October 2007

Dear Friends,

By Kaori Ishii

It is with great pleasure that I announce to you that my first film, Chain of Life – The Artistry of Mokuhanzome Kimono, is being screened in the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas on October 24 at 7:10 p.m. and October 27 at 2:40 p.m. www.hsdfi.org

This is a film which shows the life and beauty of a traditional Japanese artisan who has continued to pursue an ancient fabric printing technique his whole life.

The dyeing technique which originally came from India, is considered to be the oldest in Japan, and is currently on the verge of extinction.

Such rarity is what makes the precision of this technique and depth of its artwork incomparable to others.

Chain of Life - The Artstry of Mokuganzome Kimono

In place like nowhere else,

There is a person who is captivated

By something that everyone else has let go off.

He is called an artisan.

This movie examines the hands of the artisan who uses cherry blossom wood stamps to transform a solid piece of fabric into a kimono. Through this process, we　encountered the life of an artisan.

The artisan encountered a small piece of fabric when he was an apprentice of Edo komon paper pattern dyeing, a popular dyeing technique in Japan.

However, this piece of fabric used the oldest dyeing technique in history, called Mokuhanzome wood print dyeing.

Although this technique had once almost become extinct, in the artisan's eyes, it appeared as something entirely new.

And that was where his exploration of the technique began. The road to approach a technique, which had almost become extinct, was long, lonesome, and tough.

Still, the artisan took this road - step by step, slowly but surely. And still to this date, the artisan continues his journey.

Available for screening!

This film introduces the oldest fabric dyeing technique in Japan – wood stamp dyeing – and the life of an artisan who has steadily pursued this technique.

The beautiful, original scenery of Japan is delivered in this film, and sends us an important message, which has been forgotten about in the modern world.

[About the technique]

It is not an exaggeration to say that there are only two ways to learn about the wood stamp dyeing technique: either go to a studio in Japan and spend a few days with an artisan, or watch this film.

This film is a must-see for anyone who studies dyeing, fashion, art, culture, or craftsmanship.

Wood stamp dyeing is an astounding technique. The dye is first painted onto a stamp carved out of a small piece of wood, and then the wood gets pressed on to the fabric for coloring. It was first introduced to Japan from India, but during the Edo era (17C-19C) it became extinct due to its inefficiency. Soon, wood stamp dyeing became replaced by pattern paper dyeing, which became popular and is still a mainstream technique. With the use of pattern paper, it became possible to dye the same pattern onto a large area of fabric at once. Pattern paper dyeing is beautiful, but using a paint brush to color in patterns cannot portray the softness of wood, or the elegant fade of color. Since in wood stamp dyeing the stamp is pressed onto the fabric, the fabric is not dyed all the way to the center. Therefore, the pattern appears to be three dimensional. Although it is the oldest dyeing technique, it gives birth to something totally fresh. 

[The significance of this movie]

・            Wood stamp dyeing is so old, that the only record of it is a small piece of fabric. The fabric’s location is also unknown.

・            This film is the first and only documentation of the wood stamp dyeing technique.

・            This film has precisely documented its creative process, step by step – so  far that it is possible for an individual to try out the technique on their own after they have seen the film.

・            Currently, there are only three wood stamp dyeing artisans left in Japan, including the main character of this movie. The technique can become extinct anytime, just like in the Edo era. However, even in India, where wood stamp dyeing has its roots, the number of wood stamp dyeing artisans is decreasing. This is where the significance of this movie lies.

・            High quality technique such as the method of dyeing uncolored areas, or lightly tinting a pattern onto the whole fabric, is used in the process. In addition, overlapping the stamp patterns in many layers is a technique which was invented entirely by the artisan himself. The idea of masterfully using old tools to create completely new things is a feature of this movie.

[The approach towards this movie]

The movie has documented the full process – from the completion of the fabric dyeing, to stretching out the wrinkles, and the final step of tailoring it into a kimono. The wrinkle stretching process is usually not covered on TV, and its work has never been seen. However, a kimono is not complete without this process. The artisanship depicted here is a good example to show creators how much craft and care is added to give birth to one object. Moreover, this film has been created, just as carefully as a kimono.

[About the lifestyle]

This film should be seen by students, especially by those in their junior and senior year of high school or college. Also, people who have just graduated from college, those who are trying to switch jobs or start a new business, and people with uncertainty or discontent towards their jobs, should watch it.

For people who are at their turning point in their lives:

At a sensitive stage of your life when there are many choices offered to you, we hope this film will help you realize that there are many different occupations and ways to live life in this world – and that working at a big firm is not always the single correct answer. In addition, I hope that the film will become a trigger for you to thoroughly think about the path to be taken in the future, and to make your life more enjoyable.

The reason for this is, I myself was at a turning point of my life when I encountered the artisan – but by seeing his stance on life, I was encouraged to think that it was okay to believe in myself. From that moment, I decided to start shooting this film, and “work”, became really exciting.

In life, we all have turning points. We do not know what lies ahead of it, so we become afraid. However, when you see the way this artisan works, and the beauty of the kimono being born in this film, such anxiety will probably disappear. When you take a close look at the artisan’s workmanship, you can see the importance of living life without being caught up by what others think, and to pursue the path you believe in.

For people who have steadily followed their path

The words of the artisan in this film, are simple. Yet behind these words lie seventy years of his life, and a fifty year history in the dyeing profession. People who have steadily lived their life in the same way will surely appreciate his words. Whether rainy or windy, hot or cold – everyday, the artisan goes to his studio. By looking at his attitude towards life, viewers should be able to see their own footsteps taken in life, and think back on it.

[About the beauty of the footage]

Although this film’s key mission was to record traditional technique on film, it was shot not just as a documentary, but as a fairy tale we once listened to when we were children – something that remains forever in our heart over time. The film is a fantasy – any kind of realistic information such as whether the artisan really exists, or the actual location of the artisan’s studio, were omitted intentionally. The film is filmed from the cherry blossom fairy’s perspective. The kimono fabric is given life by the cherry blossom fairy, who breathes on the cherry blossom stamp patterns, and colors the fabric carefully.