Home

Koji Wada looks at the calendar and he can almost count the years until a traditional Japanese art dies with the last craftsman who took the time to learn it.

Wada deals in high-end, hand-woven, hand-dyed kimono material. It takes more than 20 years of apprentice work to learn the craft behind making such textiles, and no young people in Japan are willing to do it.

"They can go work at Sony and make a lot of money right away," Wada said. "There are only a handful of people left making these traditional textiles. After they are gone, the entire industry will be gone."

Wada knows firsthand how the industry is declining. On Jan. 31, 2003, Wada closed his business in Berkeley, Calif., even as customers waited at the door. He made the decision as his inventory dwindled.

"We closed out doors at the height of our business," he said. "But the high-end material we sell is no longer made in Japan."

His business required 5,000 bolts a year, he said. He turned the key in the door of his shop and took the remaining inventory to his new home in Saratoga, Wyo.

Now, he is slowly selling what he has left. He has no Web site and no storefront. If you want to buy his textiles, you have to go to his house in Wyoming or attend a lecture like the one he is giving Monday.

Beyond a lack of interest among young people, the kimono fabrics that Wada sells are in decline because of a larger change in Japanese society.

"There just isn't the occasion in Japan to wear a kimono," Wada said. "It take two people to dress you and you can't even use the restroom. Secondly, the price is so outrageous (that) if you need one for a wedding reception, you can rent it. There are still the Mrs. Sonys and the Mrs. Toyotas who can buy their own, and there are a handful of people to cater to those people. Otherwise, the infrastructure is gone after 2,000 years."

At Monday's presentation, Wada will discuss the processes involved in making the textiles that he sells.

There is a lot of interest in the United States in the dying techniques that Japanese textile makers use, Wada said, "but they learn the minimum and then bring it back to the states. It is just a remnant of what once was."

Wada now delivers his lectures, not only as a way of promoting his business, but also because so little is written about the kimono textile art.

"Since the craftsmen are dying off, the Japanese government wants to write it all down," Wada said. "But it's really too late."

Wada also will teach attendees of the workshop how to recognize an imitation.

"Any textile made in Japan is a Japanese textile, but that doesn't make it traditional."