Interview with Imayoshi
Imayoshi and his connection to igusa
When did Imayoshi Shoten start making igusa products?
Imayoshi
When it was founded in 1897, it was a wholesaler dealing in tatami and hanagoza.
When my grandfather, the third-generation owner, was running it, efforts began to promote the Bikan Historical Area as a tourist destination, and there was a need for “souvenirs unique to Kurashiki” that visitors could take home.
We were also asked to do so, and shifted to making folk crafts.
In the Heisei era, the fourth-generation owner changed the name to “Kurashiki Igusa Imayoshi Shoten.”
Our concept is to use igusa grown in Kurashiki, woven on looms made in Kurashiki, by artisans in Kurashiki.
What led you, as the fifth-generation owner, to work with igusa?
Imayoshi
At first, I worked repairing and selling agricultural machinery.
I was thinking about moving back to Kurashiki, and Imayoshi Shoten was short-staffed and struggling.
So I returned to my family home and for a while sewed coasters and wove mats.
The aging of people involved in igusa was a serious problem, and it looked as though there would soon be no igusa farmers left in Kurashiki.
I thought, “It would be a problem if Kurashiki-grown igusa disappeared. I want to find some way to preserve Kurashiki’s igusa,” and started growing it.
I apprenticed with someone growing igusa in the Sho district, helping with the work in exchange for lessons, and grew igusa myself as well.
For about three years, I made tatami facing.
Tatami facing is an agricultural product.
It is combined with the tatami edging and base to make a tatami mat, which is then installed in a room, and only then does it become a product customers use.
But with hanagoza, you can make a product that customers use directly.
Kurashiki is the birthplace of hanagoza, an industry my grandfather and father were involved in, and it has the skills, too.
So I switched to hanagoza, aiming to be the only one doing everything from growing and processing the igusa.
I decided to sharply reduce the amount I grew, to just enough for me to process into products, and make sure the quality was reliable.
That’s how IGUSA LABO got started.
It must be hard to do everything alone. Why do it by yourself?
Imayoshi
Because I process and sell it myself, I know what kind of igusa makes a good product.
There are things you can’t know if you only grow it, only process it, or only sell it.
Also, I don’t do absolutely everything alone.
Originally, I did every task by myself.
But when I was thinking, “I can’t do this anymore; I can’t keep going,” there were people who encouraged me and helped out, and people who earnestly thought with me about what I should do next.
I’ve had help from all kinds of people.
That said, we’re doing by ourselves what has traditionally involved several companies, so it’s not easy.
I’m the only one who grows and weaves it, and I also have to go out and sell it and do the sales work.
I can only sell as much as I can make, so I don’t make any money at all.
Still, more people are gradually becoming aware of us, so I’m thinking of increasing the amount I grow next year.
A loom built by the whole community
You use a locally made loom, right?
Imayoshi
The type with wooden pegs attached was developed in the Nishi-Achi area.
Mechanization began around 1933, and this is the culmination of gradual improvements.
Back then, many people used this loom, and the people weaving mats would modify their own looms.
They’d think, “If I change this part like this, maybe the igusa will line up more neatly.”
Then the loom makers would adopt good improvements, and they would spread.
The whole community came together to build the looms.
People in the neighborhood would pass along information like, “The grandmother in that house can weave thread,” and ask them to do piecework. Children would help out for pocket money, too. Many people were involved, and the industry developed as part of the area.
So many people in the area were involved with igusa that Nishi-Achi Station was even built as a station for shipping hanagoza.
Since this loom was developed in this community, I want to keep using it with care.
Hanagoza from “Bitchu Kaen”
You exhibited at a folk-craft fair at a department store in Ginza under the name “Bitchu Kaen.” What kind of brand is “Bitchu Kaen”?
Imayoshi
With “Bitchu Kaen,” I’m not particular about using igusa that I’ve grown myself.
IGUSA LABO uses igusa that I’ve grown 100% myself.
What I want to make as IGUSA LABO is sleeping mats.
I want to tell people who makes them and what kind of feelings go into making them.
One of Bitchu Kaen’s concepts is preserving hanagoza-making techniques.
If fewer people buy igusa, the people growing it will have a hard time, won’t they?
I really want to preserve the igusa industry, so I decided to buy igusa, too.
If I’m too particular about using my own igusa, the business won’t be viable, and I can’t hire anyone on the income from just the amount I can harvest myself.
I have different ideas about what to do as the fifth-generation owner of Imayoshi Shoten, as IGUSA LABO, and as Bitchu Kaen, and it’s something I struggle with.
I’m moving forward while working through those questions.
How was the response at the fair?
Very little hanagoza is made in Japan.
People who want it are all looking for it, and the response was pretty good.
It gave me the courage to think, “I’m on the right track. It’ll be okay.”
Dyeing techniques
IGUSA LABO doesn’t use mud-dyed igusa, right?
Imayoshi
I know that mud-dyeing igusa is harmful to the health of the people who process it, so I didn’t want to make products that way either.
In the past, people used to say, “Igusa that hasn’t been mud-dyed won’t take dye.”
But when I tried dyeing it, it took the dye just fine.
