Illustrated Japanese Culture
手拭（てぬぐい）
A tenugui is a long, thin cloth, usually cotton, used for wiping, wrapping or tying around the head. Its flat weave differs from a loop-pile towel. Patterns may identify a performer or shop, celebrate a festival, or turn the whole cloth into an image.
01
The narrow rectangle can be folded for wiping, tied as a headcloth or used around an object. A typical width follows a narrow bolt of cotton fabric. Its proportions differ from the roughly square wrapping cloth called furoshiki.
The long sides retain the fabric’s woven selvedges. On many traditional examples, the short ends are simply cut rather than hemmed. A few crosswise threads may loosen at first; that alone does not mean the whole cloth is coming apart.
02
In chūsen dyeing, a long bolt is folded back and forth while a stencil applies resist paste. The paste protects selected areas from dye. The stack prepares several cloth lengths for dyeing together.
Dye is poured from above and passes through the layered cloth, producing colour visible on both sides. Paste barriers can separate colours, and controlled application can produce gradations.
After dyeing, washing removes the paste and surplus dye. The cloth is dried and cut into individual lengths.
Makers also use kata-yūzen, flat-screen printing and inkjet printing. Stencil printing applies coloured paste through a screen or stencil onto the cloth. Each method produces different effects.
03
Words associated with wiping cloths occur in Heian-period sources. The wide use of cotton in the Edo period helped make tenugui part of washing, work, carrying and dressing. Earlier wiping fabrics should not all be imagined as today’s printed cotton rectangles.
Kabuki actors’ crests and specially designed patterns appeared on tenugui, which could also be given away. A design might identify a performer, business or individual.
Chūsen developed in the Meiji period, bringing a way to dye folded cloth in layers. It became associated with tenugui while other techniques continued. Changes in production expanded the range of patterned cloth available.
Tenugui continue as practical and festival cloths while specialist shops offer new designs and revivals of older patterns. Kamawanu’s Daikanyama shop opened in 1987, one example of this design-led retail approach.
04
Chūsen-dyed cloth may release colour, especially early in use. Keep it separate from pale laundry initially and follow the maker’s care instructions.
It is a thin, flat-woven cloth rather than a towel with raised loops.
No. Those are common approximate dimensions, not a universal rule.
They are often cut without hems and may shed a few crosswise threads initially.
It keeps dye away from selected areas of the pattern.
The arrangement allows dye to pass through several cloth lengths together.
Yes, the dye passes through the cloth.
The cloth is washed, dried and cut into individual lengths.
No. Stencil, screen and other printing methods are also used.
It can identify the performer associated with that design.
Keep it separate initially if it may release colour, and follow the maker’s instructions.