Kakishibu Dyeing III: Simple is the way

 

Now we start actually dyeing a fabric with Kakishibu. It’s very easy. There is not much elaborated procedure as long as we simply dye cloth without making pattern.

1. First, wash the fabric with detergent to remove any chemical coating. For Kakishibu dyeing, it does not matter if the material is the protein-based, i.e. wool, silk, et al, or not, i.e. cotton, linen, et al. For the standard natural dyeing, we have to make it sure if the fabric contains protein. For cotton and linen, as they are vegetable base, before dyeing we have to dip the material in soy milk. In contrast, Kakishibu can put color for any natural fabric. It’s enough to remove the layer of chemical that can block Kakishibu.

2. Make sure the fabric is damp.

3. Concoct Kakishibu solution for dyeing. “How to” depends on the thickness of Kakishibu concentrate we purchase. For our case in Niiharu, 150-200ml Kakishibu was diluted by 200ml of water, i.e. 1 to 1, for 34g of pure cotton to be dyed. Don’t forget to use a stainless or plastic bowl, unless you plan to dye the container simultaneously.

The bottle we bought via internet.

Diluting the concentration.

4. Soak the damp fabric in Kakishibu liquid and rub the liquid into the fabric for about 10 minutes.

The cotton was put into the liquid.

Working on it.
Please use good rubber gloves in this process.

5. Squeeze the liquid and dry the fabric completely.

Drying

You can repeat the process #1-5 as much as you like while the solution remains in the bowl. The more you rub the liquid, the more the color deeper. I did the process 3 times, and here is what I obtained.

At this stage, the texture of a fabric is “stiff.” When you plan to have rough feel from the Kakishibu-dyed fabric, you should stop here. Or you can proceed to mordant. Mordant liquid will make your hardened fabric return to soft. When you use alum as mordant, the color of the fabric becomes brighter. In contrast, with iron-mordant the color turns dark grey. The standard for mordant process requires 10 minutes or so of bathing the dyed fabric in mordant. Here is what I get from my hand-made iron mordant.

Iron bathing let the color of the fabric this dark. After 10 minutes, squeeze the fabric and wash it with water. Squeeze the liquid well and dry it completely.

I simply expected the color of my mini-tote remained such grey of immediately after-drying. Nah. When the bag was dried entirely, it becomes like this.

I am very happy to meet this sudden blueish grey. Such unexpected encounter should be the charm of Kakishibu dyeing. I found the entire process uncomplicated. I think I’ll try dyeing another fabric with Kakishibu especially for some outdoor cloth. No wonder our ancestors used the liquid so often for many materials to make them sturdy. Simple is the best!

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Green Environment Bureau
横浜市みどり創造局

Phone: 045-353-1166
FAX：045-352-3086
email: mk-hokubukoen@city.yokohama.lg.jp

Kakishibu Dyeing II: how to make iron mordant for natural dyeing

 

Let me tell you how to make iron mordant for Kakishibu dyeing. This mordant can be used for any natural dyeing for making the dyed color in darker shade. Knowing the process may be useful for natural dyeing beginners.

<Necessary items to make iron mordant for natural dyeing>

1. Steel wool: For this, I was stupid. At the beginning I thought stainless steel is steel so that we can use it for making mordant. Of course, Nah. We need good-ol steel wool. I waited for about a week with stainless steel wool to be stained and was naturally disappointed. Stained? I explain it below.

2. A glass jar with a lid

3. H2O 

4. White vinegar; the cheapest would do the perfect job. The required acidity is 4-5%.

Steel wool. No-no to stainless!

Now here is how to. It’s simple if you can avoid the obvious mistake of using stainless steel!

1. Wet the steel wool in a jar thoroughly. At this stage, no need to fill the jar of steel wool by water. Leave the jar as such without lid. The objective of this process is to rust the entire wool. The damp steel wool should react with O2 in the air. No-rid could accelerate the chemical reaction between iron and O2. But it can dry the wool quickly before becoming rusty. Keep moisturizing the steel is the key. Please be attentive.

2. When the entire steel wool becomes rusty, add water. I simply added H2O in the jar until the wool is completely soaked.

