Textiles of Japan

Worth the cost for content and photos but maybe better as a two volume set, as it's very heavy.

key words: natural materials, folk art movement, indigenous cultures, Japanese aesthetic A scholarly approach to a collection of older Japanese costume and textiles. Excellent photos; detailed curator's notes.

This book surpassed my expectations with the history of Japanese textiles. There is a vast knowledge of information and the images that go along with it are VERY high quality. Also this book is not light by any means and I was amazed by how heavy the book it is.

I wanted this book for research on the textile industry in Japan to help plan a future trip. I have only begun to scan the book, but it absolutely appears to be comprehensive. Once I go on my trip, I will be confident that I will know what fabrics I hope to find.

Just an incredible resource. Love all the photos in it

If one could only have one book covering as much as possible on Japanese textiles this should be the book. Tom Murray has managed to build an encyclopedic collection reflecting his profound knowledge and passion. Not only is his collection thorough, but its presentation in this book is superior---detailing the wide variety of fabrics, fibers, and weaving and dying methods used throughout Japan's long history. All of this, and very beautifully presented.

Just received my copy of the book. It is an amazing anthology of Japanese textiles. Well researched with huge glossy photos of prints patterns and weavings. This book should become a staple of every textile designer in the industry.

If you care about textiles and the way they carry human ingenuity and love, if you care about Japanese culture and art, you will spend a lot of time with this book. More than once.

Such a wonderful book. I have no words. It's about all the techniques Japanese masters resorted to in order to craft and dye kimonos. It's an incredible resource of both visual and descriptive information!

A huge and heavy book which gives interesting detail on various traditions, fabrics, patterns and embellishments of 'the people of the earth, and the natural materials they work with to make something that is both beautiful and useful'. The illustrations are wonderful, many being full page, or even double page fold-outs. Will provide much enjoyment and inspiration.

Produto incrível, muito bem embalado e entrega rápido por parte do vendedor. Satisfeitíssimo!

For anyone interested in Japanese textiles this book is a must!

This is a BIG book, well made but large and heavy. And I do mean this - it’s much heavier and larger than other “fashion” coffee table books. You will need to view this on the floor or on a book stand! To be honest rhe book isn’t quite what I wanted but it’s also very good. I was thinking of kimonos and capturing different fabric/dyes of those (for example tsmugi, Hakata ori etc). This book has a slightly different focus and breaks down textiles into three main groups - Ainu, mingei, Okinawa. This is done in quite an academic way - I think sadly most of these textile techniques would either be incredibly rare or not created today. Ainu describes the textiles of the Ainunpeople of northern Japan, e.g textiles made from nettle fibres, salmon skin, bast fibre, appliqué cotton and other embroidery techniques. Mingei means “folk art” and broadly covers the main Japanese islands. Examples include sashiko, indigo dyed fabrics, woven hemp, use of safflower dye, stencil resists (katazome), deerskin, washi paper, shibori, resist dying, kasuri (Japanese Ikat?), boro, felted wool. Okinawa covers fabrics of the Ryuku people in the southern islands off mainland Japan, including banana plant fibres, various styles of weaving, bingata stencil dying. As much as I like this book I think for the size and weight of it you need to be quite into either Japanese culture, folk traditions, fabric/fashion or likely a combination of the above to really enjoy and appreciate it. It’s not a “light” flick through (literally) and most of the clothing depicted is very much of the wabi-sabi aesthetic (ie mostly indigo or dun simple colours, not much colour). Ie if you’re expecting a book of lots of pretty, colourful silk kimono this is not the book for you! But if you would be fascinated by a cotton futon cover made up of various different bits of well worn fabric then this is for you! The book is clearly laid out, and cleanly designed. The images are clear and printed well and the paper is exceedingly thick (hence the books large size and weight!) the binding is well sewn which is a relief given the heft of the book and so it is well made.