In this feature, we spoke with Mr. Minami about his passionate pursuit of gensen kaikikan—a return to origins—and the vision behind his unwavering dedication to authenticity.
In This Article:
- A return-to-origins philosophy behind Amami-made Oshima-tsumugi.
- Raising silkworms, reeling thread, and weaving by hand.
- Unique textures from golden Amami cocoons and hand-reeled silk.
- Recreating traditional Oshima-tsumugi using wild silk and banana plant fibers.
A Return to the Roots
Oshima-tsumugi Woven with Nature’s Warmth and Tradition
On Amami Oshima, there is one exceptional artisan crafting truly original styles of Honba Amami Oshima-tsumugi. That artisan is Mr. Shuro Minami of Minami Tsumugi. He raises his own uniquely bred silkworms, draws silk from their cocoons by hand, and weaves his own textiles— a rare and comprehensive process that has attracted weavers and kimono makers from across Japan to observe and study his techniques.
Mr. Minami’s creations may look quite different from the vibrant kasuri-patterned kimono typically associated with Honba Amami Oshima Tsumugi. However, his work in fact embodies a return to the very origins of tsumugi weaving on Amami Oshima.
Raising Silkworms
Spinning Silk and Weaving by Hand
The first thing that surprises visitors to Minami Tsumugi is the workshop itself. The handlooms, adapted with inventive modifications, are designed for ease of weaving. Vibrant obi are neatly stacked, while beside them, silkworms quietly spin cocoons in straw frames. Look up, and you might even spot a silkworm working its magic along the ceiling. Every loom, every piece, and even each cocoon tells a story unique to Minami Tsumugi—a reflection of Mr. Minami’s deeply personal, hands-on approach to both tradition and creativity.
“This yellow cocoon is our original Amami Kogane-mayu,” Mr. Minami explains. “We’ve planted mulberry fields and built silkworm houses, so we can raise enough cocoons for actual weaving.
He gently takes a boiled cocoon and begins twisting and drawing out several strands of soft silk by hand. Unlike the glossy, uniform filaments of refined raw silk, these threads are thick, uneven, and airy in texture.
“This technique is called zuru-biki,” he continues. “It’s how people used to harvest silk in ancient times. The dye absorbs unevenly, too, giving the threads a wonderfully rustic character.”
Raising his own original silkworms, drawing thread from their cocoons, and weaving—this unique process represents the path Mr. Minami has taken in his quest to return to the roots of Ōshima Tsumugi.
Pursuing the Essence of Amami’s Tradition
Original Silkworms: Golden Cocoons of Amami
Mr. Minami began working at Minami Silk Weaving, his father’s company, at the age of 20. While learning the full process of authentic Amami Oshima Tsumugi production, he also took on sales, handling department store accounts and customer outreach. At the same time, having learned handweaving from his mother during his high school years, Mr. Minami created a new technique at the age of 35: bokashi-ori—a soft gradation weave unlike anything seen in Oshima Tsumugi before.
Two years later, Mr. Minami received the Newcomer Award at the All Japan New Dyeing and Weaving Exhibition for his piece Bokashi-Ori Mugen(Shaded Weave: Illusion), created using the shading technique he had developed. This marked the beginning of his career as a textile artist. However, this was also a time when changes in lifestyle had begun to reduce the demand for kimono, and Oshima Tsumugi was no longer selling as it once had. At the age of 43, he took over half of his father’s company, Minami Silk Weaving, and founded his own brand, Minami Tsumugi. Then at 46, he ran for city council in Naze, Amami Oshima. As a politician, he worked tirelessly to improve the challenging conditions surrounding the Oshima Tsumugi industry.
“When my term as a city council member ended at age 56, I took a hard look at my life and thought, ‘What I truly need to protect is Oshima Tsumugi.’ That’s when I decided to leave politics and fully return to the world of weaving,” Mr. Minami reflects.