3. Add white vinegar. The ratio of water and vinegar is 1 to 1. But no need to be exact. I poured vinegar in eyeballed amount. My jar looked like

4. Close the jar with a lid and leave it in the shade for at least 24 hours. Leave the jar longer, the mordant becomes stronger. As I was in a mess with my PC Topy 5, I left it for more than two weeks, and the jar became

The darker the color, the quality of the mordant is better. I achieved it without intention. Phew, thank God. This blackish liquid is hand-made iron mordant. To use it, strain the liquid with paper coffee filter, and use it at the concentration of your choice. The more iron concentrated for the mordant, the darker the stabilized color of dyed fabric. I dunked my Kakishibu dyed linen bag in the mordant without adding water for about 15 minutes. In the stainless (Yes!) bowl, the color of the bag looked like

How it turned to the end product is a surprise. More to it, in addition to how to Kakishibu dyeing, is for next week. 😉

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Green Environment Bureau
横浜市みどり創造局

Phone: 045-353-1166 

FAX：045-352-3086
email: mk-hokubukoen@city.yokohama.lg.jp

Kakishibu dyeing I

 

I told you to wear rubber gloves and an overall when you work with Kakishibu (; my post for September 14, 2025). The reason covering ourselves is, the strong tannic acid can remain as a stain when it lands on a fabric. i.e. Kakishibu is very strong natural dye. Just search internet for word “Kakishibu.” You’ll find numerous artists who work with the liquid for their creation of natural dyeing. This week, I begin telling you about my adventure with persimmon tannin for natural dye. Oh, one thing before starting. Kakishibu dyeing can be completed in just one day if you like. But when you take time to dry the dyed fabric before proceeding to the next step, the color can progress into something with depth. The acid reacts with O2. + UV light stimulates the response, which develops the color more. The sunlight makes wonder for Kakishibu dyeing. You can go slow and enjoy how coloring turns as time goes by. As I’m having a hubbub with my PC Topy 5, my dyeing has taken more than one month while I leave the fabric on the clothesline for days. It may be just my imagination, but it seemed to me the color evolved into subtle expression. Actually, the fabric dyed by Kakishibu will be aged for years. It would be one of the attractions the material provides.

The color of my bag when it is dyed
with Kakishibu for the first time.

My Kakishibu-dyed mini-bag,
after about a month of dyeing.
The color, I think, was stabilized in this way.

Let’s start groundwork. Here are the necessary items we need to arrange before dyeing:

1. A bowl made of stainless steel, plastics, or wood. Never made of iron, as before.

2. Kakishibu, available from Amazon et al, or handmade of 3+ years of work.

3. H2O.

4. Fabric to be dyed.

5. Mordant liquid: Alum for the final product with light earth color, or aqueous solution of iron for darker color, more to it below. Rubber gloves, and a work jacket or the like.

A bottle of store-bought Kakishibu.

Unlike the standard natural dyeing, Kakishibu does not

1. Choose fabric. Normally, we need protein-based yarn as wool, or we have to soak vegetable-based fabric, as cotton and linen, in soy milk or the like in order to make the material coated with protein. Kakishibu doesn’t care about such things. We can apply Kakishibu liquid to wood, washi paper and leather as well. Kakishibu applied material becomes “harder” and “more durable.” That’s the reason why samurai warriors applied it to their armor.

2. Require cooking with heat. It is often the case we cook a fabric in boiled staining solution for natural dyeing. No need with Kakishibu. 

So, Kakishibu dyeing is technically easy. It even does not ask mordant. If you like, you can leave the dyed fabric as such without applying mordant. On the other hand, with mordant the change in color becomes slow. Especially for fabric mordant makes the final product softer. (Wood panel applied with Kakishibu does not change its hardness with mordant, I tell you.)

Two colors.
Iron mordant is applied to dark-grey part.

Having said that, applying mordant turns the color of dyed fabric into different hues. When we use alum, the color becomes lighter. With iron, the color of the fabric is blackish gray. If we repeat “dye fabric, then apply mordant” several times, it can make the color in deeper tone. Such protean results are also the attraction of Kakishibu dyeing. For alum mordant, we just use alum powder for kitchen. We dissolve a couple of tablespoonful powder completely in 500ml of hot water, then add 2L of cold water. The alum mordant is ready. Dunk the Kakishibu-dyed and dried fabric for 10 minutes or so in a mordant. Voila, its color turns lighter. For iron mordant, it takes a bit more process to make, but no cooking. Let me explain it next week.