I thought, “What the heck?”
I think people probably said it “wouldn’t take dye” because, in the past, it didn’t dye the same way when the same mixture was used as for mud-dyed igusa.
It just goes to show you should try things yourself.
Is the method you use to dye igusa a common one?
Imayoshi
No, the process is fairly mechanized now.
There’s a method for dyeing a much larger quantity all at once, but with that method, the color of the first batch dyed in the vat inevitably differs from the color of the second batch and those after it.
I don’t grow that much igusa, so it would be wasteful to have a lot of loss.
So I use a handmade flat-bottomed vat and dye it using a method developed in Kurashiki called “boiling dyeing with basic dyes.”
Various dyeing methods have been tried in Okayama Prefecture, but no groundbreaking method has emerged to replace this one.
Other dyeing methods have limitations. For example, they can produce light colors but not a deep navy blue.
With boiling dyeing using basic dyes, you can produce both deep and light colors.
The process is almost the same as it was in the 1950s and 1960s, so if you turned a photo of the dyeing into black and white, you wouldn’t be able to tell what era it was from.
But one good thing about hand-dyeing is that you can adjust the process while checking how the color is taking.
Dyeing is also an important keyword for my igusa.
Nowadays, there’s no one left who dyes igusa.
So I can’t weave mats unless I dye it myself.
Until when were there people who did the dyeing?
Imayoshi
Until very recently.
Usually, the work is divided up, so dyeing is all the dyers do.
If the weavers don’t give them work, the dyers have no work.
When the industry itself declines, the people in the middle of the division of labor—the dyers and the people who wind the warp, for example—lose their jobs, because they can’t make a living.
I suppose it can’t be helped, but I don’t think the old way of dividing up the work will work anymore.
Did someone teach you the dyeing techniques?
Imayoshi
Yes. People taught me, and I also learned by looking at photos that served as reference materials.
When processing igusa, the skill of covering mistakes is important, too.
If the color doesn’t turn out as expected, you can dye it again.
But, for example, if you try dyeing it with a dye that turns brown after light blue, it turns purple instead of brown.
An experienced artisan can quickly tell you which colors will dye beautifully, but it’s hard to figure it out by trial and error yourself.
Even for little things, people in their seventies and eighties can teach you now.
But in ten years, there may be no one left to teach you, even if you pay them.
That’s how urgent the situation is.
Preserving igusa cultivation
The situation for preserving Kurashiki’s igusa is very difficult.
Imayoshi
I started out with the feeling that “we have to do something, somehow.”
I wonder if I’ll be the only one left in ten years.
At Imayoshi Shoten, we used to make products from short igusa that wasn’t long enough for tatami facing or hanagoza.
In Kumamoto and Fukuoka, there’s no industry that uses it, so it can only be used as bedding straw or burned.
We can turn something farmers would otherwise have to throw away into money.
For the growers, it’s a valuable industry.
I wonder what it means that I happened to be in Kurashiki, where it’s easy to make use of short igusa.
My business doesn’t follow the traditional way of doing things, so I’m an outsider.
If you run the numbers, nobody would do this kind of work.
So I think I’ll keep making things for the people who need them, even among all that.
Is there anything you would like to take on in the future?
Right now, I handle everything from start to finish, but I hope to rebuild the division of labor with a team of several people.
I want us to understand the steps before and after our own, and find better ways of working while considering the people in other stages of the process.
For that to happen, everyone involved needs to be able to make a decent living.
I’ve also held workshops for high school students.
If I’m enjoying what I do, maybe some of them will want to work with igusa, right?
The number of tatami rooms and traditional Japanese houses is declining, but if people rediscover their appeal and demand grows, we can’t let it be the case that “tatami and goza mats can no longer be made in Japan.”
I’m doing everything I can to ensure the skills are still here when that time comes.
My dream is to see Kurashiki make a comeback as an igusa-producing region.
There are people who taught me the skills and knowledge, and I want to pass them on.
Get to know igusa
When I previously interviewed Igusaya Hanamushiro, I heard that one reason the igusa industry declined in Kurashiki was that “many parents felt the work was too hard to pass on to their children, so more and more businesses closed.”
Even with mechanization, igusa cultivation is said to be grueling.
Even so, Imayoshi is driven by a passionate belief that “something has to be done.” He grows and dyes igusa, weaves goza mats, and sells them.
People who share his passion, are moved by his drive and want to support him, or simply love his products—the circle is gradually growing.
Once the skills and culture are lost, bringing them back is extremely difficult.
Finding comfort in the scent of igusa, or lying down on tatami or a goza mat and enjoying how good it feels.
I hope the next generation can have those experiences too.
When you visit the Bikan Historical Area, stop by Igusaya Hanamushiro and take a look at the products from IGUSA LABO.
IGUSA LABO Information
| Organization Name | IGUSA LABO |
|---|---|
| Industry | Rush grass cultivation, manufacture and sale of rush grass products |
| Representative | Imayoshi Toshifumi |
| Established | May 2018 |
| Address | 1007-33 Nishiachi-cho, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Contact | 090-9502-4376 |
| Website | IGUSA LABO |
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