Difference between Silk Painting and Yuzen? 友禅とシルク・ペインティングの違い？

今間、9月にオーストラリアで友禅染の作品を展示した時に思ったことがあった。「友禅ってシルク・ペインティングと一緒ちゃう？」

（笑。頭の中が関西弁になってんやで。爆笑）
When I was in Australia in September, I exhibited some of my Yuzen artworks and I started thinking, "Isn't Yuzen just another way of saying Silk Painting?"

"Isn't this just Silk Painting?" シルク・ペインティングちゃうの？

よく考えてみたら、両方はペースト状の防染するもので、線を引いてから上に染料を好きなように塗るというやり方です。線のところは同じく染料をふせいで、染め上がった生地には白い線が残っている模様になります。
If you think about it, both are resist techniques where paste lines are drawn on the surface of fabric and dyes are applied over the top as you like it. The lines in both cases resist the dye and you are left with white lines as part of your design (if we are talking the most basic form of the techniques).

silk painting - hydrangea

Yuzen‐dyed hydrangea

So, what's the difference then? Is it ideological or technical?
そうでしたら、どこが違うのでしょうか？技法の詳しいやり方？それとも技法の考え方？

The most obvious difference between the two is the technical one of the resist paste used: "Nori" in Yuzen and "Gutta" in Silk Painting.
技法の面からみると、一つの明らかな違いは防染剤として使っている「糊」と「Gutta」ですね。
*糊*Nori
糊は友禅染や型染めに用いられている「ピーナツバター」色のペーストです。もちことぬかを混ぜて、蒸したもので、粘りがあります。この糊を生地に置くと、乾いた後に染料を塗ったら完全防染の効果があります。糊によりますが、絹を使っている場合では、糊の線の所に薄い茶色が残る時もあります。気にならない程度なので、問題ではないですが。これは「のりやけ」という現象です。
"Nori" (which just means "glue" in Japanese) is used as a resist in both Yuzen and Katazome dyeing. It is a thick paste similar in colour to peanut butter but sometimes paler. It is made by steaming a mixture of glutinous rice flour and fine rice bran which then gets a pummeling to make it nice and smooth and sticky. Once applied to the fabric, it is left to dry and can be dyed over and will completely protect the white fabric. Sometimes when used on silk, the paste will leave a slight beige colour after being washed off but it doesn't stand out enough to be a bother. They call this "nori-burn". You can purchase pre-made nori with some kind chemical added that ensures this burn effect doesn't happen but I prefer to make my own nori and so I just deal with it. I kind of prefer it over a stark white resist anyway.

Rice-based Nori for Yuzen.

*Gutta*
Guttaというのは元々木から採れるゴム製のものです。名前は採れる木の学名に基づいているそうです（Palaquium gutta）。Guttaは透明のペーストがありますが、他にも黒や色や金色が付いているものも販売されています。透明のGuttaは、糊のように染料を定着した後に落とすものですが、色のGuttaはそのまま模様の部分として残すものです。Guttaは完全防染で、ゴム製なので水で取れなくて、シンナーで溶けて落とさないといけないです。最近、水で落とせるGuttaもできたらしいですが、ゴムのような防染力が高くないみたいです。
Gutta is a rubber latex paste that is extracted from certain tropical trees, eg Palaquium Gutta, hence the name. There's clear gutta available as well as those with colour added and even gold and silver. The clear gutta is intended to be removed from the fabric after setting the dyes, whereas the coloured ones are left on the fabric as part of the design. You can't remove gutta in water so it results in a strong and complete resist. There's also water-based gutta that can be washed off but apparently the strength of the resist is not as strong.

