Artisanal Silk with Generations of Tradition, Born of Ingenuity in the Sacred Mountain

Take a Step into an Artisanal Silk Workshop in Hakusan City

In Hakusan City, about an hour by car from Kanazawa, stands a particular artisanal silk workshop. What makes them special is that they still use traditional techniques passed down from generation to generation called Ushikubi Tsumugi to handmake their premium pongee silk fabric. The craft has its roots in the village of Shiramine, up towards the foothills of Mt. Hakusan, one of Japan’s three sacred mountains. The isolated and mountainous geography of the area highly limited what the inhabitants could do for a living. To thrive, the inhabitants went through generations of trial and error till they found out that their village is perfect as an environment for one small creature, silkworms.

On top of the normal silk, the artisans of Shiramine, knowing full well due to the harsh nature of their home that nothing should ever go to waste, also developed ways to unwind the silk directly from rare, doubled silk threads. These threads are made from double cocoons spun together by two silkworms, and were typically deemed to hard to work with and discarded. Thus was born the Ushikubi Tsumugi silk, widely regarded nowadays for its durability and distinctive feel of its slubs, or thicker sections. The fabric woven from these threads has a rustic warmth that belies its fine quality, making it highly sought after as a material for kimonos and other clothing.

Now, in the modern era where mass-produced fabric is the norm, the Ushikubi Tsumugi silk still stands the test of time and has been gaining appreciation both in Japan and abroad. Today’s artisans work tirelessly to ensure that every piece of fabric that comes out of their workshop is of the highest quality possible, preserving the legacy of this prized regional craft for the generations yet to come.

Details