Treasures from John’s Collection: Pigments
This is really and for truly Ryuukyuu bingata. While a simple and traditional motif of toy horses, this piece manages to
capture the essence of true bingata in its surrealistic use of colors and shadings.
Toy Horses by Iuchi Aijirou on Bashoufu, Mounted as a Scroll with Silk Borders
This image was dyed using natural pigments on a fabric long associated with
Okinawa, bashoufu (芭蕉布), woven from the fibers of a banana-like plant. The artist is Iuchi Aijirou (井内愛次郎 琉球大学) of Ryuukyuu University. It was finished in January of 1969, and is stamped
with the characters for Ryuukyuu University (琉球大学少印).
Notice how the accent colors, called kumadori (隈取り), are used to give the image a sense of volume but in no way attempts to add
realistic shading to the figure. The bold colors of the kumadori (accent marks) give bingata a distinctive and exotic tropical look, greatly
adding to the appeal of this traditional art form.
Information About Artist Found on Back of Scroll
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Through an entirely different source, I came into a piece of fabric dyed in a
nearly identical manner to the image above. It is dyed on thin, cotton
sheeting, but otherwise it is not much inferior to the sample above.
Toy Horses, Artistu Unknown, Natural Pigments on Cotton Sheeting