A dyed bag with different hue using alum and iron for mordant.
A person who made it uses die board to make this pattern.

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Green Environment Bureau
横浜市みどり創造局

Phone: 045-353-1166 

FAX：045-352-3086
email: mk-hokubukoen@city.yokohama.lg.jp

Excuse, excuse … : How to make Kakishibu, and I have not tried it!

 

So, here is the process to make Kakishibu, and my EXCUSE not to make it by myself.

1. 

First we have to collect unripen fruits of bitter persimmon. Bitter persimmon? Yeah, it’s a variety of persimmons, but not suitable for fresh eating. It has an elongated shape and is hard to find these days in gardens of our suburban houses. As the variety contains more tannin, it is suitable for making persimmon tannin. To eat it, we have to dry it in cold wind for weeks from late autumn to early winter. The end product is REAAAAALY sweet treat for Christmas and New Year. It requires certain level of artisanal technique to produce this level of dried fruits, and hence not common for suburban houses. It comes normally USD 6-10 for a fruit. Reasonable price, I think.

<Reason 1 why I did not make persimmon tannin by myself> 

I don’t have a bitter persimmon tree.

Dried bitter persimmon.
Our family buys a couple of dozen
at the end of December from
a farmer in Yamanashi Prefecture
and freezes some
that are not consumed during the holiday season.
In this way, we can enjoy them in mid-summer.
Natural defrost is enough to eat.

2. 

Smash the gathered unripen bitter persimmon on the day you harvest them. Never wait for the next day as the tannin will be depleted rapidly as the fruits dried. Mash the smashed bits in a mortar, or strong food processor, for obtaining “paste.” If you find the bits too dry to make a paste, add a bit of H2O but never too much of it to avoid diluting tannin. At this stage the tannin juice from the fruit is VERY strong. So

2.1 For work, don’t forget to wear durable rubber gloves and apron or some overall clothing. The tannin stain cannot be removed once it’s on your clothing (; more to this point next week).

2.2 Never use iron utensils for the process. In yesteryears, people used wooden pestle and mortar. In the 21st century, food processors with ceramic or stainless blades would do the job. BUT please wash the tools thoroughly after use.

Sweet persimmon, early fall.
Yeah, it’s green, but does not contain that much tannin.

3. 

Move the mashed bitter persimmon from the pestle to a glass, ceramic, or enameled container. Never iron or metallic jar, please. Add H2O for the amount more than covering the mash. I mean, if H2O is just enough to cover the mash, it is too little to make Kakishibu. On the other hand, if the water is more than enough, it will make Kakishibu too thin for use. “Just enough of H2O” is the key.

4.

Leave the container for 3-4 days in the shade. The mixture of mashed persimmon and water starts fermentation. Around 3rd or 4th day, it begins to smell like alcohol and turns the liquid color green. From this stage, leave 3-4 more days for further fermentation. Well, of course, the H2O will evaporate during the process, but we want to keep Kakishibu juice moist enough. So the amount of water in the Process 3.

5.

Strain the mixture to separate the mush and liquid. Add half the amount of H2O compared with the process #3, and leave it again for about a week. Meanwhile, preserve the first liquid in a non-reactive bottle.

6. 

Mix the second fermentation and the liquid from the first fermentation stored during the process #5. Leave the mixture in a non-reactive container for at least 2 YEARS. During the process the gas emitted from the reaction of tannin and O2. If you store the mixture in a, say, PET bottle, there is a high possibility for the bottle to be burst. Never use a container of tight sealing for Kakishibu fermentation. Also, the smell coming out from such chemical reaction is UGLY. Some of my senior forest instructors once tried the process and stored the fermenting container in their shed surrounded by ordinary suburbia. It became a HUGE neighborhood scandal. They had to deal with a difficult local “politics.” So,

<Reason 2 why I did not make persimmon tannin by myself>

I don’t have enough ample space to avoid such politics.

i.e. When we cook Kakishibu in a traditional way, the product must be smelly. Nowadays, professionals find ways to remove such odors. Store-bought version does not have a stink, and we enjoy usage of the liquid without turning our noses. There are several ways we, non-artisans can use it for our craft. Nex week, I tell you the way we Niiharu Lovers tried. We used Kakishibu for natural dyeing. It was fun!

