Kakegawa Teori Kuzu-fu is a woven textile produced in Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture. Kuzu-fu is a fabric made from the bast fibers of the wild kudzu plant (a leguminous vine that grows in Japan’s mountains and fields). Archaeological evidence suggests that kudzu cloth was already being woven across Japan during the Jomon period (ca. 14,000–300 BCE). In Kakegawa, artisans developed a style that combines kudzu fibers for the weft with silk, hemp, or cotton for the warp. This creates a fabric that has both the subdued elegance and earthy warmth unique to kudzu, along with a graceful luster not found in hemp or silk alone. During the Edo period, the local domain protected and encouraged its production, making Kakegawa Kuzu-fu a renowned specialty. Though demand sharply declined in the Meiji era, today it is valued as a rustic folk textile appreciated for its natural beauty and texture.