AWAJI indigo LAND project

Japanese traditional color "Indigo" - JAPAN BLUE - Indigo dyeing experience with living dye "Onokoro Ai" made with organic fertilizers without pesticides on Awajishima

"Onokoro indigo" is a "living dye" made from Tateai, a raw material, without using pesticides or chemical fertilizers on the vital soil of Awajishima, with indigo cropping that can add to natural circulation as much as possible.

Using only raw materials obtained from the natural world, such as spring water, wood ash, and fusuma from Awaji, dyeing solution is completed with the help of fermentation of microorganisms. This natural dyeing not only gives us comfort and gently protects us wearing it, but also has an earth-friendly sustainableity.

The pigment created by natural fermentation by the power of microorganisms has a high robustness and produces a very beautiful coloration. In addition, it strengthens the cloth and protects the body from antibacterial effects and ultraviolet rays, and extracts essential elements of indigo dyeing firmly.

In the experience, you will also visit Aihata on the premises and explain the process of dyeing from sowing to dye making, and you will be able to see indigo dyeing using traditional fermented dyes that dye indigo smoothly and carefully.

How about a trip to feel the indigo of natural dyes using raw materials grown in Awajishima, a rich climate, which is different from chemical dyes, and the terroir that shines in the deep blue unique to it?

STEP01 – Select the desired pattern from the pattern sample and pattern using specialized tools.
STEP02 – Soak in dyeing liquid and indigo dyeing. You can dye it many times to finish it in your favorite color.
STEP03 – Finished with water.

You can take home the finished work.

Indigo has long been popular not only as a dye but also as a medicinal plant, and it is said that it has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidant, deodorizing, and deodorizing. Indigo is also an organic product. Due to these characteristics, soaps and room sprays that can be expected to have medicinal effects using indigo, as well as collaboration products with foods such as chocolate, bread, herbal salt, and chai.

About living dyes and circulation

<Plant making>
We use organic resources such as crepe cass, bamboo chips, and waste fungal beds to make soil in the field.
The indigo grows when the roots are firmly rooted in the rich soil.

<Making indigo dye solution>
Only the leaves of the indigo grass are sorted and dried, and during the winter, watering and repatriation are repeated dozens of times to ferment for about 100 days. It becomes a dye called sukumo.

Mix the completed ravine, fermented oak, and lye made from tree ashes, and promote the activity of microorganisms. By reducing action by fermentation, indigo dyes that do not dissolve in water are dissolved, and indigo dyeing is possible.

It is a state of dyeing liquid.

<Maintenance of indigo dye solution>
In order for the action of microorganisms to determine the appearance of the indigo color, we use "fusuma" and "shell ash" to create an environment that is easy to operate and maintain it.
Fusuma, which can be used when milling wheat, is a bran called rice. Dietary fiber, minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc serve as food for microorganisms and encourage fermentation.

The shell ash made by baking the shell is used to adjust the condition when fermentation progresses, and the indigo dyeing solution is calmed down.

About the AWAJI Ai Land Project

From the cultivation of Tateai, a raw material named "Onokoro Indigo", we make fermented dyes called "Onokoro Sukumo" and perform live dyeing with the power of microorganisms. This is a project that aims to become a local industry through activities rooted in the community with the theme of dyeing and manufacturing, various experiences, and exploring the possibilities of food indigo, which are spun from indigo.

In the 2021 NHK Taiga drama "Buke the Blue Sky", I participated as a production and guidance of a scene related to indigo.
I was excited about the history of indigo that the color of indigo was fascinated by the painting of the cloth that I dyed fluttered, and the color of indigo even in the Edo period.

We hope that you will sympathize with the natural cycles and activities that convey people and thoughts that we value, and add a rich color to your life with a bright blue color like the earth like the sea.