Togo Orimono Co., Ltd., located in Miyakonojo City, Miyazaki Prefecture, is a handweaving studio founded in 1922 by Haruaki Togo and Akio Nagae (a great Craftsman in the present world).
Now, Kunihiko Taniguchi is its representative, and we sell "Satsuma Kasuri", "Oshima Tsumugi" and "Natsu Oshima" as the main products. In addition, we manufacture and make a sell casual fashionable *Kasuris and fine high-quality, accurate Kasuris.
*Kasuri : a splashed pattern
紡 ぐ
What is Togo Textile?
- Tougou Orimono -
Tougou factory founded by Haruaki Togo in Miyakonojo city, who is the third generation of Ieun Nagae who completed crafting technique, and Akio Nagae, the inventor of Satsuma Kasuri, Now it is the only manufacturer of Satsuma Kasuri.
Usually, the process of process is roughly divided into four categories: "design", "dyeing", Kasuri tightening", and "weaving cloth". In principle, we put emphasis on designing our artifacts in a unique way without accepting orders with mass production.
This is because each department has a high level of skill, facilitate collaboration between each other , and do with short lot production. We can handle sudden changes during the process, and we can do careful job until we are entirely satisfactory without the deadline of crafts. In addition, we have a production system that is indispensable for "creative craftsmanship," such as being able to constantly get the picture of the overall progress.
【 design 】
We are executing the entire design in-house. We put emphasis on not something logical, without spending too much time and discard things that aren't completed in a few days. I specialize in abstract things rather than painting things.
【 Dye 】
We use our crafts by Awaai. This is a natural dye, by using which we can execute a natural indigo dye that completely eliminates the chemical artificial indigo dye. It takes a lot of time to dye, and the rising prices of raw materials is our concern.
【 Kasuri tightening 】
It takes several months to make one pattern with a special tightening method using various types of Kasuri.
【 Woven fabric 】
Compared to silk, it is harder to slip, and the yarn lacks in credibility and its strength is weak. The successor is trained from a completely newcomer who has no experience of Oshima Tsumugi.
History
- history -
1947 (Showa 22)
Haruaki Togo moved from Kagoshima to Miyakonojo in search of new land, and Akio Nagae and the two made the basis for the current product. Incorporated in 1950.
1955 (Showa 30)
Haruaki Togo and Akio Nagae start developing new products and see the completion of Iroshima. Furthermore, lay the foundation for today's modern Satsuma Kasuri cloth.
1974 (Showa 49)
Kunihiko Taniguchi joins Togo Textile Factory. Study with Akio Nagae, father-in-law
1985 (Showa 60)
Miyakonojo City Cultural Award (Akio Nagae)
1997 (Heisei 9)
Miyazaki Prefecture Cultural Award ( Akio Nagae)
1998 (Heisei 10)
Yellow Ribbon Medal Award ( Akio Nagae)
1999 (Heisei 11)
Appointed as representative director. Appointed Chairman of Miyakonojo Silk Weaving Business Cooperative Association ( Akio Nagae)
2003 (Heisei 15)
Group exhibition (Kunihiko Taniguchi) at Ginza Mitsukoshiya
2006
Solo exhibition at Sanjo Gallery, Kyoto ( Kunihiko Taniguchi )
2008 (Heisei 20)
Solo exhibition at Reimeikan in Kagoshima. Solo exhibition at the Ginza Koyo Building ( Kunihiko Taniguchi )
2009 (Heisei 21)
Solo exhibition at the Ginza Koyo Building ( Kunihiko Taniguchi )
2010 (Heisei 22)
GINZA888 Building Exhibition at Ginza Forest ( Kunihiko Taniguchi )
founder
- founder -
Akio Nagae
"Satsuma Handwoven Kasuri Kasane no Makoto"
When the warrior, Mr. Minoru Koji, wore Akatsuo Nagae's cotton satsuma, he was impressed by its extremely nice touch, unparalleled comfort, and the wonderfulness of the Kasuri. As stated in these words, it is no exaggeration to say that Akio Nagae's half-life has been dedicated to making Satsuma. "Sincere unrivaled" that expresses the character itself. We are particular about each thread, and we are particular about each and every Kasuri fabric to create a woven fabric that everyone wants. The passion that has been focused on fabrics has led to the creation of a number of works called "Phantom Cotton Satsuma."
