Overview

This sample book has small cuttings of various yûzen dyeing techniques pasted into two albums. The techniques enabling the use of chemical dyes for yûzen dyeing developed during the Meiji period (1868-1912). In 1875, the Kyoto Office of Science began to offer classes to dye masters in techniques of dyeing with chemical dyes. These developed at a fast rate. Working from previous techniques, such as irozashi, where colors were brushed into areas demarcated by thin white paste outlines, they perfected new methods of expression, including shading techniques and color infills suitable for chemical dyes and new ways of transferring color to the cloth, such as applying the dye mixed with rice paste and then removing the paste while fixing the color by steaming the fabric (utsushi yûzen).