Collection: Hiroshi Tanaka

Hiroshi Tanaka (Kimono Tanakaya) | 田中博史 (田中屋)

Ukiha, Fukuoka, Japan

Hiroshi Tanaka had doubts about the market system that treated kimonos merely as commodities when he took over his family’s kimono business. In a world where the monetary value alone determined the quality of an item and one could exclusively possess marvelous things if they had money, seeing his beloved kimonos’ value being neglected was unbearable for Tanaka.

In Japan, kimonos, made by spinning silk threads, which are the lives of silkworms, were originally considered sacred and were meant to be enshrined in household Shinto altars. Tanaka, in collaboration with a kimono designer who shared his sentiments, entered into exclusive contracts with workshops of weavers and kimono artisans preserving ancient traditional techniques. Tanaka’s collaborator, Katsuyama, is nationally certified in the restoration techniques of cultural properties and possesses the skills to analyze and reproduce the techniques used in silk weaving from the 4th century, for example. To recreate ancient Japanese silk fabrics, Katsuyama started by planting mulberry trees, the leaves of which silkworms feed on, and raising silkworms, ultimately reproducing costumes that ancient emperors might have worn. His unparalleled creations have even gained fans within the imperial family.

However, Tanaka feels a sense of crisis that creating items affordable only to a wealthy few won’t allow the transmission of Japan’s authentic textiles to the next generation. He believes there is a need to design kimonos suitable for various occasions, allowing ordinary people to choose them for slightly special events, and set prices that are attainable with a bit of effort. Tanaka, along with designer Katsuyama, explores such an outlet for kimonos and places orders for new fabrics at traditional textile workshops. This initiative supports the economy of the makers by promising to purchase the finished fabrics. Making a single bolt of fabric requires the collaboration of 10 to 40 skilled artisans, akin to an orchestral performance. Katsuyama serves as the director overseeing the entire process, and Tanaka plays the role of a producer in this framework.

Tanaka acknowledges himself as a “connector,” linking creators and buyers when it comes to kimonos. He wants to convey kimonos and the culture of wearing them to people who genuinely appreciate, treasure, and pass them on from parents to children. He describes this feeling as akin to the sentiment one has when marrying off a beloved daughter. When someone who relies solely on money calls to make a purchase, he even refuses to show them kimonos.

What is Tanaka’s standard of value, if it is not something evaluated by money? It is, without a doubt, love, integrity, and dedication for quality. It is about the attitude towards life.

Jutsu plans to jointly develop with Tanaka original products from the pieces of such one-and-only kimono fabrics.