Kaori Hirano: Creating "Tatsuke" and Mapping the Future

January 19, 2023

Before trousers were introduced to Japan from the West, what do you think Japanese people wore to till the fields? When people think of Japanese traditional clothing, they think of kimono or yukata. However, you can't do farm work in those.

Japan has had trouser-like clothing since long ago. In Itoshiro, a village deep in the mountains of Gifu where I moved, they were made under the name "tatsuke." These pants are loose around the hips and thighs and taper toward the ankles, making them easy to move in and suitable for work.

About 10 years ago, I sat side-by-side at a kotatsu with an elderly woman born in 1933, and she taught me how to make them. It was all straight-line cutting and straight-line sewing. As she taught me step-by-step—"next is this, then this"—it was like putting together puzzle pieces, and it was a real eye-opener. Moreover, when I tried on the tatsuke, they weren't restrictive like modern trousers at all; they were surprisingly easy to move in.

Making Western-style trousers produces many fabric scraps, which made me feel a dilemma—as if making clothes was the same as making waste. I took it upon myself to make it my mission to spread this wonderful wisdom of our ancestors to the world. I founded Itoshiro Yohinten and have been busy commercializing tatsuke and holding workshops on how to make them.

That said, I moved to Itoshiro in September 2011. I started Itoshiro Yohinten the following May, but my first child was born that December, and I gave birth to my fourth child last May. For me, managing the shop has always run parallel to pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare, so there hasn't been a time when I could focus solely on work. I'm always just desperately getting through each day. I keep moving forward, encouraged by the example of my predecessors, thinking that the people of Itoshiro must have also lived their lives to the fullest like this—raising children, tilling the fields, and earning the necessary cash income.

My dream is still a work in progress. I want to open an inn in Itoshiro and offer stay programs where people can experience indigo dyeing, botanical dyeing, and mountain trekking; a place where horses live alongside people as they did in the past. I want to build housing for multi-generational interaction, creating an environment where young newcomers and local seniors can mingle happily and spend their final days in Itoshiro...

Together with everyone in the community, I am determined to joyfully realize these goals one by one toward a bright future.