Amami Oshima Island, lying on the sea in the south of Kagoshima close to Okinawa, is situated in the middle of the Amami Islands which consist of eight islands, and ranks as the third largest island in Japan next to the Main Okinawa Island and Sado-ga-shima Island in Niigata. The sea around the islands, designated as Amami-Gunto Quasi-National Park, is blessed with transparent water, bright colored coral reefs and tropical fishes, and is known as a fantastic diving spot. The northern part of the island where Amami Airport is located, is a popular resort spot for divers, where white beaches and shores with beautiful coral reefs are dotted here and there.
About 95 percent of the whole island of Amami-Oshima is forest, including as vast as 700,000 square meters of mangrove virgin forests, and in them live rare species of amamino-kurousagi (a kind of black hare) and ruri-kakesu (a kind of jay). The abundance in natural resources is an attractive point. Not a few people have been visiting the island for the purpose of bird watching in recent years. Oshima pongee, a special product of the Amami Islands, is weaved in about 400 factories, centering on Naze, the only city in the islands.
You might like to chill out with some bird watching in mangrove forests. If you are lucky you might see a pretty little jaybird known as ruri-kakesu (Lidth’s Jay). A protected animal of Japan, found only on Amami Oshima Island, Edatekujima Island, Kakeromajima Island and Ukejima Island. It measures about 40cm from head to tail in length and the Lidth’s Jay is easily recognized by its beautiful azure wings.
Teichigi Dying Woodchips from a red-bark tree called Theichigi are boiled for 14 hours in a large cauldron. The bound threads are dyed in this liquid 30-40 times until they become dark red.
The bound threads are then dyed in iron-rich mud deposits 3-4 times, then taken out and immersed in the Teichigi liquid again 20 more times. Eventually, the thread turns a majestic black.
The specially dyed silk threads are then woven on a refined loom to create the Kasuri design. This final weaving process demands delicate and skillfull workmanship. Each row is threaded by hand and approximately every 7 cm the thread positions are carefully checked to ensure the exact alignment of the design.
Ideas on Wearing Tsumugi
Tsumugi kimonos are usually worn informally thus there are no strict, formal rules for wearing it. For this reason it is an ideal material for expressing the wearer's individual style. The obi(belt) should portray a soft, relaxed image. Tsumugi kimonos are best worn at a length 3-4 cm from the ground.
Tsumugi Care
Acid is harmful to Tsumugi so care is needed with vinegar, fruit juice, and perspiration. To remove fruit juice from Tsumugi, tightly wring out excess water from a damp cloth and gently pat the affected area. Finally, use the palm of the hand to carefully press the meterial dry.
Professional cleaning of Tsumugi kimono is recommended as needed.
Honba Oshima Tsumugi Terms
Doroai-oshima is a high quality Tsumugi woven by threads dyed in the traditional way. It is a shiny silk, majestic black in color. doroai-oshima is a special Tsumugi made from first dying the threads in an ai(indigo) plant solution, then in a mud pool. The base of this silk is black, with an indigocolored design.
Iro-oshima is a colorful Tsumugi which uses chemical dyes to produce the colors. Both the base and the design uses color freely.
Ai-oshima is a Tsumugi which is dyed exclusively by the ai(indigo) plant. Not many of this type are produced these days.
Kusakizome-oshima is a Tsumugi which uses dyes from various plants, except the Teichigi and Ai. Only a few of this type are produced.
Otokomono is a men's style Tsumugi, usually of a single color with a small-patterned design.
Yomi is the density of a warp(lengthwise threads). A group of 80 threads is called 1 Yomi. The most frequently used warp densities are 13.3, and 15 Yomi, with 18 Yomi used for special products.
Maruki is a group of 80 Tatekasuri threads. The most common densities of this type are 9.6, 7.2, 6.0 and 5.8 Maruki. The greater the amount of Tatekasuri threads, the more difficult is to create the design, thus resulting in very high quality products.
Philip Morris bought a large chunk of a still secret beach on Amami Oshima, an idyllic tropical island near Okinawa. The huge multinational has built a village of 15 twin share cabins on the beach. A photo of the sun-drenched beach graces its Lark promotional posters. It is promising to send 120 couples there during the summer for a six-day, all expenses paid trip. Posters are headlined, "We'll give you an island for six days."
A surprising success of a rival cigarette company has left Japan Tobacco officials a little red-faced even as they try to ward off the ever-increasing power of the anti-smoking lobby.
Philip Morris International Inc. is inadvertently making a mockery of Japan's fledgling anti-smoking lobby with one of its latest promotion campaigns that has become a wild success despite deliberately being made discrete.
After giving smoke fumes free reign for eons, Japan has during the past few years outlawed cigarette advertising on TV, limited commercials in other forms of media and reduced visibility of tobacco products in youth-oriented areas.
But even as the lobby against cigarette smoking gains increasing power -- this week the World Health Organization came up with a stringent list of rules dealing with the marketing of cigarettes -- Philip Morris' promotional campaign for Lark cigarettes has been an enormous success.
