Itchiku Kubota

Last Thursday, I ventured over to the Palace of Independence for the first time in my year and a half of living in Astana. The Palace of Independence is a place where you can see art exhibits and even take art classes. The building a a work of art itself. The outside is covered in the typical blue glass that you will see on many of the buildings throughout the city. Over top of the blue glass, is a diamond like pattern of white...poles?

Palace of Independence

The reason why I visited this building was to see an exhibit by a Japanese artist named Itchiku Kubota. Kubota is considered the most important Japanese textile artist of the 20th century. His specialty was creating kimonos with a special technique called, Tsujigahana. This technique was used way back in the 15th century and Kubota spent 30 years of his life working to reinvent this lost technique.

When he was 20 years old, he saw a fragment of  a textile in the Tokyo National Museum that was created with the Tsujiguhana technique. Unfortunately, Kubota was captured and sent to a Siberian labor camp and spent his 20s locked away. He used this time to become more inspired to create these works of art. Every day he watched the beautiful Siberian sunset and incorporated this picturesque scene into his first Kimono.

Left: Japanese Ambassador's Wife with The Burning Sun Kimono     Right: The Burning Sun detail

Burning Sun detail

It wasn't until Kubota was 60 years old, that he finally put his first kimono on display. His lifework is called "Symphony of Light." It is consists of 80 kimono's representing the 4 seasons. Only 46 kimonos have been completed upon his death in 2003. Because of the immense detail going into these kimonos, it took an entire year to complete only 3 kimonos.

Symphony of Light winter series

Kubota used chirimen (silk crepe) as the fabric base for the kimono. Most of them are furisode (long sleeved). The panels of fabric would be shaped and dyed independently, called shibori. After this timely process, the pieces were then joined together to form the robe.

I hope you enjoyed my post on Itchiku Kubota!