Yamaguchi Keiko didn’t intend to spend her days making the most intricate, time-consuming belts in the world. But she lived in Tokyo and, having seen pictures of the beautiful braided belts once worn by Japanese emperors, decided to take lessons in how to make them.
Eighteen years later, she is so hooked on the ancient art of kumihimo that she feels out of sorts if she doesn’t spend a portion of every day silk braiding. “The more I do it, the less I think,” she says. “Eventually I enter a Zen-like state. I like the peaceful feeling.”
Watching Keiko work is like watching a concert pianist. The technique is done by crisscrossing up to 140 bobbins of hand-dyed silk threads from one side of a square, knee-height stand (takadai) to the other. Where they meet in the middle, a flat, woven ribbon of silk is created that’s rather like a friendship bracelet — only made of silk and a hundred times more intricate.
Keiko memorises the detailed pattern notes so that she can work without pause, her body gently swaying as she picks up a wooden bobbin with her fingertips, crosses it over to the other side, weaving it above and over other coloured threads. Every now and then she pauses to check the fine ribbon of braid that’s appearing in the middle and to gently nudge each thread into place with a long, flat slat of bamboo. Then she gets back into her rhythm, the bobbins clacking and swaying.
Kumihimo braids, I’m told by Kiichiro Domyo, whose family collection takes pride of place at a new exhibition at London’s Japan House, were once some of the most revered artworks in Japan. They were hung at shrines to delight the gods, worn by emperors and empresses, used by samurai warriors to bind their armour and decorate their scabbards. The oldest, he says, have been found in burial sites from 4000BC.
The 50 pieces that Domyo has brought to London, amassed by ten generations of his family, display kumihimo in all its variety and artistry. Not all finished objects are flat. Some belts, for instance, are square — each side decorated with a different pattern, but braided as one piece. Others are twisted like ropes or textured like intricate brocades. Which is why, he says, some may cost 20 or 30 million yen (£123,000 to £183,000). One — a replica of a scarf-like creation originally made in the 10th century and 3.6m long — would have taken a braider two years to make. “Even a small one takes a week, so it’s like making a Kelly bag for Hermès,” Domyo says. “And that’s not counting the time it takes to dye the silk threads . . .”
Although the art form has long been used for decoration, Domyo says, industry has only just started to realise the potential of the extremely strong braiding in manufacturing. At his family’s two factories — in which he employs about 100 hand-braiders — he now also has machines that can replicate some of the techniques for industrial applications. So far, he’s made shafts for golf clubs, wings for aeroplanes and prosthetic legs for amputees. “By using very light threads we can create materials that are incredibly strong.” They’ve also developed a range of accessories: earrings, fine chains woven with golden thread and even bow ties. Various luxury fashion brands have recently been in touch to collaborate. “There aren’t very many companies left that can use an ancient technique to make something very modern.”
Before I leave, Keiko invites me to a second stand at which she works. The round marudai frame is completely different from her first stand: a doughnut of wood, encircled with hanging bobbins of different coloured threads, which creates a long, flat braid at its centre. She takes two bobbins from one side and brings them to the other; as they cross over at the centre, their threads are woven into a patten.
It’s this repetitive motion and the accompanying sound of gently clacking bobbins, Domyo says, that makes the art form so therapeutic. “Some of my braiders come in even on the weekends. They say that if they don’t do it every day, they feel ill. So it’s not only beautiful; it’s good for the brain.”
Demonstrations will take place at Japan House until June 11, 2023; japanhouselondon.uk
