KITAKYUSHU — Kitakyushu, with its eyes on foreign markets, is reviving the manufacture of a once-vanished traditional cotton textile.
Kokura-ori is a strong but soft cotton fabric with vertical stripes of alternating colors. The weaving originated in the Buzen Kokura region during the Edo Period (1603-1867) in northern Kyushu.
The fabric was widely used for obi, "hakama," a kind of skirt for men, and various other items when kimono were the daily clothing.