Abstract
The natural dyes of 21 green-dyed silk fabrics called Meibutugire and 11 kinds of Kyoto collection fabrics made during the Edo era were identified by absorption spectra of extracts taken from each fabric. The following results were obtained. 1) All the blue dyes on the samples were natural indigo. 2) The identified yellow plants and the mordants used were as follows : 19 were dyed with amur cork tree and aluminum-after mordanted, 6 were dyed with bayberry and aku-after mordanted, 2 were pomegranate and aluminum-after mordanted, 1 was pomegranate and aku-after mordanted, 2 were milobalans and aku-after mordanted, and 2 were unidentified. This result means that most of the samples were dyed with amur cork tree with aluminum-after mordanting. 3) From the CIE L*a*b* values of dyed fabrics with these dyes, the color of amur cork tree and eulalia gave a greenish yellow color and the gardenia gave a bright reddish yellow color. Therefore, amur cork tree was preferred for green dyeing, while the gardenia was not appreciably used; rather pomegranate and bayberry were used.