However, the era when products simply sold because they were made had long passed. Wondering what he could truly contribute, Mr. Minami began to focus on returning to the “origins of Oshima Tsumugi.” Around that time, his elder brother —who runs a separate company—approached him with a bold idea: “Let’s raise our own silkworms and create Oshima Tsumugi that’s 100% made in Amami.”
“Back in the Edo period, sericulture flourished in Amami Oshima. But it all came to an end in 1985,” Mr. Minami explains. “Thinking about it now, the process had become fragmented. Farmers raised silkworms and sold them to agricultural co-ops, never touching the weaving process. Weavers simply bought the cocoons without raising the silkworms themselves. That disconnect felt unnatural to me. Surely, in the old days, people must have raised silkworms and woven the fabric themselves. That’s what I wanted to return to—to make textiles starting from the silkworm.”
Never one to be satisfied without hands-on experience, Mr. Minami joined a two-week training program in 2011 at Ehime Sanshu (a silkworm breeding center in Ehime Prefecture). The company specializes in supplying silkworms to sericulture farms, nurturing them from eggs to third instar larvae (a mid-stage in the silkworm’s growth cycle). It was there that he encountered a rare golden cocoon variety called Ryūkyū Tasanken-mayu (Okinawa multi-pupa cocoon”)—a type of tama-mayu (double or multi-cocoon) that contains two to three silkworms in one shell. As its name suggests, this variety was traditionally raised in the Ryūkyū Islands, including Okinawa, Amami Oshima, and Kume Island, and is known for its unusual texture and luster.
“I realized—this is what Ōshima Tsumugi must have originally been,” Mr. Minami recalls. “Tama-mayu (multi-cocoons) are labor-intensive to reel, so I had the silkworms selectively bred to produce single-pupa cocoons. I named this original strain Amami Golden Cocoon”. For weaving, I use hand-drawn silk threads taken directly from these cocoons through a process called “rough pulling”.
Through this method, Mr. Minami created his signature “Return to Origins Series”, which features kimono and obi made from his Amami Kogane-mayu silk. One of his most celebrated works received the Chairman’s Award from the Japan Traditional Art Crafts Association at the 2015 National Traditional Craft Exhibition.
Weaving Oshima-tsumugi in the Old Way
Using Japanese Oak Silkworm and Banana Fibers
Even today, Mr. Minami continues to pursue what he calls the “origin of Oshima-tsumugi.”One of his representative works is the “Wild Silkworm Oshima-tsumugi”
“In the old days on Amami Oshima, people used silk from Japanese oak silkworms for the weft, and cotton or ramie for the warp,” he explains. “I select and dye my threads while picturing those times and the people who lived then.”
In recent years, Mr. Minami has taken on a new challenge:creating rustic-style obi by blending silk warp threads with banana fiber weft. This unique material choice draws inspiration from the clothing once worn by the people of Amami, who traditionally made garments from bashō-fu, a cloth woven from the banana plant. At his workshop, many of these obi are lined up — each with its own unique expression. “I think through each piece as I weave,” he says. “That’s why no two obi are ever exactly the same.”
“People say Oshima-tsumugi has a 1,300-year history, but in reality, today’s ‘authentic’ Oshima-tsumugi only refers to cloth woven using the shimebata loom invented in 1907. Everything before that is often overlooked. But I believe there’s value in going further back — in returning to the original roots.”
While modern Oshima-tsumugi is woven with fine, smooth silk threads that make it easier to match the intricate kasuri patterns, in the past — before the shimebata was introduced — thicker tsumugi yarns were hand-tied and woven manually. Minami’s textiles embody the essence of what tsumugi originally stood for — not just in technique, but in spirit — offering a deeper perspective on the heritage and beauty of Amami’s woven legacy.
See Also : The Textile Encyclopedia | Amami Oshima-tsumugi (Kagoshima Prefecture)
____________________________________
Minami Tsumugi
215 Hatohama-cho, Naze, Amami City, Kagoshima Prefecture
TEL: +81-997-53-1373
Official Website＞＞
__________________________________
Text & Interview by Miki Shirasu
