What is Pojagi, Rozome and Shibori?

Pojagi, Rozome and Shibori are three ancient, traditional and dying textile arts from Korea, and Japan.  Virtuosity of laborious time-consuming techniques acquired over a lifetime and declining demand are rendering them lost arts.

POJAGI (poh-jah-ghee) (or pojaki, bojagi, bojakee or bo) is a traditional Korean wrapping cloth used to cover, wrap, protect, carry, store, gift objects, household items and documents that were significant, treasured or functional. They wrapped religious offerings.  Good fortune (Pok) was showered on the recipient.

Pojagis are square or rectangular, and of different sizes based on the specific use. Embroidered pojagis (Subo) on fine silk were for royalty (Kungpo).  Pojagis, pieced and hand patched (Chogakpo), with remnants from clothing or scraps of salvaged fabric from household linen, were generally made and used by the common folk (Minbo).  They were limited by the available amount of colors and fabric, which could be silk, organza, cotton, linen, hemp or ramie.

Seam width and construction distinguishes pojagis for its architecture, translucency and drama.  Marubekki is an enclosed seam, a double seam similar to a fell seam.  Gekki is a triple seam, a hairline seam that demands technical virtuosity. 

Pojagis flourished for 518 years in the Chosun or Joseon dynasty from 1392 ? 1910 AD.  During this Confucian era, women were severely repressed and forbidden any social status.  Their only outlet to express themselves in their isolation was through this needlecraft.  In Korean literature, needlework is described as creativity borne of sorrow and regret. Pojagis of these women represents the highest artistic sensibility of traditional Korea.

Contemporary fiber and textile artists have been inspired by the unique beauty of the traditional hand-patched or pieced (Chogak po) pojagis.  The architecture, geometry, color, composition, random juxtaposition of triangles, squares and rectangles, the absence of regulation and the translucency and opaqueness rendered by the seams.

Modern Pojagi has embraced the design elements of traditional pojagi in its evolution into sculptural forms, installations, art for the body, and art for the wall.  Contemporary Pojagi artists have stepped beyond the boundaries of the traditional to explore new dimensions inspired by this unique aesthetic. Like the traditional, they have to balance abstraction, architecture, drama, elegance and delicacy.

For more on this ancient art, go to   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pojagi


ROZOME (ro-zo-may) or Roketsuzome is an ancient Japanese textile art dating back to the seventh and eight centuries when it was called rokechi -  wax was stamped on cloth. It soon fell out of favor, and was rediscovered in the 17th  century as stencil and paste on cloth.  It was in the early 20th century with access to native and imported wax, roketsuzome or rozome was reawakened.  Roketsuzome best describes the technique ro (wax), ketsu (resist or block out) and zome (dye).   The distinctive beauty of rozome is its luminosity and graduated shading of color.

It is different from the familiar Indonesian technique of batik, which uses the canting tool to draw lines or dots, and the metal stamp or cap to apply wax before immersion dyeing. Multiple repetitions layer color over the whole cloth to create a pattern or painting. 

Japanese rozome is distinguished from batik in the variety of  tools, brushes and techniques of wax application.  A mixture of waxes is used with great control and dexterity to prevent cracks, as well as, to allow textural effects. Dye is brushed on with different flat-bottom square or round brushes that are fat or thin. Thus color is not layered like batik.  Different techniques of controlled dye  application result in luminous color and shading that makes rozome so elegant and distinctive in its beauty.

The cloth ? silk or cotton - must be stretched taut for the wax and dye application.

Heat resistant wax brushes are pointed or flat, and made of sheep hair.  Wax temperature, brush technique, dexterity and speed of application are important.  The wax must penetrate the fabric with an equal amount of wax on the top and bottom of the cloth to resist and prevent any seepage of dye to penetrate the resist.

Different wax techniques can result in multiple effects.  Critical is the controlled depth of dye penetration. The techniques employed are: total barrier resist, half barrier resist, wax drawing, wax stencil, wax splattering, wax etching, coarse brush trailing, wax stamping, wax rolling, and more.

The dye application is very controlled and refined to produce luminous color and the distinctive shading of rozome.  The variety of brushes for specific use are all handmade.  Unlike the pointed brushes, these are short, flat and packed tight to be used in a circular rubbing style to push dye into the fabric.  There are different types and sizes of brushes to achieve different effects.  For background color, or for graduated color shading to rub the dye in, the brushes (flat rectangular, flat square, or flat round) are made out of tightly packed badger hair. For detail, the thin knife-edge brushes are made of soft badger hair to stroke the dye in.

?The World of Rozome? by Betsy Sterling Benjamin is the definitive and comprehensive source for the history and techniques of roketsuzome.  The book is rich with images of stunning kimonos, as well as, the work of and interviews with 17 of the leading innovative and contemporary rozome artists.


SHIBORI (she-bo-ree) is an ancient tradition of creating patterns on cloth using multiple techniques to secure it in some way ? tie, fold, clamp ? so as to resist the penetration of dye into those areas.

More than half of the known creative techniques were invented in Japan, and the modern Japanese term ?shibori? describes this tradition practiced all over the world.

Cloth can be shaped in several ways by ingenious methods to create simple or complicated patterns when dyed.  It can be pinched, plucked, tied, bound, looped, knotted, stitched, pleated, crushed, wrapped, clamped, by tightly compressing it with string, thread, rope, boards, clamps, wax, and more before it is dyed.  Single or multiple types of resist, and single or multiple dyeing, result in myriad designs.  Further, the beauty of shibori is the unexpected effects and surprises when the cloth is freed from its fetters.

In India, archeological finds in the Indus Valley Civilization date it to 4000 BC and 700 BC in Peru. The tradition moved with the trade routes: west to the middle east, north, north-west and western Africa; north and east to Central Asia, China (400 AD), Korea and Japan; and to South East Asia.

In Japan, it reached its zenith in perfection in the mid-18th century in the town of Arimatsu, a rest stop on the Edo (Tokyo) ? Kyoto Road.  It became the center of inventive resist-dyed indigo cloth. Supreme mastery of these multiple techniques resulted in exquisite kimonos .  With the adoption of western dress after World War II, shibori and kimonos severely declined in popularity.  By 1978, the Japanese public was only familiar with ?kanoko? (dots within rings or squares) shibori.

In 1983, with the publication of the book ?SHIBORI? to preserve and document this ancient Japanese tradition, and with the teaching by Yoshiko Wada, shibori has inspired innovation in the vibrant modern art of contemporary Japanese and international artists.

The images in the book, ?OPULENCE The kimonos and Robes of Itchiju Kubota?  of his 1981 exhibition in Kyoto, is a vision of color, perfection and breathtaking beauty.