Encountering the Origins of Weaving Born from Trees

Please tell us about your business and how it started.

Our company, Koishika Orimono, began in the mid-Meiji period producing raw silk and Tango Chirimen, and as the eldest son of the fourth generation, I was always expected to inherit the family legacy. After graduating high school, I built a new workshop by the rice fields near Amino Station and started working there. Today, we primarily produce wisteria cloth obi by weaving wisteria threads into silk fabric, selling our creations at department store events and elsewhere.

Tell us about how you first encountered wisteria cloth, which was thought to be a phantom fabric, and what led you to decide to preserve its legacy.

In 1985, an NHK documentary "Women Who Weave Trees" became the catalyst—I was deeply moved by the concept of weaving from trees and rushed to Kamiseya. Joining a workshop that followed, I was able to learn the entire process. As I continued to pass down the art of wisteria weaving, I was repeatedly struck by the powerful convictions, passions, and wisdom of those striving for harmony with nature. The more I did it, the more fascinating it became, and I found myself utterly captivated.