Takashima chijimi

Takashima, in Shiga Prefecture, is presented as a cotton-weaving production area with roots reaching back to the Edo period. Its work has included light cloth, known through garments such as suteteko, and thicker woven cloth used as material. That local frame keeps Takashima chijimi concrete: it belongs to a working textile area, to named cloth types, and to cooperatives such as Takashima Sarashi Cooperative at Shin-asahi-cho Asahi 1411 in Takashima City.

The texture of Takashima chijimi starts before finishing, with high-twist yarn used in the weft. After weaving, a mold shapes the cloth surface into shibo, the fine unevenness that gives the fabric its broken, airy touch. The named forms include piqué and wave shibo. In practical terms, those ridges are tied to absorbency, stretch, and a smooth dry feel against the skin.

Suteteko and underwear give the fabric an everyday starting point: light cotton, skin contact, moisture, and movement. Takashima chijimi has since been developed into shirts, blouses, dresses, and jacket fabrics, using the same absorbency, stretch, and hand feel that made the cloth useful close to the body. The change is less about ceremony than about where the shibo surface can work in ordinary clothing.

The production area is organized through separate but connected roles. Takashima Textile Industrial Cooperative is described with 31 members and warp-preparation capacity, while Takashima Sarashi Cooperative has eight corporate members and handles bleaching, dyeing, printing, processing, and sales for cotton crepe and related fabrics. Its institutional path began in 1954 as a bleaching-processing section of the weaving cooperative’s business division, then continued through independent establishment in 1958, reorganization in 1970, and later additions such as dyeing and printing factories.

Changes in daily clothing and competition from overseas products pushed the Takashima area toward material development and clearer naming. In that context, Takashima chijimi was protected as a regional collective trademark in 2012, and its brand standards and logo were renewed in 2019. For readers, the visible result is a shift in use: the cloth moved beyond suteteko and underwear into shirts, dresses, and jackets while keeping the absorbent, stretchy, dry-touch qualities of chijimi.

A 2024 governor’s shirt shows one recent way the fabric has been adapted. Takashima Textile Industrial Cooperative, Takashima Sarashi Cooperative, and Shiga’s northeastern industrial technology center worked on a Takashima chijimi shirt whose colors were based on the surface of Lake Biwa seen from offshore. The shirt used fabric with fewer ridges than underwear chijimi, a firm yet supple feel, reduced shrinkage when wet, and antibacterial deodorizing treatment; when it was presented at the prefectural office on May 27, ease of movement and wearing comfort were emphasized.