PRODUCT DETAILSTokyo Some-Komon, Carried in LeatherThis natural-toned cow-leather clutch brings the fine visual rhythm associated with Tokyo Some-Komon into a contemporary accessory. A plain folded flap meets a patterned lower surface, making the 310 × 180 mm form restrained from a distance...
PRODUCT DETAILS
Tokyo Some-Komon, Carried in Leather
This natural-toned cow-leather clutch brings the fine visual rhythm associated with Tokyo Some-Komon into a contemporary accessory. A plain folded flap meets a patterned lower surface, making the 310 × 180 mm form restrained from a distance and increasingly detailed as it comes closer.
USE & APPRECIATION
An Interior Seen on Opening
Open the folded flap in a quiet room and let the simple interior contrast with the patterned exterior. The gesture reveals how the broad planes of the clutch meet and fold, without adding decoration to the scene. Closing it returns attention to the measured line of the silhouette.
Natural Tone in Garden Light
Carry the clutch outdoors beside deep green foliage. The warm leather tone separates clearly from the garden without becoming loud, and the pale repeated pattern remains visible across the lower half. The contrast makes the object easy to notice while preserving the quiet character of its color and form.
Opening the Clutch in a Tatami Room
In a quiet tatami-room setting, the raised flap reveals the simple interior while the patterned exterior remains visible. The supplied image records the opening gesture and the relationship between the broad leather panels without making an unverified claim about capacity.
Closing the Form in a Japanese Room
Seated on tatami beside a low table, rest the clutch across the lap and guide the folded flap closed with one hand. This quieter finishing gesture differs from the existing opening view, while the broad natural leather field and fine Tokyo Some-Komon pattern remain visible together.
OBJECT PASSPORT / CARE & USE
Care & Handling
Material: cow leather. Machine washing and ironing are not approved.
OBJECT PASSPORT
Product details
Dimensions
310 H180 mm
Material
Cow leather
Product weight
210 g
Origin
Japan
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 · WASEDA, TOKYO
Patterns That Reveal Themselves Slowly
At its Waseda workshop, Tomita Dyeing & Crafts continues Tokyo Some Komon and Edo Sarasa using Ise *katagami* stencils, while also applying its dyeing knowledge to accessories and objects for contemporary life.
Atsushi Tomita, Fifth Generation
For Atsushi Tomita, dyeing was part of daily life long before it became his profession. From childhood, his mornings began alongside the workshop’s resident craftspeople, cleaning the garden and workspaces before school; after class, he returned to help with the family trade. He later worked for a women’s apparel company, then came home to the workshop at age 31. In 2006, he became its fifth-generation president.
That path—rooted in the workshop but informed by the wider world of fashion—still shapes his approach. Tomita carries forward inherited skill while looking for new patterns, colors, and forms that make Tokyo dyeing meaningful now.
A Workshop Shaped by Tokyo
The workshop was founded in Asakusa in 1882 and moved upstream to Waseda in 1914, when dye houses were seeking the cleaner water of the Kanda River. There, generations of makers have practiced Tokyo Some Komon and Edo Sarasa using Ise katagami stencils.
Tokyo Some Komon rewards a closer look: what first appears to be a quiet field of color resolves into an extraordinarily fine repeating pattern. Edo Sarasa builds a different kind of depth, layering motifs and color through successive hand processes. In both, the result depends on more than a design. It depends on how a stencil is placed, how paste and dye are prepared, and how consistently the maker works across a length of cloth.
Tradition, Kept Alive Through Use
Tomita does not see continuity as repetition. Through the workshop’s SARAKICHI line, inherited dyeing knowledge has moved beyond kimono into accessories and objects for contemporary life. The purpose is not to make tradition look new for its own sake, but to let the qualities that made it endure—restraint, wit, rhythm, and exacting handwork—remain useful and felt.
A Clear Line Back to Waseda
Buying from another country should not make the origin of the work abstract. The sequence shown here—Tomita, the Waseda workshop, an Ise *katagami* stencil, the preparation of color paste, and the dyed surface—keeps the chain of making visible. Together, these details show where the practice continues, who carries it forward, and why the finished surface bears the character of work done by hand.
Shipping Information
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Damage or incorrect delivery
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