Kimono as Art: The Landscapes of Itchiku Kubota

November 1, 2008–January 4, 2009

Itchiku Kubota Biography

Itchiku Kubota was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1917. He learned the art of dyeing at age 14 when he apprenticed himself to Kobayashi Kiyoshi, a Tokyo kimono artist. At age 20, he visited the Tokyo National Museum and saw an old silk textile remnant of tsujigahana (tsu-jee-ga-ha-na), a traditional dye technique that had been forgotten over time. Kubota spent more than 70 years searching for the secret behind tsujigahana, finally understanding it and creating his own form of the technique which he called Itchiku Tsujigahana.

In 1961, Kubota opened his own studio, the Itchiku Kōbō (Itchiku Atelier), in Tokyo where he became well-known for his new technique that allowed him to achieve a delicate mix of colors, finally conquering the problem of synthetic dyes becoming muddy when colors are overdyed. Kubota worked tirelessly to perfect it over the next fifteen years, and in 1977, at the age of 60, held the first exhibition of his personal work. From then until his death in 2003, he pursued his dream of establishing his own museum, the Itchiku Kubota Art Museum (at Lake Kawaguchi near Mount Fuji), and working on the Symphony of Light series.

Back to Top