I visited the 関川しな織センター (Sekigawa Shinaori Center) in Tsuruoka, Yamagata to observe the process of spinning and weaving with fiber from シナの木(shina no ki/linden tree) bark. This is considered one of the oldest fibers used for textiles in Japan. The spun fiber is used as both weft and warp to create fabric called Shinafu that is strong and coarse, mostly used for interiors, accessories, and outer garments.
In the Sekigawa Shinaori Center they showed me a video explaining the process of creating Shinafu and had many samples of fiber from the different stages of production.
This shows the many steps of transformation from tree to thread.
During the rainy season in summer, when the water content of the bark is high, linden trees of 10 years or older are cut down and the bark is separated from the trunk. The outer bark is immediately separated from the inner by breaking and stripping. The inner bark is soaked in water then bundled and boiled with ash to soften. After, the bundles are rubbed and kneaded, then the layers of bark are separated to form thinner sheets and are washed. The fiber is “pickled” in rice bran to further soften, washed once more and allowed to dry. The fiber is split into smaller pieces and joined by hand to make one continuous strand. The continuous strand is wound into a ball called “heso” and then spun with a spinning wheel. At this point the thread can be used for weaving. The loom used for weaving Shinafu is a takahata, a treadle-operated floor loom.
I was able to weave a small coaster as a sample and one of the artisans showed me how to join the threads. The method used is a variety of split-joint plying.
Some samples of Shinafu.
Thank you to the kind artisans who took time to teach me about this craft! You can check out this website for more info about Sekigawa Shinaori: https://shinaori-sekigawa.com/