That is a part of a set of tales spotlighting deeply rooted—but generally much less uncovered—crafts hubs world wide and tips on how to expertise them. Learn extra here.
At Chinen Bingata laboratory on the western fringe of Naha in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture, the Tenth-generation bingata artist Toma Chinen is leaning over a chunk of material that depicts hibiscus flowers on a yellow canvas. Within the brightly lit, ethereal house, stacked rows of colourful textiles are stretched to dry alongside the partitions. At an extended, slim desk, a girl carves an ornate design of geese and peonies right into a stencil, utilizing a rectangle of dried tofu as a reducing board. One other paints a koi fish in a medley of purple, blue, and pink, dipping her brief, stubby brush into pink pigment combined with soy milk. The artisans’ gradual actions seem like a meditative dance. Chinen explains that the two-to-three-month course of, which incorporates masking components of the textile with a rice-based resist-dye paste, has barely modified because the time of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the buying and selling nation with its personal language, customs, and tradition that flourished in Okinawa for 450 years starting within the fifteenth century.
Whereas Japan is thought for its ceramics, silks, and washi papers, in Okinawa the lesser-known stencil dyeing custom of bingata reigns supreme. The prefecture has develop into in style for its pristine seashores and the wholesome way of life that has made it one of many world’s 5 designated “Blue Zones,” however its endemic craft can be a key to its identification. Drawing inspiration from imported textiles that use resist-dye methods like Chinese language nankeen indigo and Indonesian batik, bingata originated as a part of the wardrobe of Ryukyu royals. However after Japan annexed the dominion in 1879, the follow declined. The 1945 Battle of Okinawa, along with costing greater than 100,000 civilian lives, destroyed most bingata dyes and stencils. However after the warfare, a handful of artisans sought to revive the craft. At this time their descendants are persevering with their work.
As I stroll via the nice and cozy, humid air of downtown Naha, the legacy of the warfare remains to be evident. Whereas aerial views of Okinawa are a shock of turquoise waters and white-sand seashores, on the bottom, Naha presents an surprising lesson in Brutalist structure—the product of a put up–World Conflict II reconstruction effort that rebuilt the flattened metropolis utilizing reasonably priced materials of the period. I make my means down the palm-tree-lined Kokusai-dori, a preferred purchasing avenue, previous terra-cotta and porcelain pairs of female and male Shisa statues that push back evil at each door and bottles of medicinal habushu liquor with vipers coiled on the backside. All over the place I flip, textiles with flower, plant, fish, and chook motifs line cabinets. Bingata is now a typical sight in Okinawan memento shops, however to see the ability behind the craft, I head to Eiichi Shiroma’s workshop.
Shiroma is a Sixteenth-generation artisan who operates his three-story studio close to Naha’s major landmark, the Ryukyu-era Shurijo Fort, in the identical house the place his grandfather Eiki Shiroma labored. As we move cabinets lined with stencils and brushes, Shiroma tells me his grandfather returned to training bingata two years after the warfare, whereas nonetheless in a US jail camp. The Shiromas, together with the Chinens, had been simply certainly one of three authentic households commissioned by the Ryukyu courtroom to make the royal material. Pushed by that legacy, Eiki used no matter instruments he may discover (flour sacks for canvases, clock arms as stencil-carving instruments, lipstick as dye) to make bingata vacation playing cards for American troopers. “He needed to guard Ryukyu tradition,” says Eiichi.
Over at Yuki Miyagi’s studio in Nakijin, a quiet oceanside village in northern Okinawa, a single bingata strip in massive floral patterns is stretched throughout the size of the galley-like room. In contrast to Shiroma and Chinen, Miyagi is a solo artist. After finding out textiles at college in her native Tohoku area, she moved to Okinawa to coach beneath Sekigen Chinen, one other descendant of the three authentic bingata households. “I am drawn to the great thing about bingata,” Miyagi tells me. “Watching the vivid colours emerge on white silk is actually magical.” Her work is offered at Jumonjiya, Naha’s oldest kimono store, which has been promoting ceremonial and informal put on for greater than a century. Whereas the earlier location was destroyed throughout the warfare, the present iteration has operated on Kokusai-dori for the previous 4 a long time.
Toma Chinen’s appointment-only studio employs round 10 artisans to supply his coveted bingata kimonos, which have wait instances of as much as a yr. Most Okinawan bingata makers derive their livelihoods from particular person and wholesale kimono orders from mainland Japan, however Chinen, who has been training bingata since he was 16, hopes extra folks world wide will uncover the craft. “Bingata is not only in regards to the material,” he tells me. “It is in regards to the reference to different folks and nations via commerce.” Throughout Ryukyu instances, he factors out, dyes used not solely indigenous native elements just like the bark of the native fukugi tree but additionally international imports like cochineal, an insect native to South America. For Chinen, Ryukyu artisans have been akin to diplomats, enhancing on international methods and exporting their creations all through the world, a lot as he seeks to do as we speak. “Bingata has survived due to its story,” he says.
Close to the top of my journey, I return to Kokusai-dori to go to Keystone, a wonderful handicrafts retailer throughout the highway from Kuninda, a 30-seat Ryukyu delicacies tasting room. Previous the cabinets of deep-blue and grey ceramics, a burst of colour catches my eye. As a ultimate memento I buy a placing purse with a red-winged phoenix, a legendary chook of Chinese language origin typically present in bingata patterns, dancing joyously amongst purple peonies on a wealthy yellow canvas. After I carry it again residence, I take into consideration Eiichi Shiroma’s parting phrases. “Okinawa is a small island and our folks have confronted extreme hardships, however they’ve accepted what occurred, altering this previous into one thing constructive. By means of bingata, I need my kids to know that the world is gorgeous.”
This text appeared within the September/October 2025 concern of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the journal here.
