PRODUCT DETAILSTwo Tokyo Some-Komon patterns in one silk squareTwo Tokyo Some-Komon patterns meet in one 350 mm square of 100% silk: the light green Gosho-guruma motif and the lapis-blue Maru-toshi field. Designed by Yuko Minamide and crafted by Atsushi Tomita, this pocket...
PRODUCT DETAILS
Two Tokyo Some-Komon patterns in one silk square
Two Tokyo Some-Komon patterns meet in one 350 mm square of 100% silk: the light green Gosho-guruma motif and the lapis-blue Maru-toshi field. Designed by Yuko Minamide and crafted by Atsushi Tomita, this pocket square balances a quiet sheen with fine patterning that becomes clearer at close range.
USE & APPRECIATION
Add a measured accent to a jacket
Fold the square for a jacket pocket and let a narrow edge of light green or lapis blue appear above the welt. The compact glimpse keeps the effect restrained, while the silk sheen and tiny dotted field reward a closer look. Pair it with an uncluttered jacket so the pattern remains legible.
Two patterns held together
This close indoor view brings the pale Gosho-guruma area and the dark Maru-toshi field into the same frame. The loose fold shows how the lapis-blue border separates the two motifs without hiding their contrasting scales.
A closer side view of the silk
Seen from the side in a second indoor setting, the fabric catches a narrower band of light. The image keeps the model softly behind the textile, making the silk surface, dark dotted field, and light-green corner the primary visual information.
A Relaxed Moment on the Sofa
On the sofa, the model looks down toward the folded silk, creating a quieter and more reflective view than the surrounding presentation shots. The pale patterned panel catches the room light while the darker dotted field frames it, showing how the two designs remain distinct even in a loose fold.
Pattern and sheen at conversational distance
At a natural conversational distance, the folded square remains large enough to read as a textile rather than a small accessory detail. The light-green panel reflects softly, while the lapis-blue border and fine dotted field provide a darker frame.
OBJECT PASSPORT / CARE & USE
Care & Handling
This 100% silk pocket square is made from a delicate material. Handle it carefully, do not launder it, and use a low-temperature iron with a pressing cloth.
Use a low-temperature iron with a pressing cloth. The pocket square is made from a delicate material and should be handled carefully.
OBJECT PASSPORT
Product details
Dimensions
350 × 350 mm
Material
100% silk
Product weight
7 g
Origin
Japan
Designed by Yuko Minamide and crafted by Atsushi Tomita. The supplied card explains that hand-carved Ise stencil paper can leave variations in the dyeing, a characteristic distinct from printed uniformity. Made in Japan from 100% silk.
The light-green Gosho-guruma panel is identified as a family-crest motif, while the lapis-blue Maru-toshi field is identified as a grid of dots.
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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