created to make Ochiai’s nearly hidden dyeing culture visible again. In 2015, she served as the project’s representative. She now leads Some-no-Sato Ochiai as its representative director.

Her role is to hold together the workshop’s cultural purpose, its relationship with the neighborhood, and the work of the dyeing craftspeople. The dyeing itself is carried out by the workshop’s craftspeople; Takaichi is introduced here as the representative who connects their work with the wider community.

A Century of Dyeing in Ochiai

The workshop traces its lineage to Futabaya, established in Ochiai in 1920. The district had become a center for dyeing as makers moved upstream in search of cleaner water along the Kanda and Myoshoji rivers. At its height, the area was home to more than 300 dye-related businesses; lengths of cloth being rinsed in the river were once part of the neighborhood’s everyday landscape.

That industrial landscape has become far smaller, but the work continues. Some-no-Sato Ochiai was established to carry the century-old workshop heritage forward, train people, share the culture, and keep hand processes present in the city where they developed.

Why the Hand Still Matters

Edo dyeing is a sequence of judgments. A design is translated into stencils; cloth is fixed evenly to a long printing board; paste and color must be applied with control; each layer must meet the last. A single Edo Sarasa design may require dozens of stencils, while especially complex work can require hundreds. In the coloring room, recipes handed down over time are not simply repeated: craftspeople continue to adjust and develop color by eye and by experience.

These are not invisible extras added to a finished object. They are the source of its rhythm, depth, and human presence—the qualities that allow a textile to feel composed rather than merely printed.

What Closes the Distance

For a customer viewing the work from overseas, trust comes from a visible chain rather than a generalized story about “Japanese tradition”: the named workshop in Ochiai, the people who sustain it, the stencils and dyeing processes practiced there, and close views of the dyed surface. Community and history explain why the craft continues; the workshop and process evidence show the reality behind that history.
Shipping Information

Shipping to the United States

We currently ship online orders to all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., including Alaska and Hawaii. U.S. territories and countries other than the United States are not currently included.

Estimated arrival

Estimated arrival is usually within 5–10 business days after payment and order confirmation. This is an estimate and not a guaranteed delivery date. Timing may vary because of the destination, carrier conditions, customs review, weather, remote-area service, or other circumstances outside our reasonable control.

Shipping charges

Enter your delivery address at checkout to review the available delivery option, shipping charge, and complete order total before payment.

Duties and import taxes

U.S. orders are shipped on a Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) basis, regardless of order value. Where duties, import taxes, or related import charges apply, the amount collected by BRAND JAPAN is shown at checkout. You should not ordinarily be asked by the carrier to pay those charges again upon delivery. If a carrier requests an unexpected import payment, do not pay it immediately; contact us with your order number and the carrier's notice.

Damage or incorrect delivery

If the parcel or item arrives damaged, contact us within 48 hours of delivery. For an incorrect or incomplete order, contact us within 14 days. Keep the item, outer box, inner packaging, and shipping label, and prepare photographs showing their condition. Do not return an item until we provide instructions.

Read the full Shipping Policy for carrier, address-change, delay, and undeliverable-shipment details.

Questions? Email store@brand-japan.ne.jp. Support hours are Monday–Friday, 10:00–18:00 Japan Standard Time, excluding Japanese public holidays.

LATEST OBJECTS

New Arrivals

View all New Arrivals