Traditional Dyes and Mountain Vegetables

Places Visited: Kawasaki Some Kōjō and Kimura Foods Co., Inc.
行った場所：　川崎染工場　と　木村食品工場

Date: 6/9/2014
日付：　６月９日２０１４年

Hello everyone~! I'm back to cover my most recent FB reporting trip, where I got to visit two more interesting places in Hirosaki.

Our first destination was a company called Kawasaki Some Kōjō. They make lots of neat products that are dyed with natural indigo.

こんにちは、皆さん～！また青森のツアーを参加してきました。２つの面白い工場に行ってきました。最初は川崎染工場。そこで、いろいろんな素敵な藍染物が作られています。

 

The building itself is really cool. It dates back to the Edo Period in Japan, which was over 200-250 years ago! The covered walkway outside the building was built to give easy access to pedestrians during heavy snow. Even the main entrance has a shutter which was lowered to protect against burglars! Considering that schools didn't have security systems until about 10 years ago, this place was quite well-built for its time.

このビルはとてもカッコいいです。江戸時代に建てられました（２００～２５０年前！）。冬の時に大雪が降っても歩行者を歩けるように「こみせ」が作られました。メイン入口もすごかったです。夜の時、泥棒を入らないように「おおど」が作られました。１０年前ぐらい、学校がセキュリティー・システムとか使わなかったそうですから、川崎染工場のビルは結構頑丈なビルだと思います！

Inside, we learned about the process of dying with indigo. It's an intricate process that takes at least 10 months to complete. 10 months! That's pretty crazy.

染め出し方について習いました。複雑だし、長いプロセスです！１０ヶ月以上かかります。１０ヶ月！！すごい！！

From March to August, the indigo seeds are planted, transplanted into the field, then the leaves are harvested and dried. ...But that's not all! Did you know that indigo dye is fermented? If there's anything that I've learned about Japan, it's that it does fermentation REALLY well (with the exception of cheese, they make excellent natto, soy sauce, miso, vineager, sake, etc).

３月から８月まで：種が植えて、野原に植え替えて、葉っぱをハーベストをして、乾燥させます。それだけではありません！藍染は発酵な物です！日本は（チーズ以外で）とてもおいしい発酵な食べ物が作ります（例えば：納豆、醤油、味噌、酢、酒など）。

From September to October, the leaves are piled in a shed and watered in order to start the fermentation process. They then stir it and water it every five days for 100 days until it it is completely fermented, resulting in a paste called sukumo paste.

９月から１０月まで：水をやった葉っぱがシェッドにおいて発酵します。１００日間の間に、５つかおきに水をやって葉っぱをませておきます。葉っぱはペーストになります！「すくも」と言うペーストです。

That's not all! From there, they combine it with lye water (combination of water and ash) in a deep vat and let it ferment even more until it bubbles. Our guide told us that they even add sake every once in a while to help keep the bacteria in the vat alive!

槽にすくもペーストと灰の水をませて 、また発行させます。シャボン玉が見えるまでに発行させます。たまに、菌が続けて生きるように酒がっています。面白いですね！

Aside from the bandana that I made today, I don't think that I have any clothing made with natural dyes. Compared to the beautiful but expensive indigo dye products, it's very cheap for clothing companies to use synthetic/chemical dyes. In America, natural dyes (from plants and insects) are probably still used by Native Americans for traditional clothing, although it seems that a few companies are trying to use natural dyes to be more environment-friendly.

今日のバンダナ以外に他の自然な染服がないと思います。美しくて値段が高くて染製品と比べて人造とケミカルの方が安いです。だから、ほとんどの服工場は人造とケミカルはよく使っています。伝統的な北米土人は自然な染など（虫と植物の染とか）まだ使っているそうです。でも、この頃、自然な染を使いたい工場がだんだん増えていそうです。

I did a little bit of research and it seems that there are toxic natural dyes and toxic chemical ones. As long as we use safe ones like the natural indigo dyes, we can potentially improve the working conditions of workers at dye factories, reduce our exposure to potentially toxic elements, and can benefit from the various byproducts of the growing processes!

植物の染を調べてみまして、いろいろな染がありそうです！全部が自然だのに、毒と安全な植物があります。安全な植物とか使えば、問題ないだと思います。特に、安全な植物を使ったら、他のいい副生も使われます。例えば、藍染の副生はおいしいお茶、虫よけなど！

Apparently, indigo is a medicinal plant (yakusou) that can be used for tea, for bug bites, and more!

After our indigo-dyeing experience, we ate shabu-shabu at Neputa-mura.
藍染経験した後で、ねぷた村でしゃぶしゃぶを食べました！とてもおいしかった！

Our next stop was Kimura Foods, Inc. in Hirakawa (near Apple Land!).
次の目的地は平川の木村食品工場。 アップルランドの近くにあります！

We were given a tour of the facilities (veggie washing, shucking, packaging, etc), including a place where they sell freshly-picked mountain vegetables straight to the customer! The company president himself was sorting vegetables and helping out there :)

工場のツアーが見せてもらいました。 山菜洗い場所を見たり、山菜の分類のプロセスを見たりしました。外のアウトドア―売り場所がありました！あそこで社長も一所懸命働いていました。かっこよかった！

The company president himself! (社長です！）

After our tour, we were given various cooked sansai to try out. Until visiting Kimura Foods, I had been wary about buying sansai since I had no experience dealing with them back in California. How do you cook something you've never really seen growing up?

ツアーした後でいろいろな山菜料理を食べました。木村食品来る前に、山菜を買うのがちょっと不安なことでした。カリフォルニアで山菜があまりないですから、どうやって料理するか分かりませんでした。

However, I was thoroughly amazed at how simple the recipes ended up being. You can eat them pickled, boiled, or with combinations of miso or soy sauce and salt/sugar! I'm not amazing at cooking, but I was a bit inspired to buy some sansai at the store the next time I do some shopping!

でも、思ったよりレシピが簡単です！漬物としてたべられる。ゆでられます！味噌と醤油と塩・砂糖と山菜をませたり炒められます！

Free samples of other foods offered by Kimura Foods

Today was a bit scary at first since I was on my own (Ryan had a school sports festival to go to), but I ended up making a lot of new friends and experiencing some things that I would've never gotten to experience elsewhere. I'm looking forward to the next trip!!

最初に一人ぼっちでしたから（ライエンは東中の運動会に行かなければならなかった）、ちょっと怖かったです。でも、新しい友達を作ってユニークな経験をしてよかったです。本当にうれしいです！次のツアーを楽しみにしています！