Tokyo Traditional Dyeing · Tenugui · Bashō Set of 3
Green Basho-pattern tenugui partly turned on a clean indoor surface to suggest viewing both faces.
Close view of the folded navy, brown, and green Basho-pattern tenugui in soft indoor daylight.
A seated woman holding a brown Basho-pattern tenugui at a table beside the folded navy and green cloths.
A woman placing a folded navy Basho tenugui into a neutral handbag, with brown and green cloths on the table.
Three folded Basho tenugui in navy, brown, and green arranged on a wooden surface with the white leaf motifs visible.
Tokyo Traditional Dyeing · Tenugui · Bashō Set of 3
Green Basho-pattern tenugui partly turned on a clean indoor surface to suggest viewing both faces.
Close view of the folded navy, brown, and green Basho-pattern tenugui in soft indoor daylight.
A seated woman holding a brown Basho-pattern tenugui at a table beside the folded navy and green cloths.
A woman placing a folded navy Basho tenugui into a neutral handbag, with brown and green cloths on the table.
Three folded Basho tenugui in navy, brown, and green arranged on a wooden surface with the white leaf motifs visible.
Somenosato Ochiai, General Incorporated Association SKU: BJ_P_00012

Tokyo Traditional Dyeing · Tenugui · Bashō Set of 3

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Product Details

PRODUCT DETAILS

Three colors, one Basho rhythm

Three cotton tenugui bring the Basho leaf motif into a coordinated set of navy, warm brown, and green. Each cloth measures 100 x 34 cm, giving the broad white pattern room to move across the dyed surface. Together, they offer three distinct accents linked by one graphic rhythm.

USE & APPRECIATION

Ways to keep the Basho motif close

Look through both faces

As you unfold a cloth at home, let the broad Basho leaves become the focus of a simple arrangement. White shapes stand clearly against green cotton, with portions of the motif appearing at each fold. Turn and refold it slowly to find the view you enjoy most.

Green Basho-pattern tenugui partly turned on a clean indoor surface to suggest viewing both faces.

A close study of color variation

Before arranging a shelf or sideboard indoors, compare the three cloths together. Navy, warm brown, and green lend different moods to the shared leaf pattern. Choose one to complement the room's colors, or overlap the set so the repeated motif connects the whole display.

Close view of the folded navy, brown, and green Basho-pattern tenugui in soft indoor daylight.

A leaf motif at the table

A pause at home can become a moment to enjoy a textile in your hands. The brown tenugui's white leaves contrast with plain clothing, bringing the Basho pattern closer than a distant display. Recreate this appreciation indoors, keeping the cloth dry and clear of food or spills.

A seated woman holding a brown Basho-pattern tenugui at a table beside the folded navy and green cloths.

Choose one to keep close

Before an indoor visit, choose the cloth whose color you would like to have close. The navy version brings crisp white leaves to a neutral handbag, while brown and green offer alternatives. Enjoy the small act of selecting a textile that complements your own arrangement.

A woman placing a folded navy Basho tenugui into a neutral handbag, with brown and green cloths on the table.

A palette for what you wear

Lay out the set while choosing the colors around you for the day. The broad leaf motif links navy, brown, and green, so each folded cloth feels related yet distinct. Pair one with plain fabrics and enjoy how a simple change of color changes the composition.

Three folded Basho tenugui in navy, brown, and green arranged on a wooden surface with the white leaf motifs visible.

OBJECT PASSPORT / CARE & USE

Care & Handling

Care summary for the Tokyo Honzome Chusen Basho tenugui set: laundering, ironing, and outdoor use are not permitted.

Laundering, ironing, and outdoor use are not permitted.

OBJECT PASSPORT

Product details

Dimensions
100cm×34cm
Material
100% cotton
Product weight
35 g
Origin
Japan
Craft Heritage

CRAFT HERITAGE

Craft Heritage

Tokyo Honzome Chusen is a stencil-dyeing tradition rooted in sosogi-zome, a method devised by indigo dyers in Edo for dyeing tenugui cloths near the end of the Edo period. An early form of the technique is thought to have been established by the mid-19th century.

From the late Meiji period onward, Tokyo dyers also applied chusen to yukata fabric and continued to refine the process. Because dye is poured through folded layers of fabric from both sides, the finished cloth is dyed through on the front and back, combining fine patterns with subtle variations in color.

Today, the technique is used for tenugui, yukata, fashion accessories, clothing, and interior goods.
How It’s Made

TRADITIONAL CRAFT PROCESS

How It’s Made

About the Making Process

Tokyo Honzome Chusen is a stencil-dyeing process in which resist paste is applied through a stencil before dye is poured through layers of folded fabric.
Repeatedly folding and stenciling the cloth places the resist in matching positions on both sides.
Dye is then poured from the front and reverse of the stack, producing a pattern that carries through both faces of the fabric.
Methods include single-color dyeing, sashiwake, bokashi, and hosokawa dyeing.

1. Stencil Application
  • A framed stencil is placed on the fabric, and resist paste is applied with a spatula.
  • The fabric is folded precisely at the pasted edge, and the process is repeated so that the resist is applied in matching positions on both sides.
2. Dyeing
  • Several lengths of folded and stacked fabric are dyed by pouring color from a long-spouted kettle. The entire stack is turned over, and dye is poured from the reverse side as well.
  • The methods include single-color dyeing, sashiwake, bokashi, and hosokawa dyeing. In techniques such as sashiwake, barriers of resist paste separate the colors. For fine patterns, a guiding rod directs the dye to the intended areas.
3. Finishing
  • The dyed fabric is washed to remove the resist paste and excess dye.
  • It is then dried in sunlight to complete the process.
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 kimono-clad person standing at the timber-framed entrance of 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 workshop’s craftspeople carry out the dyeing, while Takaichi connects their work with the wider community as its representative.

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 hand processes create the rhythm of pattern and depth of color associated with Edo dyeing. The judgment of craftspeople working with stencils, paste, and dye shapes its expressive character.
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