Yūzen dyeing (hand-painted resist with rice paste)
Teñido yūzen (dibujo pintado con reserva de pasta de arroz)
- Date
- c. 1680 · confidence medium
- Place
- Kyoto, Japan
- Credited to
- Miyazaki Yūzensai, a fan painter of Kyoto
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A Japanese dyeing technique in which the design is outlined with rice paste that resists the dye and is hand-painted in colours onto silk. It allowed pictorial designs of great colour richness for kimonos.
Tradition attributes the style to the painter Miyazaki Yūzensai (late 17th century); his historical existence is documented, but authorship of the full technique is debated: it probably consolidated across several generations of artisans.
What it led to
- high-end hand-painted kimonos in Kyoto and Kanazawa
- stencil yūzen (1887) as a cheaper industrial process
- Japanese textile art as cultural heritage