Chijimi is a special fabric made in the Snow Country. It's unique in the way it's weaved and dried. In fact, there is a special business called “Sarashi-ya” and craftsmen called “Sarashi-te,” who are solely dedicated to the drying of chijimi fabric. The drying period takes place from early January to mid-February on the rice fields, while they are still covered in snow. To prepare the land to let the fabric dry, the Sarashi-te uses a board to flatten out the snow until it's perfectly even. The place used for drying chijimi fabric must be immaculate, as any unevenness will be impossible to remove once it dries.
The main type of chijimi is “white chijimi”. White chijimi is dried after it’s woven, while other chijimi is dried as yarn while hanging on a “kase”. "Kase" are thin bamboo skeins made into a bow that stretches approximately 1 meter. White chijimi is unique because it's dried after it’s laid on the flat snow. In addition, to make sure that dogs don’t step on it and disturb the process, a wall about 1 meter tall is made out of the snow where the chijimi is lined up and dried. Sometimes the processes are combined and the kase-type chijimi is dried on the snow. The methods depend on the area and their traditions.
Whether you’re drying the fabric woven or as string, you must first immerse it in lye overnight. Then, wash it with water many times the next morning, squeeze it out, and dry it again. When drying precious chijimi, you must prepare a separate exposure site, and always bleach with caution. This is no different from weaving with a loom. In my country, it rarely rains during snowy seasons because the moisture is trapped under layers of snow and does not evaporate. During the spring, rainfall becomes even more rare. The sun-bleaching process continues as long as the skies are clear..
After soaking the fabric in the lye, the same drying process is repeated day after day. You’ll know your work is done when the fabric turns white like snow after several days pass. When the process is nearly finished, there is a moment when the light from the morning sun hits the snow and the white cloth appears crystallized. The beauty of this sight is beyond compare. I want to show this to people from warm regions. The whole process is more complicated than this, but this is the general outline.