Tsumugi -2004- [new]

: The Japanese-bred Tsumugi rose is a popular floral variety known for its classic shape and striking light-and-dark color contrasts.

Mrs. Ueda was the last person in the valley still weaving tsumugi the old way — not the mechanized, tourist-shop pongee, but hon-tsumugi : hand-spun, hand-woven, uneven in the most perfect way. Her workshop was half of a thatch-roofed farmhouse, the other half given to her three cats and a wood-burning stove that never seemed to go out. When I arrived, she was kneeling at a low loom, her back a slow metronome. She didn’t look up. “Shoes off,” she said. “And don’t expect music.” Tsumugi -2004-

20 years later, she still feels timeless. : The Japanese-bred Tsumugi rose is a popular