Gutta resist - clear and coloured. Images from dharma trading company

* Just to complicate matters, there is also rubber-based nori now used in a large percentage of modern day Yuzen. It's the same kind of stuff as Gutta and must be removed with solvent. The benefit of rubber nori over the rice based nori is that it isn't weakened by the water-content of the dyes applied, it's not susceptible to changes in temperature and humidity and you can fold or roll the fabric it's applied to without cracking or damaging the resist lines.
．．．といいながらも、友禅にも「ゴム糊」がありますね。着物業界での友禅はこの頃殆どゴム糊でやっているらしいです。ゴム糊は湿度の変化とかによって変わらないし、生地を曲がったり動かしたりしても糊の線は割れないので作業が楽です。

sticky, smelly rubber-nori for yuzen

Whilst the dyes and fabric may be similar between Silk painting and Yuzen, I think the major difference is the approach to applying the dye and this is what ultimately makes the two techniques look totally different.
両方に使う染料や生地は似ていると言えますが、染料の塗り方（というか挿し方）は全然違います。私は、友禅染とシルク・ペィンティングの雰囲気は全く違うように見えるのはそのためだと思います。

Silk Painting Dyeing

The use of a strong rubber resist in Silk Painting allows the dyer to be quite liberal with the dyes, applying generous amounts of dye or silk paints with brushes and allowing/encouraging them to bleed, blending them into each other and achieving gradation effects with water or alcohol. In my understanding, the silk-painter is thinking of the gutta lines as borders and working up to them and pushing dyes towards them. I know there are probably many different techniques and personal preferences for how to apply dyes but see this youtube clip for a visual of how someone might apply dyes in silk-painting.
シルク・ペィンティングの方では、ゴム製のGuttaで防染しているから、防染力が高くて、結構自由に塗れます。筆で載せて、水やアルコールで上手く暈したり、塩で色を抜けたり、色が滲むように置いたりします。考え方として、防染の力を持っているGuttaに信頼しながら、その境界へ色を広げるというような感じじゃないでしょうか？やり方は沢山あると思いますが、一つの例として、次の映像を見てね。

(If a yuzen-dyer witnessed this kind of dye application, I can guarantee he would have heart palpitations. This kind of liberal dyeing would go straight under his nori-lines and ruin his kimono before you can say "nori-bousen" (paste resist). 友禅の職人さんがこういう塗り方を見たら絶対ショックを受ける！糊の上にこんな量の染料を置いたら、直ぐに糊の線の下へ入ってしまって、作品はもうダメになりますからね）
The visual result of this style of dyeing is washy, blended colours, something akin to watercolour paintings. And I mean, the name of the technique is Silk PAINTING, so the process and result tend towards a painterly style. The rubber resist is soft and viscose too, so that even if the resist lines are drawn with a fine-tipped applicator, the lines will be rounded and fluid, not crisp.
こういう染め方によって、作品は柔らかな暈しや水彩のような色使いになりますね。またGuttaが柔らかいから、防染の線はきっちりとした線ではなく、丸くて柔らかいものです。

Yuzen Dyeing

In Yuzen, the dyeing step is called "iro-sashi"which doesn't mean brush on dye but insert colour. The action is not like applying generous amounts of dye to soak into the fibres but rather carefully inserting colour where it is desired. Nori resist is removed in water which means that it is also weakened by the water content of dyes. This means that the yuzen dyer (and katazome dyer who uses much the same nori) is trying to avoid wetting the paste areas too much. The paste can of course withstand some contact with liquid but continous re-wetting and too much liquid on top at once quickly dissolves the paste and it no longer serves any purpose as a resist.
友禅の方では、染める段階は「色塗り」ではなく、「色挿し」といいます。シルク・ペインティングのように、繊維を染料で濡らすというより、染料を欲しい所に丁寧に入れていくという感じです。糊は水で落とすものですから、染料の水分にも弱くなります。ある程度水に強いですが、何かいも濡らしたり、沢山の染料を一遍に置いたりしたら、防染力が減ります。

So instead of thinking of the nori lines as hard and fast borders, I think the yuzen dyer sees these as delicate edges and works towards them with dye but tentatively. Dyes are even thickened with some seaweed-based thickener (Manutex) to endure they don't bleed or run. See what I mean in this video:
なので、いっぱい耐えれる強い境界のように思うのではなく、繊弱なもので糊まで丁寧に染料を入れないといけないと思っているのではないか。（だからこそ、この頃防染の強いゴム糊が使われるようになったのでしょう。）友禅の色差しはこの映像で見せます:

伝統X現代？
I guess you could also argue that a difference between the two techniques is the history; that Yuzen is "traditional"and Silk Painting is something "Modern". But Yuzen doesn't have such a long history, really. It was just something Miyazaki Yuzensai thought up in the 1700's as a convenient way to get designs onto fabric. And Silk-painting also has historical roots in Chinese silk-painting, taken to Europe (possibly) and developed from then 1800's and turned into new kind of technique.
友禅が伝統的で、Silk Paintingは現代のものだという議論もできそうけれども、そんなことないと思います。友禅はそんなに長い歴史を持ってないですし。宮崎友禅斎はただ、模様を生地に描ける方法が欲しかって、1700年ごろ発展したのでしょう。SilkPaintingも歴史があります。絹がヨーロッパへ輸入されたあとにイギリスやフランスに現れたそうです。ルーツは不明ですが、インドや中国の伝統に影響されたんじゃないですかという議論があります。

So, yes they are different techniques that share some materials and tools but ultimately allowing different kinds of creative expression. Woop, case closed! Here's some lovely examples of both techniques in celebration.
終わり、確かに二つの技法は違いますね。使う材料や道具が似てますが、作品の雰囲気が異なって、両方には別の表現可能性があります。最後に友禅とSilkPaintingのステキな例を見せます^^

Contemporary Yuzen artwork by Ishii Toru, 2010 石井亨 「地球船都市号」 2010 友禅染、絹、パネル 1650ｘ990mm

Xiaojing Yan "Face to Face - Past and Present", Silk painting, Plexiglas, 10'' x 10'' x 3'' each, 2011, The Gladstone Hotel: "Come Up to My Room."

detail of hanging work by Kaga-Yuzen artisan Teranishi Ikkou 加賀友禅をやっている寺西一紘の作品

Yuzen Kimono by National Treasure Moriguchi Kakou 1961.
森口華弘《駒織縮緬地友禅訪問着 早流》1961年

Hole in the Sky, Fire Painting on Silk Charmeuse, Kirstin Ilse 

The Mismatch, The Spaces Between.

At a review meeting I had two weeks ago at school, my head Professor saw my draft design and declared, "It's like an Australian Sōtatsu!" (Sōtatsu Tawaraya is a very famous founding member of the Rinpa school of Japanese painting and is most famous for his bold designs and folding screen paintings which are a staple in Japanese school textbooks) It was a laughable comparison but essentially, my Professor was suggesting that my artwork looked pretty Japanese.

VERY Famous pair of screen paintings by Sotatsu. Reproductions are on permanent display at Kennin-ji in Kyoto.

Another teacher then asked me whether I'm "conscious of that mismatch between the Japanese and Australian". Yes, of course and I feel like I still haven't managed to tread that fine line with sufficient finesse. Perhaps my artwork still does look too Japanese.

But let's think about what that means; to "look Japanese". Maybe my compositions or colours are heavily influenced by Japanese painters. But isn't any artist inspired by someone, or by some art that came before he did? It just happens to be that what I am inspired by is "outside my own culture" or has a history attached that was borne in another country. I'm not trying to appropriate or parody Japanese paintings or Japanese traditions, rather I am impressed and moved by them. So perhaps the questions should be more about where the line is between Parody and Homage. 

It comes back to the very crux of what is "creation". All we are ever doing is recycling. Grabbing all those little skerricks of things we love, things that excite us, things that make us go "ohhhh" and bundling them up together cleverly and beautifully in a way that becomes us. 

Where we grab those strands of inspiration from will influence the whole but the sum of them will be unique.

I can be influenced by Japanese painting or scrolls or Abstract Impressionism but if I am a talented artist, if I am engaging in creation, then the artwork that I create won't be an imitation of those or a parody but rather an artwork that rings of a certain taste, certain familiar qualities, certain influences that are important but not all-defining. 

I happen to love art that makes you look twice because it's a special play on imagery or tradition. How about this list for starters? Australian Danie Mellor, Ceramicist Ah Xian, Sculptor Ricky Swallow, Painter Yamaguchi Akira, 

Yokohama-e Prints from the 1860's, Edo-era Bird scrolls, Japanese painter Takeuchi Seiho.......

