Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
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Japan Cultural Expo
beyond2020
日本の技EXPO

Ryukyu Indigo Dye

Cultivating indigo plants and extracting dye from them
requires a considerable amount of skill

Ryukyu Indigo-Dye Preservation Society

 Designated in 2002 

Social Education Division,
Motobu Town Board of Education 5 Higashi,
Motobu-cho, Kunigami-gun,
Okinawa Prefecture 905-0212

The Ryukyu indigo plant (Strobilanthes cusia) has long been cultivated and used in Okinawa as a source of indigo dye for bashōfu (cloth fashioned from the Japanese fiber banana) and other local traditional fabrics. It is different from the species of indigo used for conventional indigo dyes.