Intangible cultural heritage knowledge: my country’s traditional folk craft persimmon dyeing

A little intangible cultural heritage knowledge: Persimmon dyeing, a traditional folk craft in my country, is introduced as follows:

The amazing thing about persimmon dyeing is not only the color, but also the texture of the cloth. Soft cotton fabrics can be transformed into tough, leather-like fabrics after persimmon dyeing.

The persimmon dyeing process is a kind of herbal dyeing process. The dyeing liquid is made by mashing immature green persimmons, squeezing the juice, and then fermenting them for more than one year. Most of the herbal dyeing process involves soaking the fabric in a solution for dyeing, but persimmon dyeing is different. The persimmon-dyed fabric begins to be dyed brown and gradually deepens after it is dried in the sun. Therefore, persimmon dyeing is also called "the dyeing of the sun".

This is a craft that relies entirely on the sun. Fabrics dyed in summer are darker in color and slightly softer in winter. Depending on the strength of the wind, humidity, and location, the dyed fabrics will also be different. After mordant dyeing with copper, iron, and titanium, the colors of persimmon-dyed fabrics can be richer.

The steps of persimmon dyeing seem very simple, there are only three steps: "soak, wring out, and dry". However, since each drying process can deepen the color of the fabric and increase its strength, it is common practice to dry it 4 times each time. In order to avoid the problem of uneven dyeing, subtle adjustments need to be made to the inside and outside of the cloth and the drying location each time it is dried. This work takes far more time and effort than people think.

The history of Kakizome

Persimmons are used for dyeing in China, Japan and South Korea. In the 10th century, Japan's Heian period, kaki dye was mainly worn by lower-level samurai at that time. The most representative work clothes in the Jeju region of South Korea are "persimmon-dyed clothes." There is no clear record in historical materials as to when people in Jeju started wearing persimmon-dyed clothes.