Quirky scrolls depicting imported bird species from the early 1800's

Ah Xian "China Bust 15" 1999. Porcelain

Akira Yamaguchi 『演説電柱』2012

Takeuchi Seiho "Painting of Rome" 1903

These are artworks and artists inspired by tradition, inspired by certain tastes or cultures but they turn those influences into something else entirely. 

In my own work, I feel the same push and pull. The technique gives the work a certain look, and I push it towards something else; as a result it can be neither here nor there. And why not be both? If we did the same thing as everyone else, we could expect the same results, and we know from the definition of "creation" that every recycling produces a new combination.

I have now officially spent half of my art education in Australia and half in Japan so the images and artworks that I've been exposed to are from both backgrounds. Perhaps if I was doing katazome purely within an Australian art school, my work would tend more towards design or abstraction or experimental textiles. But with the things around me like Nihonga (Japanese painting) and contemporary pictorial textiles, this is what I have gravitated towards. Also I'm really interested in the ideas behind Japanese painting about compositions and seasonal imagery and flow, it's not purely just that those paintings are around.

Instead of feeling odd or uneasy about the mismatched things and the spaces between, why don't we celebrate them? 

ROKKAN Exhibition - Some・Seiryukan - 6人6感 染・清流館

Time has flown and before we knew it we were taking the show down again!

あっという間に展覧会が終わって、気づいたら搬出しているところだった。

For the month of November, I was part of a six person group show "ROKKAN" at a dyeing-specialist gallery in Kyoto called "Some Seiryukan". It was part of a regular series of exhibitions that highlight up-and-coming artists working in dyeing techniques. This time around, Katazome Artist and Kyoto Seika Professor Toba Mika was the director, choosing the 6 participants and overseeing the event. 

11月中、京都の「染・清流館」という染め専門ギャラリーで六人のグループ展「Rokkan」に参加させていただきました。毎年開催されている「将来を期待される新鋭染色作家展」というシリーズの展覧会で、今回の監修鳥羽美花先生でした。

Toba-sensei brought the 6 of us young artists together because we all utilise traditional dyeing techniques but we use them in fresh and interesting ways. As a group we covered the breadth of rōketsu wax dyeing, hand-drawn line resist (itome-nori), clamp resist dyeing （itajime), katazome and yuzen.
私たちを集めてくれた理由は、六人とも伝統的な染め技法を使用していることだったそうです。それで、昔ながらの技法でありながら、自分なりに用いていることが私達の共通点でした。ロウケツ・筒書き・型染・友禅・板締　という幅広い技法で制作しているグループです。

For this show, I displayed two new works (!!) and one earlier piece; my wild budgies "Murmurations" piece. In both of the new works I tried to achieve an effect of depth and movement using multiple and overlapping layers of semi-transparent fabrics.
今回大きい作品の3点も展示しました。2点は新作で、もう一枚は7月にできた「Murmurations」の作品でした。新作では、薄い生地を染めることによって、奥行きや動き感を表そうとしました。

With the smaller new piece, "Canberra Blues", I dyed 3 layers of silk (organza and georgette in the front and shantung as the back layer) and combined both yuzen and katazome. I used katazome to create areas of bold leaf silhouettes and then yuzen to echo these branch shapes as well as include more delicate leaf details. There is one little bird in the piece (A Yellow-throated Gerygone) but this time I was more interested in the lively curves and shapes formed by the "eucalyptus cinerea".

「Canberra Blues」　2014 Katazome and Yuzen on Silk. 150 x 150 x 10cm

一枚の新作は「Canberra Blues」という作品でした。この作品では、三層の絹地（オーガンジー、ジョージェット、シャンタン）を型染と友禅の両方で染めました。型染で背景のしっかりした枝のシルエットを染めました。友禅で、前に出ている細かいところを染めました。一匹の鳥がいますが、今回は鳥の環境という絵よりも、このユーカリの葉っぱの形と枝の流れを描写したかった作品です。

Detail of the layers of silk. Here, yuzen at the front and katazome at the back. 絹の層が見えます。前に友禅で、裏の絹に型染です。

There are many of these gum trees around Canberra; they are often used as street-trees and on median strips. Because of the blue-green foliage, I had been mistakenly calling them blue gums but they are actually called "argyle apple" or "silver dollar" gums. My title refers both to these (mistakenly named) trees and the way that they are so evocative of Canberra as to make me a little homesick.

detail of "Canberra Blues" 2014. Yuzen and chemical dyes on silk organza

キャンベラでは、このユーカリがよく街路樹として使われています。葉っぱは柔らかい青緑なので私はずっと「Blue-gums」（青のユーカリ）と呼んでいたんですが、本当はそうではなく、「Argyle Apple」や「Silver Dollar」（葉は硬貨の様に見えるから）と呼ばれているらしいです。

"Canberra Blues" 2014 detail of layers.

