# Tsumugi (cloth)

Tsumugi (紬) is a traditional slub-woven silk fabric from Japan. It is a tabby weave material woven from yarn produced using silk noil, short-staple silk fibre (as opposed to material produced using longer, filament yarn silk fibres). The short silk fibres are degummed and, traditionally, the yarns are hand-joined to form a continuous length before weaving, a technique also used for cheaper bast fibres. Yarns are joined by twisting the ends to be joined in the same direction, then twisting both ends, bundled together, in the other direction, to make a two-ply yarn at the overlap. It might alternately be loosely handspun, with few twists per unit length. Because of this structure, tsumugi is rough-surfaced, soft and drapey, softening further with age.
Between 1910 and 1925 (late Taishō to Shōwa era), it became common to spin as well as weave silk noil by machine (see meisen for the technological developments that made this possible). This machine-spun meisen cloth largely displaced tsumugi as one of the cheapest silk fabrics. Prices dropped drastically, and silk materials and clothing was suddenly within the budget of most Japanese; stores also began to sell off-the-peg, ready-to-wear kimono at about this time.
Originally, tsumugi was homemade from domestic or wild-gathered silkworm cocoons that had been broken by hatching or were irregularly formed. Unlike the long-fiber silk, such cloth was permitted to peasants. Traditionally a peasant cloth, handmade tsumugi is very labour-intensive to produce, and has become expensive over time, valued as a luxury folk-craft.

## In the kimono canon

The term tsumgi is broadly used to describe many types of casual woven kimono, even if they do not use tsumugi silk. One of the most famous examples is Ōshima-tsumugi, which though is considered a tsumugi is not made with tsumugi thread. Additionally, cotton kimono with fine kasuri patterns are considered to be tsumugi.
* Silkworm cocoons in Japan for Yuki tsumugi
* Handspinning silk noil for tsumugi thread
* Weaving tsumugi cloth at a jibata (low loom), later largely replaced by takahata (high looms).
* A lined (awase) tsumugi kimono.
* Tsumugi with a dyed mon
* Tsumugi with a dyed mon, showing slight unevenness in thread diameter.
* Coin purse made from tsumugi. The thicker portions of yarn visible in the weave are called slubs.
* Another purse with woven stripes
* Mobile tea room and kimono made with Oitama Tsumugi

## Regional Varieties (産地）

Tsumugi was originally a homespun textile, produced using silk fibre deemed unusable for the production of finer fabrics, and many regional variations existed. Some of these regional variations still exist today and are recognized as meibutsu, famous products of their place of origin.
| Name | Kanji | Traditional sites | Notes |
| Amiito tsumugi | | Shiga Prefecture | Recycled weft threads respun and rewoven to make obi. |
| Gujo tsumugi | 郡上島紬 | Hachiman, Gifu | |
| Honba oshima tsumugi | 本場大島紬 | Amami, Kagoshima | |
| Iida tsumugi | 飯田島紬 | Iida, Nagano | |
| Kumejima-tsumugi | 久米島紬 | Kumejima, Okinawa | Hand woven silk tsumugi dyed with natural dyes. |
| Murayama-oshima tsumugi | 村山大島紬 | Musashimurayama, Tokyo | Silk tsumugi woven in the style of Ōshima-tsumugi woven in Tokyo. |
| Oitama tsumugi | 置賜紬 | Oitama regions of production: Hakutaka, Yamagata Nagai, Yamagata Yonezawa, Yamagata | Oitama tsumugi is a collective term for six different varieties of tsumugi made in the Yamagata region, including: Benibana tsumugi Heiyōgasuri Itajime kogasuri Kusakizome tsumugi Shirataka itajime kogasuri Yokosogasuri |
| Ojiya tsumugi | 小千谷島紬 | Ojiya, Niigata | |
| Shinshu tsumugi | 信州紬 | Nagano Prefecture | |
| Shiozawa tsumugi | 塩沢島紬 | Shiozawa, Niigata | |
| Tamba-Nuno | 丹波布 | Tanba | Hand pulled cotton threads, dyed with natural dyes and woven into stripes and checks. Hand pulled silk threads are also woven into only the weft. |
| Tosa men tsumugi | | Kagami, Kōchi (Kami) | |
| Ueda tsumugi | 上田島紬 | Ueda, Nagano | Ueda tsumugi is always striped and is sometimes referred to as ueda jima (jima meaning "stripes"). |
| Ushikubi tsumugi | 牛首紬 | Hakusan, Ishikawa | |
| Yūki-tsumugi | 結城紬 | Yūki, Ibaraki | Yūki-tsumugi kimono are often made with thread spun by hand. It can take up to three months to make enough thread for one kimono by an experienced weaver. |
| Ōshima-tsumugi | 大島紬 | Amami Ōshima | Ōshima Tsumugi kimono are dyed with mud and dyed from the bark of Sharinbai Tree creating a deep black color. Mud dyed kasuri threads are hand woven together to create patterns. |

## Independent Tsumugi Weavers (Sakka,作家）

* Junko Ebigase海老ケ瀬順子
* Miyuki Otaka 大高美由紀
* Shinya Yanagi 柳晋哉
* Junko　Tsuchiya 土屋順子
* Ryoko　Murakami 村上良子
* Yaeko Hirayama 平山八重子