Damien Kempf is a specialist of medieval art and culture (Twitter: @DamienKempf , Instagram: @damien_kempf). He is also a "monster hunter", who looks for strange creatures in medieval illuminated manuscripts. He is known as the man who discovered Yoda, a fictional character in the Star Wars movies, in a 14th-century manuscript. Kempf has introduced to the general public various monsters through social media and his books, Medieval Monsters (co-authored with Maria L. Gilbert) and Medieval Monster Hunter. Because of Kempf's witty captions and the fascinating design of monsters, illustrations from century-old manuscripts appear to be sending messages of universal value that resonate with our contemporary everyday life.

At first, as we particularly appreciated his captions—such as "How to deal with a mansplainer"—and illustrations with strong messages, we were planning to create a product featuring a captioned illustration that could be carried like an amulet. However, we were gradually attracted by the appeal of the monsters that Kempf discovered. Around the same time, we learned that "tenugui", a traditional Japanese cotton towel, was originally a dyed cloth used in various resourceful ways by the ordinary people of the Edo period (1600 to 1868) as a means of self-expression. That inspired us to use several manuscript illustrations as motifs of "chusen" tenugui. Chusen tenugui is crafted through a traditional Japanese technique, and it was a happy coincidence that Kempf traveled across Japan when he was 16 years old.

Tenugui
Tenugui, which came into widespread use in Japan in the Edo period, is a cloth of cotton with a size of around 35 centimeters in width and 90 centimeters in length.
Tenugui towels made of most sorts of cloth usually become finished products only after undergoing the "sarashi" (bleach) process that removes impurities. The sarashi process for tenugui uses the Japanese bleach method, which cleans the cloth in a special kiln over a period of several days, rather than the Western method (which places strong strains on cloth fiber due to exposure to heat, pressure and chemicals within a short period of time), which has now become commonplace. As a result, the finished cloth is highly water-absorbent and has a gentle feel on the skin. Both ends of the cloth are left untrimmed presumably in order to remove moisture and dry the cloth fast so that cleanliness can be maintained.
There are a great variety of tenugui motifs, from those which include trade names of shops to playful motifs featuring pictorial riddles. It is said that the people of the Edo period enjoyed choosing and carrying tenugui with favorite motifs.
Tenugui has a long history. For example, the remains of ancient "haniwa" clay figurines wearing tenugui around the head like a headband—dating as far back as "kofun" (tumulus) period (circa 3rd century to 7th century)—have been excavated. In the Nara period (710 to 794), an antetype of tenugui made of hemp cloth, a material treasured as a luxury in those days, was used for Shinto religious rituals.
In the Edo period, the use of tenugui as an everyday item for ordinary people spread because cotton cultivation in Japan became popular and also because "sento" communal bathhouses became commonplace. At that time, tenugui was used mainly as something to be worn around the head, and images of people wearing tenugui in that way are depicted in many "ukiyoe" drawings from that period. In addition, tenugui was used as an accessory worn around the neck or as part of clothing for kabuki actors and also served the useful functions of various items, including a towel, a handkerchief, and a "noren" shop curtain. Kabuki actors and "rakugo" story-telling artists handed out tenugui to customers, just as today's businessmen give their name cards to clients. In the Meiji period (1868 to 1912), the popularity of tenugui temporarily declined because of the progress in Japan's westernization. However, in the modern Japan, tenugui continues to serve versatile functions, including as a handkerchief and a wrapping cloth, and is also given out as a gift or a ceremonial memento.

Chusen
Medieval Monster Chusen Tenugui is manufactured through a traditional Japanese technique known as chusen.
We EETY have turned manuscript illustrations that Kempf discovered into designs by applying subtle modifications. *A craftsman manually carves a stencil based on a design, which is used to dye the cloth. With modern technology, it is possible to carve a stencil by machine. However, manual fine-tuning based on a craftsman's experience and intuitive sense makes the stencil better suited to the dying process and transforms it into a design that can be expressed only through the chusen technique. We believe that this is part of the allure of Medieval Monster Chusen Tenugui.
*All designs have been modified by EETY studio from the original illustrations. This is intended not only to better adapt the originals to the elongated format of tenugui but also to emphasize Kempf's point of view.
Chusen is a unique Japanese dyeing technique developed in the Meiji period. A stencil, together with a cloth that has undergone masking treatment using glue made of such materials as "mochi" flour, rice bran and seaweed are folded like bellows, and the dyeing process is completed quickly by pouring the dye from above through the cloth, using a tool called yakan. Chusen is highly distinctive in that both the front and back sides of the cloth can be similarly dyed unlike in the case of printing. This characteristic is said to reflect the Japanese people's traditional sense of beauty, represented by meticulous attention paid to the details that are not visible to the eye, such as the lining of kimono. "Sashiwake", which makes it possible to dye the cloth with multiple colors at once by using walls of glue, is also a technique without equal anywhere in the world.
Tenugui dyed through the chusen technique in the Kanto region (Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures) has been designated as a traditional local craft called Tokyo Honzome Tenugui.

