Toshiko Taira

Toshiko Taira (平良 敏子, Taira Toshiko; 14 February 1921 – 13 September 2022) was a Japanese textile artist who was based in Okinawa. She created kijōka-bashōfu, a cloth made from the fibre of the Musa basjoo, otherwise known as the Japanese fibre banana plant. Taira became a designated Living National Treasure of Japan in 2000.

Toshiko Taira
Born	(1921-02-14)14 February 1921 Ogimi, Okinawa, Japan
Died	13 September 2022(2022-09-13) (aged 101)
Occupation	Textile artist

Biography

Taira was born on 14 February 1921 in Ōgimi. As a child, she learned to weave cotton and kijōka-bashōfu from her mother.^[1][2] In 1944, Taira worked at a spinning mill in Kurashiki, Okayama.^[3] At the encouragement of the mill's owner, Soichiro Ohara, she began to study under Kichinosuke Tonomura, the head of a folk art museum.^[4] During this time she was heavily influenced by the mingei movement.^[5] When she returned to Okinawa in 1946 she found that many of the banana trees had been cut down or died,^[3] and was determined to revitalize both the trees and the art of kijōka-bashōfu.^[6]

After World War II, for kimono made from kijōka-bashōfu fell; Taira began to make table runners and cushions from coarse bashōfu plant fibers, but was criticized for bringing down the quality associated with kijōka-bashōfu.^[7] Following this, Taira began to work more frequently with finer bashōfu fibers.^[7] During this period, Taira also held some exhibitions of her work. Taira opened a bashōfu textile studio in 1963 and hired some local weavers in order to centralize and increase her production.^[1][7]

Kijōka-bashōfu was designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Property in 1974. The Kijoka Basho-fu Industrial Cooperative Association was established in 1984, and in 1986, the Ogimi Village Bashofu Hall opened and began offering training.^[5] In 2000, Taira was recognized as a Living National Treasure.^[8] In 1992 and 2002 she was awarded an Order of the Precious Crown.^[1]

Several museums hold her works in their collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art^[8] and the British Museum.^[9]

Taira turned 100 on 14 February 2021,^[10] and died on 13 September 2022, at the age of 101.^[11]