Yaeyama jōfu (八重山上布) is a fine ramie cloth from Ishigaki and the other Yaeyama Islands, best known for crisp dark-brown kasuri on a clean white ground. Its signature is a technique found nowhere else in Okinawa: the pattern is rubbed onto the thread with a concentrated dye from kūru (紅露), a wild yam. Once tribute cloth under the head tax, it is now a national Traditional Craft and a prefectural Intangible Cultural Property, and you can watch it being woven at the Ishigaki City Traditional Crafts Hall.
This page is part of our guide to Ryukyuan textiles, which compares all of Okinawa’s woven and dyed crafts.
Yaeyama Jōfu at a Glance
| Japanese | 八重山上布 (Yaeyama jōfu) |
| Fibre | Ramie (苧麻, choma) thread |
| Two types | Nassen jōfu (捺染上布), with kasuri rubbed on in kūru dye; and kukuri jōfu (括り上布), with tie-dyed kasuri |
| Look | Dark brown kasuri, slightly blackish, on a white ground; indigo kasuri is also made |
| Made in | Ishigaki City and Taketomi Town |
| Designations | Okinawa Prefecture traditional craft product (1974); prefectural Intangible Cultural Property (1978); national Traditional Craft, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, as “Yaeyama jōfu and Yaeyama minsā” (11 April 1989) |
| Cooperative | Ishigaki City Textile Business Cooperative (石垣市織物事業協同組合), founded 23 December 1976 |
Kūru Dye and the Rubbing Technique
Kūru (紅露) is a wild plant of the yam family that grows in the hills of Ishigaki Island. According to the prefecture, weavers make a concentrated extract from it and rub it into the thread to print the kasuri pattern before weaving. This rubbing method (すり込み捺染, surikomi nassen) is used only for Yaeyama jōfu among Okinawa’s many textiles. The result is sharp, dark-brown motifs on white, which the prefecture describes as perfect for summer wear.
Kukuri jōfu uses the more familiar method of binding and dyeing the thread before weaving, as in other kasuri.
Did you know? The Ishigaki City Textile Business Cooperative says its members’ work takes them out into the island itself: tending ramie fields, going into the hills to gather dye plants, and going to the sea to bleach cloth in seawater, a process called umizarashi (海晒し).
History
The prefecture says the origin of Yaeyama jōfu is unclear and can be traced back only to around the time of the Satsuma invasion of 1609. The prefectural craft centre adds that Korean fishermen from Jeju Island who drifted to Yonaguni in 1477 reported that ramie cloth was being woven there.
According to the Ishigaki maker Azamiya, tribute cloth was imposed on the Yaeyama Islands in 1673. Under the head tax, women wove under the strict supervision of the royal government, and the prefecture says this produced very refined kasuri. The cloths delivered included white jōfu and red-striped jōfu.
After the head tax was abolished in 1903, weaving became one of Yaeyama’s main industries. In the 1930s cheaper look-alikes from other prefectures caused a slump, and a jōfu industrial union was formed in 1937, but the war cut its work short. After the war there were fears that the craft would die out, until training programmes run by the industry and local government began to succeed. The cooperative was formed in 1976, and training of new makers began the same year.
Today’s Makers
The Ishigaki City Textile Business Cooperative, with 61 members according to the prefectural craft centre, is made up of specialist dyers and weavers of Yaeyama jōfu and minsā, and handles joint purchasing, sales and training. Since 1978 its office has been in the Ishigaki City Traditional Crafts Hall. The prefectural Intangible Cultural Property is held by the Yaeyama Jōfu Preservation Society (八重山上布保存会), with five members according to the prefecture’s list as of June 2024.
The prefecture notes that, as with Miyako jōfu, the ageing of thread makers has made hand-spliced ramie thread scarce, so the cooperative runs courses to train new thread makers.
Yaeyama also has gunbō (ぐんぼう), an everyday cloth with a cotton warp and a weft of ramie, banana fibre or silk. Read more in our Yaeyama kōfu guide.
Where to See Yaeyama Jōfu
The Ishigaki City Traditional Crafts Hall (石垣市伝統工芸館) has a permanent display on Yaeyama jōfu and minsā, a 25-minute video on the process, and a working area where you can watch the craft being done.
- Address: 783-2 Tonoshiro, Ishigaki City (石垣市字登野城783-2)
- Hours: 9:00–17:00; Saturdays 9:00–12:00.
- Closed: Sundays and public holidays.
- Admission: free. Phone: 0980-82-5200.
- Getting there: about 20–25 minutes by car from New Ishigaki Airport, or a 4-minute walk from the Minsā Kōgeikan-mae (ミンサー工芸館前) bus stop.
On Ishigaki, makers such as Azamiya also sell Yaeyama jōfu and related cloths. For the island, see our Ishigaki guide; for the related cotton belt, see Yaeyama minsā.
Practical details in this section last checked: Oct 2026.
How to Tell Authentic Yaeyama Jōfu
Yaeyama jōfu is a nationally designated Traditional Craft, so cloth that passes inspection can carry the national Traditional Craft label. Okinawa’s woven textiles are also inspected under the prefecture’s textile inspection rules. We could not find a list of the Ishigaki cooperative’s own labels online, so ask the seller to show you the labels on the bolt.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Yaeyama jōfu?
Yaeyama jōfu is a fine ramie cloth from the Yaeyama Islands, known for dark-brown kasuri on a white ground. It is a national Traditional Craft and a prefectural Intangible Cultural Property.
What makes Yaeyama jōfu different from Miyako jōfu?
Yaeyama jōfu is usually white with brown kasuri rubbed on in kūru dye, a method used only in Yaeyama. Miyako jōfu is dyed a deep navy with Ryukyu indigo.
What is kūru?
Kūru (紅露) is a wild yam-family plant from Ishigaki’s hills. A concentrated extract is rubbed onto the thread to print the kasuri pattern.
Where can I see Yaeyama jōfu on Ishigaki?
At the Ishigaki City Traditional Crafts Hall in Tonoshiro. Admission is free; it is open 9:00–17:00, until noon on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays and holidays.
Sources & Further Reading
Facts on this page were checked against these sources. Most are official Japanese-language pages from the prefecture, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, producers’ cooperatives and museums.
Official and cooperative sources
- Okinawa Kōgei no Mori: Yaeyama Jōfu and Yaeyama Minsā (prefectural craft centre, Japanese)
- Okinawa Kōgei no Mori: Ishigaki City Textile Business Cooperative (history, access) (prefectural craft centre, Japanese)
- Ishigaki City: Related facilities (Traditional Crafts Hall) (official, Japanese)
- Okinawa Prefecture: Overview of craft industry policy, FY2024 (production-area profiles and holder lists as of June 2024) (official, Japanese)
Makers
Image credits
No photos are used on this page yet. We only use photos with a clear, commercially usable licence, and found none we could verify for this textile.