Yaeyama ramie A delicate beauty raised in the tropics There is nothing quite like the crisp freshness and cool-looking designs of handspun and hand woven Yaeyama ramie, making it extremely popular for summer kimonoes. I talked to award-winning weaver Sachiko Arakaki about the nature on Yaeyama and the fabric that was born there. Ms Sachiko Arakaki weaving ramie on a Yaeyama takahata loom Dyes to the court In Ms Arakaki's weaves you can almost feel the breeze rustling the young leaves on trees and you can sense a deep respect for nature. She showed me one of her works that was exhibited at a gathering of works by Okinawan craftsmen and women, a white ikat on a green background. It was inspired by the trees in the mountains where she often goes just to admire the foliage. "In these parts, the mountains are at their most beautiful in late January to the end of February when the young leaves make the scenery bright." She tells me her favorite tree is the soshiju (Taiwanese acacia), because the foliage is so delicate and it looks beautiful with the sun filtering through the leaves. The local ramie weave is a product of these natural surroundings that she loves so much. Yaeyama is in the northernmost zone of the tropics which means that it has plants that are not found on the Okinawan main island or on Miyakojima Island. One is known as kuuru in the local dialect, or "somemono imo" (dye potato) in standard Japanese. Resembling a sweet potato, it can be scraped or squeezed to get a juice for dyeing with no need to boil bark or nuts as you must do for other dyes. This dye was often shipped to Kumejima island under orders from the Ryukyu Court when Okinawa was still a kingdom. The potato-like kuuru, indigenous to this area Natural dyes, naturally beautiful The local craftspeople obtain a considerable variety of vegetable dyes from plants in the mountains or in their gardens. Ms Arakaki uses the yellow of the fukugi tree mixed with indigo to get a favorite green dye. "A lot of my works are green so people ask me if I like green, but the truth is that I just happen to have a lot of fukugi dye," she laughs. Fukugi trees are often planted as windbreaks in the region. Whenever Ms Arakaki hears of an old farmhouse being pulled down she finds out if she can get the bark of the fukugi trees around the house. She only needs the bark, and the timber can be used by wood turners or carvers. In addition she uses the berries from the numerous Cape jasmine trees in her garden to dye with. And once after a typhoon she found a huge chinquapin had been blown down. Its bark yielded a precious silver-gray. "I have never come across a natural dye that was not a beautiful color," she observes. Bleaching in seawater and sun brings out the distinctive ramie white. Bleached by sea and sun Not only does the island have excellent sources of dyes but it also has very good water which is crucial for dyeing. And when it comes to looms and other weaving tools, there has always been ample timber for woodwork, so a great many cabinetmakers and other wood craftsmen grew up in this region. It was as a result of this that Yaeyama became the first place in Okinawa to develop its own takahata loom. Finally, the sea and sun also play their part. The woven cloth is floated out in the sea and bleached by the saltwater and sun to make it bright. The special soft white of Yaeyama ramie comes from this method of bleaching. The sight of white fabric stretching out over the calm blue sea is unique to these southern islands. Character-filled designs There is much character in each work of Yaeyama ramie since one craftsperson executes everything from the designing to the dyeing and weaving. "You can see everyone's individuality in the weaves we make on the island," notes Ms Arakaki and describes the great joy of making something that is entirely your own creation. After all the effort of binding the yarn for difficult ikat resist dyeing and the many simple monotonous tasks that must be performed to create the fabric, the reward comes when the weaver sees her final work. That moment erases all memory of hardship. I asked Ms Arakaki about her plans for the future and she said she has a fascination for classic Yaeyama ramie designs. "I never tire of looking at them -- they seem to have a mysterious power." She wants to continue reproducing old designs or at least weaving designs that have a distinctive Okinawan character. Though she has been weaving for 30 years there is still much to achieve. A sample of Ms Arakaki's weaves Profile Sachiko Arakaki Born in 1945, she was responsible for recreating Yaeyama ramie after it had all but disappeared. Her work is highly evaluated.