Omi linen

The Kotō textile area sits in the eastern side of Shiga, where Higashiomi, Aisho, and nearby communities connect to Lake Biwa through rivers and humid air. The work uses a landscape of clear water flowing to the lake, spring water from the Suzuka mountains, and the Aichi River. Because asa yarn is easier to break when dry, moisture becomes a practical condition for dyeing, warping, and weaving.

That climate also helps explain the sensory language attached to Omi no Asa and its nearby textile names. Beautiful color and a cool hand are grounded in water, humidity, yarn handling, and loom work; the place reaches the cloth through color, temperature against the skin, and fewer broken threads during work.

Kotō has been known as an asa textile area since the Muromachi period, while Shiga Prefecture also points to Kamakura-period accounts of asa cloth weaving. In the Edo period, Takamiya cloth grew under the protection of the Hikone domain and is linked with present-day Omi Jofu.

Production reached a peak in the Meiji period and then declined from the Taisho period onward as lifestyles and economic conditions changed. Present work in the area keeps older techniques in use through bleaching, dyeing, finishing, design, and new textile goods under names that include Omi no Asa, Omi Chijimi, and Omi Jofu.

Making Omi no Asa begins with yarn preparation and dyeing, then moves through starching, warping, loom setup, weaving, bleaching, finishing, and inspection. Woven cloth itself is made by interlacing warp and weft, so the character of the fabric depends on how the yarn is prepared before it reaches the loom.

Konnyaku starching uses material from konnyaku tuber dissolved in water and applied as a coating to yarn. Mainly used on asa yarn, the treatment gives luster, a moderate crisp feel, and coolness; it has also been used for kimono-length cloth, summer chijimi cushions, and bedding.

Within related Kotō techniques, Omi Chijimi is tied to shibo, the fine surface texture made with strongly twisted weft and hand-rubbing after weaving. The texture gives the cloth a visible unevenness and a cool feel that can be read by the hand.

Omi Jofu-related kasuri work brings pattern into the yarn before the cloth is complete. Comb-resist printing and stencil dyeing are part of that process, and the loom work requires aligning the patterned threads as warp and weft meet.

Omi no Asa appears in apparel fabric for men and women, hats, bags, and bedding. The name also covers handkerchiefs, sheets, and placemats made in Shiga from Shiga-produced asa cloth.

These everyday forms keep the textile close to the body and table: summer cloth touches skin, bedding holds the cool hand at night, and small items such as handkerchiefs and placemats make the same Kotō material present in daily handling.

The Kotō Textile Industrial Cooperative Association is based in Kakimi-cho, Higashiomi, and the Shiga Hemp Textile Industrial Cooperative Association is based in Echigawa, Aisho. Together with local companies, they place Omi Jofu, Omi no Asa, and Omi Chijimi within the same Kotō textile area.

At the Omi Jofu Traditional Industry Hall, visitors can see and try techniques connected with Omi Jofu. For a reader trying to understand Omi no Asa, that kind of encounter makes continuity concrete through looms, yarn, kasuri, hand-rubbing, and the organizations that keep the work visible.