Challenge of making banana-fibre cloth

In the past (between 2006 and 2008), I have woven banana fibre I extracted from fibre banana plants I cultivated myself. At that time, however, I used banana fibre only in the weft. One of those weaves was a belt of 'Shuri hanaori' (weft float) patterns with a warp of ramie yarn, another one was a series of coasters also with 'Shuri hanaori' patterns but using a warp of cotton yarn, and the third one was a long weave with warp ikat and 'Roton ori' (warp float) patterns also with a warp of cotton yarn.

Next time, I want to weave a banana-fibre cloth using selfmade banana-fibre yarn for both warp and weft. A short one will be fine! When making banana-fibre cloth, the preparation of the banana-fibre yarn is the most time-consuming part of the job. Since I am a beginner and it is not my daily work, it will definitely take several years.

There are an increasing number of workshops allowing to experience the process of banana-fibre yarn making. In that case, the instructor prepares everything, so that anybody who participates can do it easily. However, when you try to do it by yourself, it is not so easy. There are preparations such as making a lye of wood ash and making tools such as bamboo scissors you need to do on your own.

The purpose of this page is to document the whole production process of banana-fibre cloth and all the problems that might arise during this process.

① Cultivation of fibre bananas, itobasho

2003・2004 & 2021 - Nanjo City, Okinawa Main Island (JP)

See photo album

Fibre banana sprouts naturally germinated from seed

② Maintenance of the fibre banana field

May to September 2021 - Nanjo City, Okinawa Main Island

③ Cutting down fibre bananas

November 2021 - Nanjo City, Okinawa Main Island

④ Stripping layers of the pseudostalks

November 9, 2021 -  Ogimi-son, Okinawa Main Island

Stripping the layers [1] (28 sec)

Stripping the layers [2] (1 min 16 sec)

Stripping the layers [3] (1 min 29 sec)

Bundling the layers (1 min 50 sec)

⑤ Cooking layers of banana fibre in a lye of wood ash

November 9, 2021 - Ogimi-son, Okinawa Main Island

The cooking(40 sec)

The cooking (1 min 32 sec)

 Scraping off layers of the pseudostalks

November 9, 2021 - Ogimi-son, Okinawa Main Island


Scraping off the layers(1 min 30 sec)

A professional at work(25 sec)

A beginner exercising (1 min 18 sec)

⑦ Making bamboo scissors to scrape off impurities

November 9, 2021 - Ogimi-son, Okinawa Main Island

Making bamboo scissors (2 min 39 sec)

Making bamboo scissors (20 sec)

⑧ Winding banana fibre into balls

NOvember 9, 2021 - Ogimi- son, Okinawa Main Island

Winding into balls (1 min 23 sec)

Exercising (1 min 5 sec)

⑨ Knotting banana-fibre yarn and winding it

November 30, 2021 - Nanjo City, Okinawa Main Island

Learning how (1 min 19 sec)

Knotting banana-fibre yarn (36 sec)

Winding yarn (1 min 3 sec)

Winding yarn (1 min 29 sec)