Weave　(p. 140 )

1. Produced in Shuritonokura Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture.

2.Characteristics: Silk fabric with designs of checks and Kasuri patterns. Twisted threads("Mudi") with 5 to 7 colors are used as warp and twisted threads with red-white or dark blue-white as weft. The fabric with red-white colors is used for ceremonial clothes and that with dark blue-white for daily and mourning clothes. There are 3 kinds according to the difference in color of the background (Kasuri part) where the Kasuri designs are woven. "Shiro(white) Tama" in which the Kasuri part is woven white, "Kuro(black) Tama," colored Kasuri designs on white background, and Iro(color) Tama," colored Kasuri design on colored background. Exceptionally, there is a specific fabric woven with the threads which are dyed with raw indigo leaves. (See the next page "SHURI NAMA-AI SOME TEJIMA")

3. Uses: Clothes for women in the royal family and in a higher class than the warrior class. 4. History: The Sho Family united all Okinawan Islands in the 15th century and Shuri (Naha, today) became the capital of the Ryukyu Dynasty and the center of fabrics in Okinawa. The Okinawan Dynasty actively traded with China, Korea, Japan and such Southeastern countries as Siam(Thailand) and Java(Indonesia), bringing foreign influence upon the costumes of the aristocrats. The imported culture was gradually united with Okinawansﾕ own, giving birth to a new style of dyeing and weaving