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Protective Fibres

Protective Fibres

August 6, 2018
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Beginning in the middle 1700s and continuing through the 1950s, the Japanese depended on mosquito netting (kaya) made from hemp fibres for protection against the ubiquitous summer mosquito. Homespun and hand-loomed hemp was a common fibre used to make kaya but not the only material. Cotton and less common bast fibres from tree and bush bark were processed into fibres, woven into 13 inch wide rolls and hand stitched together into mosquito netting. 
Kaya was important and so highly regarded in Japan for its help to protect against the mosquito that it often took on an artistic aspect. Famous 17th - 19th-century Ukiyo-e artists selected kaya as background or subject matter for their paintings. There was even a romantic tone about kaya in that these same artists would include kaya in some of their erotic works. 
Ukiyo-e, pictures of the floating world, is a genre of woodblock prints and paintings that flourished in Japan. It was aimed at the prosperous merchant class in the urbanising Edo period (1603–1867). Amongst the popular themes were depictions of beautiful women; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica.
The colours of hemp kaya varied from beige, green, indigo, brown and some had small stripes running the length of the fabric panel. All hemp fabric colours fade over time into charming variegated muted tones. Only natural organic dyes were used to colour the kaya.
Extract from a blog post by Kimonoboy.
www.kimonoboy.com
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2 comments

I expect it’s an incense stick, the smell would repel insects. Much as the people of Oman light incense at dusk.

LizaSeptember 5, 2018

I wonder what the ladyin the top picture is doing with the taper?

Katherine Tinteren-KlitzkeAugust 16, 2018

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