The largest work I had on display was this work depicting Little Corellas in flight. The white Corellas are whipping up into a flock and streaking across a warm, dusty Australian sky. Though it didn't come through strongly in the final piece, I was inspired by the use of dusty washed-out colours as seen in Australian Impressionist paintings, from the 1890's.
今回私が出した作品の中、このアカビタイムジオウムをモチーフにした作品が
一番大きかったです。イメージは、夏の暖かい空を飛び上がるオウムの大群です。出来上がった作品では、あまり分からないですが、色合いは1890年代から活動していた「オーストラリア印象派」にインスピレーションを受けました。その画家たちは、当時の洋画によく見えたヨーロッパの鮮やかな緑や雲っている空を否定して、初めてオーストラリアの独特な光や色をそのまま表現しようとしていた派でした。結果として、オーストラリアの印象派の絵では、乾燥した草の薄い茶色、南半球の空の暖かな青、内地の土の濃い錆色、眩しい日差しの金などがよく使われました。

"Shatter the Immense Summer Sky" 2014 Yuzen and own techniques on Cotton organza. approx 450 x 180 cm
友禅、独自染方、綿オーガンジー　約450x180センチ

I really liked these quotes from two of the most famous Australian Impressionist painters about our unique light and colours.
オーストラリアの印象派作家による気に入った言葉が見つけました。通訳しにくいですが、オーストラリアの特有の色と陽射しについて書いていました。

Frederick McCubbin, writing to Tom Roberts

"I fancy large canvases all glowing and moving in the happy light and others bright, decorative and chalky and expressive of the hot trying winds and the slow, immense summer"　 

Also Arthur Streeton, writing at the group's countryside painting camp

"I sit on our hill of gold,...the wind seems sunburnt and fiery...north-east the very long divide is beautiful, warm blue far far away all dreaming and remote...Yet as I sit here in the upper circle surrounded by copper and gold...all the light, glory and quivering brightness passes slowly and freely before my eyes"　

I can easily imagine this scenery of being "surrounded by copper and gold". You can see this kind of sunburnt, toasted, sunlit landscape anywhere around the A.C.T or country NSW. 上の「アーサー・ストリートン氏」（オーストラリア印象派の代表的なメンバー）が書いた「銅・金色に囲まれて」というような風景はすぐ想像できます。キャンベラの周りでも、乾燥している草や山々が見えるから、どこか懐かしいものです。

Detail of the work, hanging in 5 seperate panels.

Although this piece was made in a ridiculous rush I had fun using some different techniques to dye the background. I dabbed coloured nori resist paste onto the fabric with a stiff brush in diagonal lines and also used semi dry brushes to create streaky lines at intervals. I hope I managed to create a sense of movement and lead the eye across the piece.

In this detail you can see the dots of coloured resist paste I dabbed on using a stiff scrubbing brush and the diagonal streaks of dye. たわしで載せた色糊や斜めの線が見えますかね？

この作品を作るペースはめちゃくちゃハードでしたが、（今まで一番しんどかったかもしれない！）ちょっと変わったやり方だったので楽しかったです。風や砂埃を表現するように、たわしで色糊を斜めに置いたり、染料を斜めに暈したり、かすかすの刷毛で線を引いたりしました。動き感を出したかったです。それと、目線が自然に左から右へ移動するよに工夫しました。

Entry to Rokkan Show. You can see work by Yuri Ohmura to the left and Haruka Masuda on the right. Rokkanの入り口にて。左で見えるのは大村さんの作品で、右は増田さんの型染作品です。

ROKKAN was a huge learning experience! Some-Seiryukan is a gallery I have been going to for 5 years or more and was always impressed with what I saw. Many of the great Sensei's of dyeing in Japan from the 70's or so onwards have shown work there. I never expected that I'd be showing my own work there one day! I also feel very privileged to have been the first (As far as I can tell!?) foreigner to be included in a show there.

