Telling the tale of indigo
We are all familiar with the names of famous Japanese denim mills, located between Kurashiki and Hiroshima. But have you ever heard of Sakamoto Denim? I had a blast when discovering and visiting the company’s headquarters in Fukuyama. Here’s why.
Many stories have been written about the main mills based in Kojima, Kurashiki, Okayama, Hiroshima and so on. But has anyone ever heard, or written about, the Sakamoto Denim Company? When I visited Sakamoto Denim, I thought it would be just another young and recent “jump on the heritage bandwagon” denim mill. Actually, not at all. Not only has Sakamoto a long history in denim fabric manufacturing, it is also a very modern mill that is working to the highest sustainability standards. It even has an incredible indigo museum. And the things I saw in that museum blew my mind.
But, let me give you first a brief overview of the company. Sakamoto Denim is located in the city of Fukuyama, in the Hiroshima prefecture. It was founded by Matsujiro Sakamoto in 1892. Back in the day, he exclusively dyed indigo by hand, following the traditional Ai-zome dyeing technique. This method creates an antibacterial and insect-repelling blue fabric, which, by the way, is what indigo-dyed workwear fabric was all about. He dyed indigo yarns using the huge and ancient Japanese pots, many of which are now on exhibition at the mill.
In 1964, Yasusi Sakamoto, a third generation Sakamoto to head the company, started working with the first continuous indigo yarn dyeing method, introducing the world’s first slasher dyeing machine in 1967. Very early on, his continuous warp dyeing machine was to be a huge success in Japan.
From then on, the company pursued its research and development into state-of-the-art machinery and manufacturing. In the mid 1970s, Sakamoto Denim introduced a new process it called “pollution free dyeing”. The term may sound bold and brazen, but, at that time, it was proper pioneer thinking that water pollution might one day become the denim industry’s worst enemy.
The company’s main desire was to drastically reduce water and salt consumption, but it was also intent on “cleaning” the process of indigo dyeing without losing any of the depth of original Japanese dark dyes. This led the Sakamoto team to investigate the possibilities of electrolysed water. It found that using this type of water cleaned the indigo dyed yarn without requiring high temperature water nor any detergent.
Today, when you enter Sakamoto Denim and get a full product presentation, you immediately learn about the vast use of electrolysed water in the different stages of its indigo dyeing process.
Sakamoto Denim has, of course, all the requisite ecological certifications of the highest standards. And, to finish on a great, local and human initiative, the entire staff, employees and management, bring their plant-based kitchen waste to the company. This organic garbage is mixed in with its indigo sludge. It then goes through a bio-treatment machine to be transformed into compost, which is used to fertilise the company’s rose garden. This is something that I have often seen at the Japanese factories I have visited, a particular attention to small natural things, to flowers, plants…and I am not saying this just because I am a huge fan of bonsais!
This is admittedly a detail, so let’s move on to the initial blast I had when first visiting the Sakamoto Museum. In 1991, when the company was using 99% modern-day dyeing and weaving machinery, it established its Aikyokan Ai-zome Preservation Museum.
And what a wonderful move this was. As you may know, when you travel to Nîmes, to Genova, to Buttenheim and to San Francisco, these are places where denim has its roots and where it has left many signs of its DNA and history. Only a small number of these have genuine denim museums, not to mention the even smaller number of denim museums that have noteworthy examples from the history of denim other then recently acquired ‘collectible’ jeans.
In the Aikyokan Ai-zome Preservation Museum, visitors are allowed to touch and feel true ancient samurai combat equipment, of which the textile parts were hand-dyed with natural indigo to prevent bacterial growth on wounds from battles. They can admire antique indigo kimonos and hand-laced indigo details on vintage Japanese workwear. These were, again, dyed with natural indigo to protect workers in the fields from mosquito bites. I still have goosebumps.
Behind this first room, ancient Japanese natural indigo pigments are on display. These include, yes, a near white coloured indigo. Back in the day, indigo pigments went from almost white to sky blue, to dark and to deep indigo.
This room opens on to another space where vintage indigo pots were buried in the ground, or shall I say into the soil.
This is where the Indigofera plant’s pigments slowly matured from green to blue, and where Matsujiro Sakamoto started making indigo dyed yarn in 1892. It’s still all there, the pots, the bamboo hangers for the dyed yarns and examples of yarns made years ago. If you are an indigo lover, it is really worth the trip.
One more thing, lest I forget, Sakamoto Denim also sells denim fabric. Great denim fabric.
Skeins of hand-dyed indigo yarns at Sakamoto Denim.
Photo: Tilmann Wröbel