One of the products Niiharu Lovers made
with Kakishibu dyeing

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Green Environment Bureau
横浜市みどり創造局

Phone: 045-353-1166
FAX：045-352-3086
email: mk-hokubukoen@city.yokohama.lg.jp

Organic Waterproof Product: Kakishibu, aka persimmon tannin for Japanese life

Waterproof spray is “must-have” for me. Outdoor activity inevitably makes my garment soiled. I wash them every time I come home. But for next use, it is necessary to prepare for rain unexpected or not. Crossing streams along the trails requires garments with water repellant properly. A can for waterproof spray becomes light quickly for me. I am thankful for this 21st century product for making my life easier. How did our ancestors cope with the problem of wet garment and soiled clothing? They did not have waterproof spray for sure. But there was, and is, an organic substitute. Have you ever heard “Kakishibu 柿渋”, aka persimmon tannin?

The current spray I’m using
for waterproof treatment.
The can is very light …

Before fluororesin, silicone resin, and plastics, Japanese used organically processed persimmon tannin for waterproof, bug repellent, and preservative to almost everything. It was used for walling during construction. For UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan, usage of Kakishibu for materials is ubiquitous. For making tools for fishing, the final coating with Kakishibu was (and is, for luxury brand these days) the MUST. When applied to the surface of traditional Japanese paper, it can make the paper suitable even for raincoats and umbrellas. To make (high-end) Japanese lacquerware, persimmon tannin is essential as the base. Japanese samurais used it for make their garments durable enough in battlefield for more than a millennium. There is an old book, written in 918 called “Honzo-Wamyo 本草和名,” for herbal medicine in Japan, which discusses the utility of Kakishibu.

An ancient raincoat I found in a museum
for Lake Tanzawa Commemorative Center.
In this mountainous area,
villagers of yesteryears used this straw-raincoat
 made of straws and coated the surface with
persimmon tannin to make waterproof stronger.

In the 21st century, scientists are still researching the power of the product and thinking about the usage of it for our daily life. Persimmon tannin soap would be the most familiar product we can find these days in drug stores. Its cleaning power is strong enough to wash over that “particular smell” of teenage boys and middle/senior aged gents. Warning: heavy usage of it for ladies is not recommended. My senior citizen mom was a heavy user of Kakishibu soap. She was scolded by her doc when she was treated for eczema. The magic of the product is from its potential for sterilization. Traditionally, several communities used cloth treated with persimmon tannin to sieve water from wells and streams and to procure potable water. There is a published paper reporting deactivation of norovirus using persimmon tannin. Several researchers even search for methodologies to prevent spread of COVID-19 by Kakishibu. Persimmon tannin is a powerful staff. In more “peaceful” modern usage, persimmon tannin is very important to make Japanese SAKE clear. It can remain a fresh brew without distillation although it is basically fermented rice porridge. Persimmon tannin is VERY important for Japanese culture.

Kakishibu Soap.
Really popular cosmetics,
especially among males in Japan.

Tannin itself is a material for tanning leather but cannot act as waterproof. On the other hand, persimmon tannin cannot permeate rawhide and so cannot tan skin but has the power of water repellent. Why do they differ? In the process of making persimmon tannin, sugar of persimmon is fermented and becomes stable. When the persimmon tannin meets moisture, the sugar absorbs H2O in the air and solidifies it, i.e. goods coated with Kakishibu are waterproofed. That’s why persimmon tannin was used widely in this very humid Japanese archipelago. How to make Kakishibu? It does not require rocket science but asks patience for ‘cooking’ it. Next week, I tell you how to cook it. I have not done it by myself, but the product is available from internet (for example from here). The reasons why I did not make it will be clear next week. (It’s not an excuse!.) Please stay tuned for next week. 😉

The store-bought Kakishibu
Niiharu Lovers use

If you find a problem in the greenery of north-half of Yokohama, please make contact with

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North
北部公園緑地事務所

Yokohama Municipal Government Green Environment Bureau
横浜市みどり創造局

Phone: 045-353-1166
FAX：045-352-3086
email: mk-hokubukoen@city.yokohama.lg.jp