Kakishibu – 柿渋

In 2012, I visited a family that has been making Kakishibu (a traditional permission-based dye) for over 300 hundred years in Kyoto, Japan. 

Kakishibu was traditionally used as a base underlayment for lacquerware, for making umbrellas water resistant, and for filtering sake and mirin.

Kakishibu has also been used for painting wooden furniture and buildings, for dyeing fabrics and Washi (handmade paper) and for making katagami (stencils used for patterning silk kimono).