Tradition meets AI in Nishino-woven style from the ancient capital of Japan

Nishijima, a complex kimono fabric technology that dates back over 1,000 years in Kyoto’s ancient capital, has acquired artificial intelligence, a high-tech collaborator.

The respected colorful weaving style associated with the “Tradition of Genji” of the 11th century Haian period experienced a share of ups and downs. However, its survival rate is more dangerous than today due to the demand for nose dives, the iconic Japanese nose dives that are working on modernization.

Fukuoka, the fourth generation successor to the Nishino business, is determined to continue to live out the art he has inherited, even if it means turning to AI.

“I want to leave what my father left for me to her legacy,” he said in a rattling shop in the Kyoto district, a city full of statues and carved gardens.

“I have been pondering how the art of West Ginori can be relevant to today’s needs,” Fukuoka said.

In addition to the AI project, Fukuoka is also working to use weaving technology to create ultra-durable materials for fishing rods and aircraft.

Where tradition and technology meet

The giant loom is rattling in his shop. The gorgeous fabric patterns that slowly arise from the loom are repeated and geometric, allowing them to be translated into digital data. Deciding which hand-stained color threads go where to create the pattern is much like a computer’s on or off digital signal.

Such similarities are that Fukuoka focuses on how AI works in Nishijinori with the help of Sony Computer Science Laboratories, an independent research arm of electronics and entertainment company Sony Corp.

AI only makes proposals for designs and does not carry out any actual production work. However, that doesn’t bother Fukuoka or researchers.

“Our research stems from the idea that human life will only be truly enriched if there are both new and innovated and never different,” said Jun Rekimoto, Chief Science Officer at Sony CSL.

“I don’t think AI can do it all. Nishijinori is a large and complex industry, so it starts with understanding where AI can help,” said Lekimoto, a professor at the University of Tokyo.

What came was an astonishing but logical idea: the art fitting that adorns the kimono worn by the Japanese imperial nation.

AI was given to various Western Ginori patterns that already existed and directed them to come up with their own proposals. One was a bold pattern of black and orange that seemed to evoke tropical motifs.

Balance

For Fukuoka, some of the AI ideas are interesting, but simply off. The difference between AI and human effort is that the former can come up with multiple proposals in seconds.

Fukuoka is immediately drawn to something that uses leaf motifs to define angular lines of traditional patterns. I think he’s original.

The kimono created by AI collaboration is a sweet, soft green, but it is not yet in price and is not yet produced.

The fabric is carried out by an old style machine under the guidance of a human artist in a traditional way.

Nishi Jinori kimonos are sold for 1 million yen ($6,700). Many Japanese people these days don’t bother buying kimonos, but may rent them on special occasions like weddings.

Putting one is a painstaking, complicated event, often with professional help, making the kimono even more accessible.

Creative partnerships

Dr. Lana Sinapayen, an associate researcher at Sony CSL, believes that AI is often assigned creative and fun jobs, leaving people with boring jobs that should be the other way around.

“That was my goal,” she said in an interview with Fukuda Ori about her intention to use AI in the role of an assistant, not in leadership positions.

Digital technology cannot automatically represent all color gradients on Nishijima. However, AI can understand how to do it digitally optimally, and can also learn how to modify patterns generated by human artists.

Once it’s all done, AI can tackle a painstaking task in seconds and does a pretty good job, according to researchers.

Artificial intelligence is widely used in factories, offices, schools and homes. This is because you can do tasks faster, with more volumes, and are usually very accurate and unfair compared to human effort. Its spread is faster in the US and other Western countries than in Japan. This tends to be cautious about change and prefer careful consensus-based decisions.

However, research by Henriikka Vartiainen and Matti Tedre, who have considered using AI by Finnish craft educators, shows that the use of AI in arts and crafts, such as text-to-image generation AI to create visual images from text prompts, is promising.

“It is also said that computer revolutions free time and provide new opportunities for human imagination and creativity, as computers take over many everyday, boring tasks previously performed by people,” they said.

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