Shibori (resist dyeing by binding and stitching)
Shibori (teñido por reserva con atado y cosido)
- Date
- century VIII · confidence medium
- Place
- Nara, Japan
- Credited to
- Japanese dyers of the Nara period
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A family of Japanese resist-dyeing techniques (binding, folding, stitching or winding the cloth before dipping it in the dye) that create complex patterns. There are 8th-century examples in the Shōsōin treasury in Nara.
Tie-resist dyeing arose independently in India (bandhani), West Africa (adire) and Peru; Japan is not the world origin but the site of the richest documented tradition. The precursors listed only illustrate sister techniques.
What it led to
- kimono patterns and Japanese ceremonial textiles
- variants such as Arimatsu-Narumi shibori in the early modern period
- inspiration for 20th-century Western tie-dye
Built on
- Andean cotton weaving and backstrap loomc. 1000 BCE
- Indigo dyeing in pits (Kano)