[AWV🦊] Japan trip Highlights: Nagakan Dye Factory in Sendai
Jan 23, 2025 7:31 pm
Greetings dear Chroniclers,
The hanten jackets that we dyed arrived from Japan! So it's time to share...
Japan Trip 2024 Highlight: Nagakan Dye Factory
My favorite activity in Sendai was the custom hanten dye class at Nagakan Dye Factory. A hanten is a heavier jacket for winter or festivals. Sometimes they're padded for warmth. The version we have is the long festival variety.
Isn't their noren (shop curtain) gorgeous?
Day 1: We used a stencil of the designs we submitted to apply a rice paste resist for the areas that would stay white. Then put a light dusting of sand to dry the rice paste. We also marked out each piece of the jacket. No waste! Finally we added a seaweed based dye fixative.
Day 2: We mixed the dye and applied it with wide brushes.
Below is the final view I got of my dyed fabric as it dried and we completed the class. The wonderful folks at Nagakan sewed it into our hanten and shipped it to us.
It took a while to get them because our class was at a busy time. (Shrines and temples order lots of banners and noren for the new year.) Nagano-san, the owner, offered to rush the job. We were excited to get our jackets, but we didn't want to make them work extra hard. So we chose to let them ship the jackets to us as they could. The lovely folks at the factory had given us quite a bit of their time already.
If you're interested, here's the class list page. Hubs and I felt the class was well worth the cost for the time working under expert dyers and the awesome souvenirs at the end.
Currently the class checkout isn't online, but you can contact Oshinsha and help you sign up for the class. This method worked well for us. Nagakan is a small production factory, so their class times are very limited - just 1 or 2 times a month.
We truly enjoyed the class! Here's my completed hanten. (And yes, I smile like a goofball.)
The front says Sendai in Kanji and hiragana.
The back is Date Masamune's helmet. It says "Totemo Date" -> "Totally Date". When I found out that Date's name became synonymous with "stylish” and "elegance" I had to add that nod to Date, too. (There's also "Date otoko" - which can be not so nice - fashionable but foppish. But that's not what I put! Lol!)
The hanten jacket is a fun way to remember the amazing experiences we had in Sendai. I'll wear mine on our next gaming day. :D
I hope to go back and take their 2-Day In-depth Technical Course some day.
You can see more details on my travel blog. Day 1 and Day 2 of the class.
Obligatory Pet News
Not sure it's picture worthy, but I discovered my rice fish laid eggs. I can't wait for the little guys to hatch! They're safely tucked away in a breeder box so no one else in the tank will get to them. It'll be fun to watch them grow!
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Have you ever dyed cloth, clothes, or yarn before? I'd love to hear about your experiences!
Be the Difference. Be extraordinary.
All the best,
Amy
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- Nagakan Dye Factory: https://en.nagakan.jp/
- Travel Blog - Nagakan Dye Class Day 1: https://newslinks.amywintersvoss.com/jan2025-nagakan-day1
- Travel Blog - Nagakan Dye Class Day 2: https://newslinks.amywintersvoss.com/jan2025-nagakan-day2
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- Reading Goals - Story Origin: http://newslinks.amywintersvoss.com/Jan2025-storyorigin
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