Damien Kempf (Twitter: @DamienKempf , Instagram: @damien_kempf)は中世美術と中世文化の専門家であり、当時の装飾写本から奇妙な生き物を見つけ出すモンスターハンターです。14世紀の写本から『スター・ウォーズ』の登場人物・ヨーダを発見したことでも知られています。Kempfはソーシャルメディアや、著書である『Medieval Monsters』（Maria L. Gilbertとの共著）、『Medieval Monster Hunter』を通じてさまざまなモンスターを紹介しています。モンスター自体の造形の面白さもさることながら、Kempfの機知に富んだキャプションによって、何世紀も前の写本の挿絵が現代の日常生活にも通じる普遍的なメッセージを持ったものに見えます。

私たちは、当初は「How to deal with a mansplainer」などメッセージ性の強いキャプションと挿絵に共感を覚え、それをお守りのように持ち運べるようにしたいと考えていましたが、次第にKempfが見つけたモンスターたちの魅力にも惹かれていきました。そんな折、手拭いは、江戸時代（1600 - 1868年）に庶民が趣向を凝らして自己表現に用いた染物でもあったことを知り、いくつかの挿絵を注染手拭いという製品としてかたちにすることにしました。注染手拭いは日本の伝統的な技法によって作られていますが、Kempfが16歳のときに日本全国を旅して回ったことは嬉しい偶然でした。


手拭い

手拭いは江戸時代に広く日本に定着した、横幅35cm縦幅90cmほどの綿布です。

多くの生地は通常、晒（さらし）という、不純物を落とす工程を経て製品になります。手拭いの生地は現在一般的になっている洋晒（短時間で熱や圧力、薬品などを加えるため繊維に大きなストレスがかかる）とは違い、和晒という、特殊な釜で数日かけて生地を洗浄する工法を採っているため、吸水性が高く柔らかい手触りに仕上げられています。両端が切りっぱなしになっているのは、清潔を保つために水切れをよくし、乾きやすくするための工夫であるとされています。手拭いの柄は伝統的なものから、商店などの屋号を入れたもの、なぞなぞのような意味を問う遊び心のあるものまで多種多様です。江戸時代の人々は思い思いの柄を選んで持ち運ぶことを楽しんでいたそうです。

手拭いは、古くは古墳時代（3世紀頃 - 7世紀頃）の埴輪に鉢巻をしたものが発掘されており、奈良時代（710 - 794年）には当時高級品であった麻で織られた手拭いの原形が神事に用いられるなど、長い歴史を持っています。

江戸時代において日本国内で綿花栽培が盛んになり、また銭湯が普及したことから、手拭いは庶民の日用品として広まっていきました。当時は主に被り物として使われており、その様子は浮世絵に多く描かれています。そのほかにも、首に巻くなどして自身を着飾る小間物や歌舞伎の衣装として、あるいは身につけるだけでなくタオルやハンカチ、暖簾、さらには歌舞伎役者や落語家などが客に配る名刺代わりの品物としても重宝されていました。明治時代（1868年 – 1912年）に西洋化が進んだことで手拭いは一度は廃れたものの、今日でもハンカチや包みとして、また贈答品や祭事の記念品などとして多岐にわたり使用されています。


注染

Medieval Monster Chusen Tenuguiは、「注染」と呼ばれる日本の伝統的な技法を用いて作られています。

Kempfがハントした写本の挿絵は、私たちEETYの手によって細かく修正※が施され、図案化されています。この図案を元に職人が型紙を手彫りし、生地を染色することによって手拭いが出来上がります。現在は機械を用いて型紙を彫ることも可能ですが、職人の経験値と肌感覚によって細やかな調整が加えられることによってより染色に適した型紙となり、注染だからこそ表現できる図案に変化することが面白さのひとつだと私たちは考えています。
※図案はすべて、EETY studioが原画を再構成しています。これは手拭いの細長いフォーマットで挿絵を活かすと同時に、Kempfの視点を強調することを目的としています。

注染は、明治時代に開発された日本独自の染色技法です。型紙と、もち粉や糠（ぬか）、海藻などから作られた糊を用いて防染された12mほどの生地を蛇腹状に折り重ね、やかんと呼ばれる道具で染料を上から下まで注いで一気に染め上げます。プリントとは異なり、裏表なく染色できるのが大きな特徴です。これは着物の裏地など見えない部分に凝る、昔ながらの日本の美意識のあらわれとされています。また、防染糊で土手を作り、一度に何色もの色で染め分ける「差し分け」という技法も世界に類を見ない技法のひとつです。

注染によって関東地方で染められた手拭いは「東京本染手拭い」として東京の伝統工芸品に指定されています。