Akio Nagae was born in Amami Oshima in 1915. My grandfather grew up in a family called Oshima Tsumugi's inventor, who was familiar with textiles, but Mr. Nagae left Fukui University and got a job at a major general contractor and started as an engineer. It was
Then, World War II begins. Mr. Nagae also received a convocation warrant and went to the battlefield. After two years of detention in Siberia, he lived a life that cannot be expressed in words in the frigid cold of Siberia, ending the war. When I finally came to Kagoshima to return to my hometown of Amami Oshima after being freed from harsh detention life, my hometown of Amami Oshima was not a Japanese territory under American occupation. Losing his hometown and unable to meet all his relatives, the young Nagae remains in Kyushu. Then, you will meet "Togo Textile," which has a workshop in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture. Then Nagae's second life began.
"Until the birth of Watatsu Satsuma"
It is the second life that I started, saying, "Woven fabrics that will last forever. I want to leave a proof of my life on those fabrics." At first, we started to weave the traditionally known "Satsuma Kasuri", the present Miyako Jofu. However, there is something different from the fabric Nagae pursued. From that feeling, the search for weaving begins over the years.
Under such circumstances, I saw "cotton" that has been loved and worn by Japanese people for a long time, and because it is a material that can be produced in large quantities, it is treated too crudely, and one idea was born from Mr. Nagae. It was "Isn't there a way to use cotton that is the most wonderful and easy to use in Japan?" From here, the making of Mr. Nagae's Watatsu Satsuma begins.
First, improve the texture. I thought that it would feel as good as silk, and decided to use the finest thread of cotton. Then I decided to apply the most wonderful technology in Japan. What came to my mind here is the technique of Kasuri that uses a fastener that was used in Nagae's hometown of Oshima Tsumugi.
However, simply changing the material from silk to cotton does not allow the fastening technology to adapt easily. Even when sizing is applied to the thread, if the silk thread dries the glue and the thread sticks, and the marking of the Kasuri works well, but when the glue dries, the cotton loses its weight and hangs down drastically. The position also tends to shift, and when you hang it on the machine, the Kasuri will not fit. In addition, silk threads can be woven like slips, whereas cotton threads do not slide smoothly and catch the lure, so it does not proceed as expected. Even Oriko, who is accustomed to weaving Oshima pongee, continued to say that she had no hands or feet.
It was cotton Satsuma that weaved through many years, but the next challenge was to shrink when washed with water. For this reason, the woven fabric that has just been woven is repeatedly dipped in water to shrink it, and only to remove the color, so that the finished product does not lose its color as much as possible and does not shrink at all. did. In order to endure this much process, when weaving the machine, we have to make it wider than ordinary fabrics, calculate the degree of shrinkage, and then start weaving. Also, in dyeing, it is necessary to change the density in consideration of the color fading condition. My experience back then worked as an engineer for these calculations.
As a result of such trial and error, after 15 years of thinking, it was finally possible to create the current “Satsuma”, a “textile that is supple and soft to the touch and has a texture and texture”.
Representative
- director -
Kunihiko Taniguchi
Tradition, lineage and innovation
Kunihiko Taniguchi, President of Miyakonojo Silk Weaving Business Cooperative, is a dandy craftsman who designs and weaves Oshima Tsumugi and manages quality.
"Oshima Tsumugi production originally started here in Miyakonojo, because people who have acquired traditional techniques in Amami Oshima have found a new place in Miyakonojo for better environment, materials and markets. The origin of this was the "Nagae Ion", which developed the closing method and renewed the manufacturing process of the authentic Oshima pongee, and made a great contribution to its development. It may be said that it is the mainstream of the authentic Oshima Tsumugi, because it is the ancestor of the Tsumugi,” says Taniguchi.
“From that family, the person who opened the Oshima Tsumugi twisting factory for the first time in Amami Oshima is my grandfather. Even after that, he adopted new techniques one after another to give Oshima Tsumugi a robustness and color depth. It is here Miyakonojo that developed the color of Oshima, and the color of astringent texture that suppresses the "territory" peculiar to Oshima. "It means that it is one side of the other."
That idea leads to the NA Gallery, a modern production workshop that covers all of the authentic Oshima Tsumugi made in Miyakonojo.