阿波正藍しじら織（長尾織布）

●「由来」蜂須賀旧藩主の時代には、一般庶民階級の者が絹布を用いる事を堅く禁じられていました。これがため商人は木綿織物で外見の美について工夫をこらすことに努力しました。

維新当時、徳島の福島町に住む（海部ハナ女）は、古くより伝えられている「タタエ縞」を参考として、従来の経糸組織に改良を加え、阿波特産の藍染料を使用し縞織物を製織して乾燥のため戸外に干して置いたところ、突然の雨に濡らしてしまい、晴れた後に日光で乾かしたところ布面に凹凸が生じ、奇観を呈したその布面にヒントを得て、日夜寝食を忘れ、苦心研究の結果「適暑衣料」として人々に人気を博しました。そして生まれたたのが「しじら織」です。明治弐年の事でした。

しじら織は糸の張力差を利用して織り上げ、「ちぢみ」に仕上げてあり肌触りがよく軽くて着やすい織物です。阿波で栽培された植物「藍」は品質が優れているため、古来より阿波正藍と称し、阿波以外で栽培された藍を「地藍」と呼んで区別しています。阿波正藍による染色は藍独特の色と香りを持ち、また化学染料の併用によって多彩な色調で織りなされています。

「阿波正藍しじら織」の技術技法は国指定、伝統工芸品および県無形文化財に指定されています。

Awa Sho-Ai Shijira-ori (Nagao Orimono) "Origin "

During the reign of the former feudal lord Hachisuka, the use of silk fabrics was strictly forbidden to the common people. Because of this, merchants tried to devise ways to improve the appearance of cotton fabrics. At the time of the Meiji Restoration, Haname Kaifu, a woman living in Fukushima-cho, Tokushima, took the traditional "tatae stripe" as a reference and improved upon it by weaving a striped fabric using indigo dye, a specialty of Awa, and hung it outside to dry.

The fabric was then dried in the sun after it had cleared up, and the surface of the fabric became uneven, giving it a strange appearance. The result was "shijira-ori," which became popular as "clothing for the right temperature. This was in the second year of Meiji. Shijiraori is woven using the difference in tension of the threads, and is finished in "chijimi," a fabric that is pleasant to the touch, lightweight, and easy to wear.

Because of the superior quality of indigo grown in Awa, it has been called "Awa Sho-ai" since ancient times, and indigo grown outside of Awa is called "Ji-Ai" to distinguish it from other types of indigo. Dyeing with Awa Sho-Ai has a unique color and aroma, and a variety of colors are produced by using chemical dyes in combination with Awa Sho-Ai. The technique of "Awa Sho-Ai shijira-ori" has been designated a national traditional craft and a prefectural intangible cultural asset.