The Story of How Tenugui Towels Are Born: The Attractiveness and Craftsmanship of Chusen

February 3, 2025

Do you know how tenugui towels are made? In this factory interview, we focus on the "Chusen" dyeing technique, which has been used since about 150 years ago, and show you how the new tenugui towel, "Strawberry Field," for spring 2025, is produced.

Now, how are tenugui towels made? Let's take a look inside the factory! Please enjoy this tour as if you were on a factory tour.

Upon arrival at the dyeing factory, the first thing that came into view was the "drying area," commonly known as the "Date." Before a tenugui towel is cut, it is a piece of fabric approximately 472 inches long. Therefore, the height of the drying area is more than 236 inches, and artisans dry tenugui towels in the sun, taking care to keep their feet in the drying area. In the old days, there were many factories along the river, and tenugui towels were seen hanging here and there on the drying ground. The scene of those days is recorded in "Meisho Edo Hyakkei (One Hundred Famous Views of Edo） Kanda Konya Cho," painted by Hiroshige Utagawa.

Our tenugui towels are dyed using a technique called "Chusen," which has been handed down for about 150 years. The process consists of four significant steps, all carried out by the division of labor among artisans.
1. Pasting
2. Dyeing
3. Rinsing and de-starch
4. Drying

This time, we also interviewed two craftsmen: one from the Itaba, which plays an essential role in the Chusen dyeing process, and the other from the Kouya, which is in charge of the dyeing process.

What is an Itaba?

Itaba refers to an artisan responsible for the stencil printing process before dyeing. They use special tools, a stencil, and a spatula to apply dye-resistant paste to fabric and separate the parts to be dyed and not dyed. The Itaba is the determining factor in the finished piece.

Q. Are there any points or techniques that you pay close attention to from the standpoint of an Itaba?

A.Itaba artisan： If the design is delicate, it is difficult for the dye-resistant paste to pass through the stencil, and the places where the paste touches, unfortunately, fade. If there are many areas where the paste touches, then the dyeing process will also not be quite right, so I adjust the firmness of the dye-resistant paste to match the fabric I'm working with.
If the glue is made too solid, cracks can quickly appear, and dye dye dye can soon get into the cracks, called "whiskers." The key is to find the best condition of the glue.

When we observed the glue-placing process, we saw that the glue was placed rhythmically and smoothly on the paper pattern, and we realized that a lot of skill was hidden behind the process.

After the glue placement is finished, the next step is the "dyeing" process, which is not an exaggeration to say that it is flowery.

What is a Kouya?
Kouya refers to a specialist artisan responsible for the dyeing process. They use a dedicated kettle to pour dye onto the fabric to create a pattern. Kouya's excellent skills support the expression of delicate colors and patterns.

Q. What kind of techniques do you apply with the Kouya to recreate the colors of a strawberry field?

A. Kouya artisan： The color differences in the two greens of the strawberry field leaves are easily noticeable, so I control and maintain the temperature of the dye each time to recreate a stable color. The dye is easily affected by temperature and humidity, so it is necessary to maintain a fixed temperature when the air is cold in wintertime and so on. This design uses "Sashiwake" (dyeing multiple colors at one time using one stencil) and Bokashi techniques, so it takes longer than a normal design but means that it's finished in more vivid and beautiful colors.

Dye is easily affected by temperature and humidity, so preparation and detailed temperature control are significant, especially during the cold winter. While listening to the story, I was impressed by the deftness with which the dyers handled the detailed dyeing process.

After the dyeing process is completed, the next step is washing. Washing is done in a washing area called Mizumoto. Here, excess dye and glue are removed. The clarity of the water increases as one moves from upstream to downstream, and the sight of beautiful tenugui towels floating in the water is spectacular.

Washing is done in water because hot water will cause the dye to bleed through. The water is icy in winter, so tenugui towels are made by the immeasurable labor of the artisans. After washing, the tenugui towels are taken to the "Date" you saw first.

After running the tenugui towel through a special dehydrator, dry it in the sun. The fabric is stretched by hand to avoid excess wrinkles. The sun-drying process is said to make the fabric soft and fluffy. The weather is also an essential factor in making tenugui towels.

Once the fabric is fully dry, proceed to the final step.

Here, a "Fabric Winding Machine" rolls up the dough, carefully winding each roll one by one. This work is also done by hand. While removing lint from the fabric, wrinkles are stretched and adjusted. This process may seem simple, but a high concentration level is required to create beautiful, uniform rolls.

The neatly rolled fabric is then folded every 36 inches and cut with scissors at the end for processing.

It is a journey through the division of labor by many artisans until a single tenugui towel is born.

Each tenugui towel is dyed by many hands, and each one has a slightly different appearance. The more you use the tenugui towel, the more the colors will gradually blend into the fabric, a characteristic of traditional tenugui towels. Please enjoy them while slowly growing them to your liking, just as you do with denim.