Matsueda Family

The Matsueda family holds generations of status as intangible cultural heritage preservers in the field of traditional indigo dyeing and weaving called Kurume Kasumi. It is an art form which requires highly mathematical mental processing, as well as extremely trained physical techniques. The color of indigo is born through the nurturing of unique bacteria living on indigo leaves and skillfully controlling two stages of fermentation. It’s mind blowing to learn that indigo, when revived from ancient textiles thousands of years old, can resume its life processes, or that inhaling microorganisms saturated in the air during indigo dyeing can alleviate bronchial symptoms. Indigo also absorbs ultraviolet rays, meaning wearing indigo-dyed clothing can prevent sunburn. Every time I visit the workshop, I am reminded that the boundaries between the visible and invisible, the living and non-living, and humans and nature are, in fact, indistinct. It resonates with an old Buddhist saying of “Matter is void, void is matter”. Perhaps there is no such thing as void. We are all connected by air, through breathing, which is filled with invisible matters! We are all one.