My work and Masuda-sans work in the space.

「ROKKAN」はとても勉強になりました。 染・清流館は長い間行っているギャラリーで、沢山の偉い染めの先生の作品があそこに展示されていますので憧れの所でした。まさか私の作品もあそこに展示されるなんて思わなかったです。私が知っているかぎり、染・清流館で出品する初めての外国人作家でした！（嘘でしょう！？）それはとても感謝していることです。

Panorama shot  taken inside the gallery. From L-R, Yamamoto Aiko, Mine, Saya Okura. 

It was also my first time participating in an Artists talk event in Japanese, having to talk about my work and even answer questions from the audience! Whilst I can hold every day conversations in Japanese and write what I want to say, this kind of Ad-lib Japanese is definitely not my strong point!! Even though I tried to be prepared and practised some answers for potential questions, I was SO nervous and my Japanese ended up sounding very broken and sing-song. If you feel the desire to hear just how akward it was, here's a link to the talk show!

http://someseiryu.net/mp3/20141101.mp3

日本語で大人数のアーティスト・トークイベントで話すのも初めてでした！日常会話が平気なんですけど、こういうアドリブという形は凄く苦手です！友達が親切に準備に手伝ってくれましたのに、本日マイクを握るととても緊張してしまって、日本語があんまりスムーズに出なかったですが。気になる人、うえのリンクでトークショー全体聞こえます。

Something I really took away from this exhibition experience was how conservative Kyoto can still be. In particular, the dyeing circles in Kyoto are still very stuck in their ways and seem to have trouble welcoming the new generation into their midst. During the artists' talk there was an incident (which was carefully edited out of the audio above) where one of these Nonagenarian Kyoto Dyeing World gatekeepers (who feel it their appointed duty to protect the past) stood up and let the whole room know his opinion in no uncertain terms. His view basically (which could have been said with much less anger and in a far more subtle moment) was that even though we are young and innovative artists, we have to do things the way they have always been done at that gallery. Don't go try and do fancy things with technology or creativity or we'll get confused. We were just trying to play this movie we had made ourselves in the background of our talk.

この展覧会に学んだのは、京都での染め世界はまだとっっっても保守的という事実です。京都は昔から着物の産地だったという歴史はまだ大きく影響されていると思いますが。
ギャラリートークの途中、上のオーディオから上手く削除された出来事は起こりました。勝手に「自分が京都の昔からある染め世界を守らないといけない」と思っているそうなおじさんが、トークを聞きに来たみんなの前で怒って、自分の意見を叫びました。彼の意見は（うるさく言わなくてもよかったのに）、私たちは若くて、面白い形のトーク（自分たちで作った映像を流しながら話すって形）をやろうとしていても、このギャラリーがいつも開いているトークと同じようにしないとだめ、ということでした。

「染め」を現代にも続いてほしかったら、こういう旧派的な考え方どうするの？
If the older generation wants to see their beloved field of Dyeing, which they have dedicated their lives to, to continue into the future, what's with stubborn opinions like this? I guess there is this kind of resistance in the progression and change of any tradition or field. This guy really made me angry but it has given me something to think about in terms of what it means to work in a traditional technique.

onwards and upwards! My graduation work will feature Swift Parrots 卒業作品の準備最中です！今回はオトメインコをモチーフにします！

とにかく、次の作品を作らないといけないです！今卒業作品のデザインを終わるところです。型彫や染めの段階に楽しみにしています！卒業作品では、絶滅危惧種のオトメインコやユーカリをモチーフにします。楽しみにしてください！^^
ANYWAY! Onwards and upwards! The next deadline, which is fast encroaching, is my Graduation Artwork! Hard to believe I'm already making work for graduation for the Master's course! It feels like I only entered the course yesterday. I'm currently finishing the design and itching to start the hands-on part! My work will revisit the Endangered Swift Parrot and it's love of the "floriferous" Eucalypt blossoms. Watch this space!