Dye　(p. 101 )

1. Produced in Kayamachi Yosagun, Mineyamamachi Nakagun and others in Kyoto-Fu.

2. Characteristics: High quality silk fabric plainly woven with left-handed thread as warp and right-handed thread as weft. Crimps are made by another process. There are several kinds of Chirimen(crepe) depending on the size of crimps.

3. Uses: Cloth for dyeing.

4. History: The history of Tango Chirimen is 250 years old and that of the fabrics in general in the Tango district is about 1,200 years. It is said that the Chinese immigrants lived here and started weaving in the years when the capitals were in several places in Nara Prefecture. This district was well known for the production of "Seigo Ori" in the Muromachi Period(1333-1568). The technique of "Chirimen" came from China and was first introduced into Sakai(port town, Osaka) and then to "Nishijin"(Kyoto City) in the Tensho Era(1573-92). The origin of crepe weave in this district was in Kyoho Era(1716-36) when 3 local men studied at Nishijin and brought the technique to some towns in this district. As the climate is fit for crepe, the Tango district has produced the most Chirimen in Japan.