Much of the kesa worn in Japan is made from cloth woven by TECHNOWIN. Services and rites at temples, and the daily round of practice: some of the robes the priests wear on those occasions left our mill in Hakui, Ishikawa, as a length of cloth.
Many hands lie between the thread and the finished robe reaching the person who wears it. Our part in that has been the making of the cloth. Our name rarely appears, but by going on weaving the cloth that is asked of us we have supported the dress of Japanese Buddhism for many years.
One of the techniques behind that work is Karami weaving. The warp threads cross one another as the weft passes through, and the cloth comes off the loom with a fine, open transparency. Thread tension, the timing of the crossing, the beating-in of the weft: each has to be set so that the weave stays even across the whole length.
To supply cloth for kesa, this delicate weave has to be produced steadily, in the quantity required. Production on power looms, and the knowledge of the people who keep them running — only with both can a continuing demand be met.
The buildings and equipment that have carried that production are now old, and for some of the looms parts are no longer made. Passing the skill on the floor to the people who come next is also urgent. To inherit Karami weaving is also to leave behind an environment in which the cloth for kesa can still be delivered.
In Noto there is a culture of Zen rooted in daily life. We have supported that life through the work of weaving. To go on delivering the length of cloth that is needed, we pass on the skill, put the equipment in order, and keep weaving. It is that daily accumulation that carries Japan's dress and its culture of prayer to the next generation.