A SAMPLER OF INDIGO DYED FABRICS

These Japanese fabrics have been dyed with indigo using katazome (stencils) and rice paste resist.






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MANY JAPANESE DYERS BELIEVE THAT THE

blue from indigo has been used for 1200 years and can protect people from sickness and calamity.

Japan indigo blue is used for work clothes.
Jeans dyed by Japanese Indigo can protect people from snakes and harmful spiders.
Japanese indigo is an insecticide that has the power to sterilize fabric.
Indigo does not affect birds or their young.
A kimono, dyed with indigo, when put in a closet will repel moths.
Underwear and socks dyed with indigo are good for prickly heat, skin eruptions, and skin disease.
When samurai wore clothes dyed in indigo it protected them against cuts and insect bites.

It is said that the smell of indigo can help people sleep. It is used for bed clothes, pillows, baby clothes, older people and people that are affected by the cold.

Japanese Indigo blue is good as an herbal medicine.
Travelers used indigo on trips. It cured globefish (fugu) poisoning, food poisoning and it was used to lower fevers.
In China it was used as a medicine for cancer of the esophagus.
Japanese indigo tea is good for one's health.

Japan indigo blue wears well because the fabric is protected by the fermentation process.
Kimono from the Nara period to the Edo period have survived because they have been dyed in indigo.
Indigo was used as the dye in fire fighters and locomotive engineer's uniform because it protected them from fire.
It was used as garments for fisherman because it protected them from the salt water and sea breezes.
Japan Indigo blue is good for the eyes. The older it gets the deeper the color.
Light reflected from Indigo is so soft that it makes beautiful pictures.
Japan blue doesn't loose its color by washing.
Japan indigo blue can be cleaned in benzene.

The Japanese indigo plant can clean up blood, alleviate fever, detoxifies, cures pneumonia, conjunctivius, eczema, throat inflammation, mouth inflammation, asthma, athlete's foot, ringworm, and prickly heat.

There are many benefits of the natural indigo plant.

Recieved from a store in Gion, Kyoto, Japan