Yuki Pongee Some of the main stages in the production of a Yuki pongee are explained below. Stage One Glossed Silk Floss: Cocoons, which have been boiled in water, are opened one by one and five or six of them together are made into a single 'bag' of floss. It takes a great deal of experience to be able to produce the kind of floss needed, from which to spin the strong and extremely fine thread for this cloth. Stage Two Spinning: The floss is wrapped around a staff called a tsukushi in order to draw off and spin the floss into a shallow wooden bowl. Thread of a different thickness is needed for the warp and weft and once the thickness has been established, it must be maintained. Thread is usually tightly twisted to strengthen it and make it more robust. The thread for Yuki pongee, however, is unique as it is an untwisted yarn. Inevitably, it takes many years of practice to acquire the skill to be able to produce this yarn and, to produce enough for a single bolt of kimono cloth approximately nine meters in length, takes two to three months. Stage Three Reeling: The spun silk floss is lifted from the bowl and wound onto a wheel. The thread must be wound at just the right speed because if it is done too energetically the thread will tangle, and if it is done too slowly there will be a loss of tension. Stage Four Skeins: The thread is now made into skeins to make it a uniform length and to make it easier to handle. Stage Five Measuring: More than ten threads are wound onto a frame and enough thread for a single or several bolts of cloth is measured out. Stage Six Design: In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Yuki pongee was either a striped cloth or a simple kasuri or ikat cloth with the pattern in both the warp and weft. During the 1920s, however, 'picture' ikats with the pattern only in the weft became fashionable. Then, for some years after that, free use was made of a technique developed to produce very fine ikat patterns including such things as a honeycomb resembling the pattern on the shell of a turtle. Drawing the design out on special graph paper, an effort is made to develop designs in keeping with contemporary taste, while respecting traditional designs. Stage Seven Tying: The ikat threads are tied with a cotton thread to produce a resist. There are four classes of cloth, recognized by the 80, 100, 160, or 200 turtle shell patterns in the width of cloth. In the regular width, therefore, there are 160 ties for the simplest pattern of 80 hexagonals, and 400 ties for 200. It generally takes about three months to tie the thread but takes much longer for an elaborate design. Stage Eight Dyeing: The method of dyeing the ikat threads is also unique to Yuki pongee. The tied ikat threads are attached to the end of a pole and beaten onto a board to force the dyestuff into the thread. This is one of the most taxing and stressful stages of the production process because, if the ropes of bound thread are beaten too strongly, the dye will seep into the tied sections; and if it is done too gently, the dyeing will be uneven and neither of these problems can be easily rectified. Stage Nine Starching: Because there is a tendency for the untwisted thread to nap, it is coated with starch to give it more body and to make it easier to handle during the weaving. Stage Ten Preparing to Set Up: There are 680 dents in the comb-like reed, which is the width of the cloth. Pairs of threads to be raise or lowered to produce the shed are threaded through the reed using a special tool, to complete the first stage of setting up the loom for weaving. Stage Eleven Winding the Beam: Already threaded through the reed, the warp is now wound onto a beam attached to the loom. Stage Twelve Weaving: This cloth is woven on what is the most basic of looms called a back-strap loom, which has been used unchanged for the last 1,500 years. Undeniably, using one of these looms is hard work and takes a long time but there are advantages. With the warp tied about the hips, the natural resilience of the hand-spun thread is utilized, making it unnecessary to provide tension during the weaving. After beating the weft in the usual way with the reed, it is also beaten with the shuttle, which is approximately 55 cm long, weighs 600 g and is made of evergreen oak wood. This contributes to the unmistakable feel and texture of this cloth, which is warm, light and robust. It takes an experienced person approximately one month to weave a regular 12-meter bolt of kimono cloth but it may take more than a year to weave one of the complex, top quality cloths. Stage Thirteen Inspection: If the woven cloth passes inspection it is taken to the wholesaler in the city of Yuki and paid for in cash. The wholesaler has for a very long time been known as the 'stripe merchant' or shimaya, simply because in the past, the majority of Yuki pongee cloths were striped (shima). Stage Fourteen Finishing: Before the cloth can be made up into a kimono, it is put through hot water to remove any of the starch, which was applied before weaving, remaining within the thread, to give it its distinctive soft feel. Subsequent washing only serves to augment the texture and, the more the kimono is worn, the more the colors 'sing' and the more comfortable it is to wear.