Climbing the gentle, narrow path, the refreshing smell of the early spring breeze mixes with the soft, honey-like scent of flowers. Turn left and go further down the narrow alley, and you'll find Atelier Shimura's workshop, quite quietly, like a flowering tree secretly hiding its budding colors in its branches and trunks.

The location is Saga, Kyoto. The mountains are close and the sky is wide. It is located approximately 10km west of central Kyoto city, and is known as a scenic spot with views of Mt. Ogura to the west and the foothills of Mt. Atago to the north. Kokura Sanso, where Fujiwara Teika is said to have composed Hyakunin Isshu, Daikakuji Temple, which was built as a villa by Emperor Saga, Seiryoji Temple, known as Shakado, and Rakugakisha, which was the residence of Kyorai Mukai, a disciple of Matsuo Basho. There are too many historical sites remaining in this area.

At the workshop of Atelier Shimura, which can be called a hermitage connected to Saga, threads dyed with seasonal vegetable dyes such as cherry blossoms, plums, stinky trees, and safflowers are carefully woven one by one on handlooms. It is being The main products are kimono, obi, obiage, obijime, etc., and recently they are also producing stoles.

The dyeing and weaving brand “Atelier Shimura” is an experiment.

Atelier Shimura inherits the world of ideas and colors cultivated by Fukumi Shimura, a dyer and living national treasure known for her pongee weaving works using yarn dyed with plants, and her daughter Yoko, also a dyer and weaver. A dyeing and weaving brand that was launched to convey the message to the people of Japan. Established in 2016, it currently has shops and galleries open in the Hisashi Building in Shijo Kawaramachi, Kyoto, and Seijo, Tokyo. The representative is Shoji Shimura, Fukumi's grandson and Yoko's son. Why did they choose to spread the brand horizontally rather than passing it down vertically through the ``house''?

There is no doubt that the origins of Atelier Shimura lie in the ideas and practices of Fukumi Shimura. So what is that idea? The answer is said to be condensed into the simple words, ``Isshiki Issei.'' The words ``Isshiki Issei'' are, so to speak, a statement that Fukumi has vowed to devote his life to working on the color indigo, which he values ​​most. Everything starts from here and ends here. It is, so to speak, like the only unmoving polar star in the flowing sky. Plant dyeing involves transferring the life of plants as color to thread and passing it on, so dyers and weavers must be prepared to sacrifice their lives in order to face the color of life. Fukumi has been thinking about this.

In fact, in vegetable dyeing, we can discover the ``mystery of life,'' like divine revelation or the laws of the universe. For example, the pink color of cherry blossoms cannot be dyed by the petals. Just before the buds begin to change color, the branches and bark are repeatedly boiled and cooled for several days to extract the color. Red from madder and purple from purple roots are both dyed from dried roots. Red flowers do not dye red, and green leaves do not dye green. Regarding the reason for this, Fukumi says, ``Colors that have already appeared in this world can no longer be used for dyeing.'' The green that the roots store for leaves, the red that branches store for flowers, preparation for the next life, color resides there. Plant dyeing is about getting life from plants.

Inheriting this philosophy, Fukumi's daughter Yoko began her dyeing and weaving career in 1981. While Fukumi was a person of sensibility, Yoko brings mathematical and logical methods to her indigo construction. That is the theory based on the lunar calendar. On the day of the new moon, "Sukumo" made by fermenting indigo leaves, wood lye, and sake are placed in a jar and stirred, and as the moon is full, fermentation by microorganisms progresses in the jar, and after about 14 days It is said to be dyed on a full moon day. As a result, the color of the indigo, which had been volatile until then, suddenly began to stabilize.

Furthermore, while Fukumi chose Japanese classical literature such as The Tale of Genji and Japanese poetry as her subject matter, Yoko adopted the color theories of Goethe and Steiner, as well as Western paintings, Islamic art, and Christian motifs. and expanded the range of expression in design. Later, in 1989, Fukumi and Yoko established Tsukikobou as a mother-daughter workshop as well as a place to comprehensively learn about religion, art, education, and other aspects of culture through textiles. . This eventually led to the birth of ``Ars Shimura'', a place of learning, and further led to the establishment of Atelier Shimura. This flow has been passed down from generation to generation, with plants bursting with color and bursting with life.

Shoji Shimura, rediscovering the guild

If you think about it, the surname ``Shimura'' has a prophetic and fateful inspiration. Elevating identity = "will" to community = "village." If this is the mission of the establishment of the Atelier Shimura brand, then the family name Shimura hinted at that current mission from the very beginning.

His grandson, Shoji, sought the possibility of expanding the community. It can also be called a modern folk craft movement, inheriting the ideals of the Kamikamo Folk Crafts Association, a craftsman's guild that Soetsu Yanagi, who was associated with Fukumi and her mother, Yutaka Ono, had attempted about 100 years ago in Kyoto. You could call it an action.

How does Atelier Shimura try to translate the ideas of Fukumi and Yoko Shimura into modern life? In a sense, this is nothing but a return to the basics of ``kimono as something to wear.'' So, what is a kimono as something to wear? In response to this big question, Shoji and all the young staff at Atelier Shimura gathered together and put their collective wits together, playing with the thread until they got the dyed color they had envisioned. One answer I came up with was ``solid color.''

Fukumi Shimura, a Living National Treasure of pongee weaving, and her daughter Yoko Shimura, who has created a unique world view of dyeing and weaving. Fukumi's grandson, Shoji Shimura, launched ``Atelier Shimura'' as a brand to inherit the artistic spirit of the two artists. The concept of Atelier Shimura is to ``incorporate nature and art into everyday life,'' and we hope to pass on the world of plant colors to the next generation. Products mainly include kimonos, stoles, fukusa, business card holders, and other handmade accessories, goshuin books, and books. They also hold workshops on vegetable dyeing and weaving. In the second part, we will introduce plain-colored kimonos proposed by Atelier Shimura that can be enjoyed as everyday wear.

→The colors of nature become the seeds of the soul (Part 2)

(Titles omitted)

Atelier Shimura Shop & Gallery Kyoto Main Store
Hisashi Building 251F, XNUMX-XNUMX Ichinomachi, Shijo Shimoru, Kawaramachi-dori, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City
11:00 ~ 18:00
Closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays (open on public holidays)

Shoji Shimura
Representative of ATELIER SHIMURA Co., Ltd.
Born in Kyoto City in 1972. He completed the doctoral course at Kyoto University Graduate School of Law. After working as an assistant at Kyoto University and a visiting researcher at Warwick University in the UK, he founded the art school Arus Shimura in 2013 with his grandmother, Fukumi Shimura, and mother, Yoko Shimura. In 2016, he established the dyeing and weaving brand Atelier Shimura. His book is ``Dreams are also blue'' (Kawade Shobo Shinsha).