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Fabric to be dyed is laid out on a long narrow board. The stencils are placed atop it, and then a spatula is used to spread a resist paste (J: ''nori'' 糊) made of glutinous rice, rice bran, salt, water, and lime over the fabric, through the stencil. This is then repeated, typically with the same stencil being placed again and again repeating across the length of the cloth. ''Gojiru'' liquid made from ground soybeans is then applied as a sizing, allowing the cloth to accept the pigment in a more advantageous way. Finally, the dyer applies mineral pigments mixed with ''gojiru'' directly to the cloth in the desired locations with a short stubby brush. Pigments are sometimes applied in multiple layers, to produce more intense colors, shading, or outlines. A solution of alum is then used to fix the colors, before the resist-paste is washed off, leaving an undyed background ready to be dyed. Resist paste is then applied carefully over the birds, flowers, and other colored designs, leaving just the background exposed; the background colors are then applied with a brush. Alum is applied again to fix the colors, and the resist is finally washed off again.<ref name=chen93/>
Fabric to be dyed is laid out on a long narrow board. The stencils are placed atop it, and then a spatula is used to spread a resist paste (J: ''nori'' 糊) made of glutinous rice, rice bran, salt, water, and lime over the fabric, through the stencil. This is then repeated, typically with the same stencil being placed again and again repeating across the length of the cloth. ''Gojiru'' liquid made from ground soybeans is then applied as a sizing, allowing the cloth to accept the pigment in a more advantageous way. Finally, the dyer applies mineral pigments mixed with ''gojiru'' directly to the cloth in the desired locations with a short stubby brush. Pigments are sometimes applied in multiple layers, to produce more intense colors, shading, or outlines. A solution of alum is then used to fix the colors, before the resist-paste is washed off, leaving an undyed background ready to be dyed. Resist paste is then applied carefully over the birds, flowers, and other colored designs, leaving just the background exposed; the background colors are then applied with a brush. Alum is applied again to fix the colors, and the resist is finally washed off again.<ref name=chen93/>
Garments with wide sleeves are known in [[Okinawan language|Okinawan]] as ''ufujin'' (lit. "big/wide garment") or ''ufusudijin'' (lit. "big/wide sleeved garment").<ref>''Bingata! Only in Okinawa'', 72.</ref>
Garments with wide sleeves are known in [[Okinawan language|Okinawan]] as ''ufujin'' (lit. "big/wide garment") or ''ufusudijin'' (lit. "big/wide sleeved garment").<ref>''Bingata! Only in Okinawa'', 72.</ref>
==History==
==History==
Some have suggested that ''bingata'' technique and styles first emerged due in large part to the influence of Japanese dyed fabrics which were brought into the Ryukyuan royal court as gifts from the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]. By the 19th century, if not earlier, ''bingata'' garments began to show the influence, too, of the latest Japanese commoner fashions; for example, motifs of flowered roundels appear both in Okinawa and in Kyoto, Osaka, and Edo around the same time.<ref>''Bingata! Only in Okinawa'', 73.</ref>
While particular 19th century design motifs may have been the product of Japanese influences, however, the Ryukyuan tradition of stencil dyeing goes back to the 14th or 15th century, and was introduced through the islands' maritime interconnections with Southeast Asia. The oldest fabric fragment considered "bingata" today has been tentatively dated to the 15th century. Techniques from southern India or Indonesia (''batik'') may have informed the development of the Ryukyuan use of resist paste. Textile historian Buyun Chen writes that it is the distinctive combination of resist paste and stencils that sets ''bingata'' apart as a distinctive form.<ref>Chen, 94-95.</ref>
In the early modern period, up until the [[Ryukyu shobun|fall of the kingdom]] in the 1870s, three lineages dominated the formal production of ''bingata'' for the royal court: the Takushi, Gusukuma (now known as Shiroma), and Chinen families. Members of the Shiroma and Chinen families remain today leaders in maintaining and promoting the tradition.
In the early modern period, up until the [[Ryukyu shobun|fall of the kingdom]] in the 1870s, three lineages dominated the formal production of ''bingata'' for the royal court: the Takushi, Gusukuma (now known as Shiroma), and Chinen families. Members of the Shiroma and Chinen families remain today leaders in maintaining and promoting the tradition.
