Tokyo-dyed Komon · Small Cherry Blossoms Gama-guchi Eyeglass Case · Navy — product view
Navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case beside a closed book on an indoor reading table.
Navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case arranged on an indoor dressing table in morning light.
Navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case on a tidy indoor hotel-room desk.
A single navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case presented as a practical craft gift indoors.
Close indoor view of the dense white cherry-blossom repeat on a navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case.
Tokyo-dyed Komon · Small Cherry Blossoms Gama-guchi Eyeglass Case · Navy — product view
Navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case beside a closed book on an indoor reading table.
Navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case arranged on an indoor dressing table in morning light.
Navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case on a tidy indoor hotel-room desk.
A single navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case presented as a practical craft gift indoors.
Close indoor view of the dense white cherry-blossom repeat on a navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case.
Somenosato Ochiai, General Incorporated Association SKU: BJ_P_00015

Tokyo-dyed Komon · Small Cherry Blossoms Gama-guchi Eyeglass Case · Navy

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Regular price ¥17,476
Regular price Sale price ¥17,476
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Product Details

PRODUCT DETAILS

A Pocket-Sized Field of Tokyo-Dyed Cherry Blossoms

Wrapped in navy silk tsumugi and patterned with a dense scattering of small cherry blossoms, this gama-guchi eyeglass case turns an everyday necessity into a compact expression of Tokyo Some-Komon. The gently arched metal frame gives the silhouette its distinctive character, while the restrained palette makes the fine white motif easy to appreciate at a glance.

USE & APPRECIATION

Beside the Book You Return To

Return to a favorite book with the case beside you. Tiny white cherry blossoms give the navy silk a lively rhythm without dominating the reading table. Keep your glasses close, then enjoy the familiar patterned form as you put them away at the end of a chapter.

Navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case beside a closed book on an indoor reading table.

Part of the Morning Dressing Ritual

At the dressing table, let one patterned object accompany the day's choice of eyewear. The case's navy silk sits easily beside plain wood, while its small blossoms and curved metal frame provide finer detail. Keep the surrounding arrangement simple and enjoy the contrast of pattern and surface.

Navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case arranged on an indoor dressing table in morning light.

A Familiar Detail in a Hotel Room

Make a temporary room feel more familiar by giving your glasses their usual place. On a hotel desk, the navy case's repeating white blossoms bring a personal textile detail beside a notebook. Enjoy that recognizable object during a pause before settling into the evening indoors.

Navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case on a tidy indoor hotel-room desk.

A Gift Chosen for Daily Use

For a gift that becomes part of a daily routine, choose a detail the recipient will see often. Fine cherry blossoms cover this silk tsumugi eyeglass case, making the practical form visually distinctive. A simple presentation lets the navy-and-white pattern express the thought behind the choice.

A single navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case presented as a practical craft gift indoors.

Look Closely at the Repeating Rhythm

When putting away your glasses, take a closer look at the small blossoms across the case. Their repeated shapes follow the curved silk surface, with the metal frame marking its outline. Keep it on a clean indoor surface and enjoy the fine pattern between everyday uses.

Close indoor view of the dense white cherry-blossom repeat on a navy Tokyo Some-Komon eyeglass case.

OBJECT PASSPORT / CARE & USE

Care & Handling

Care summary for the Tokyo-dyed Komon small cherry blossom eyeglass case: washing, ironing, and outdoor use are not permitted.

Washing, ironing, and outdoor use are not permitted.

OBJECT PASSPORT

Product details

Dimensions
19.5㎝×9.5cm
Material
100% silk (tsumugi)
Product weight
70 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

TRADITIONAL CRAFT PROCESS

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 the entrance of a dark wooden gate at 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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