From Edo to Shōwa: study on the transition from natural to synthetic dyes in kimono from the 19th to the 20th century

The Treaty of Kanagawa, signed by Japan and the United States in 1854, ended Edo Japan’s isolation and opened the country to foreign advancements in technology, science, and industry. This time of change, marked by the fall of the Shogunate and the transition to the Meiji period in 1868, coincided with the 1856 discovery of the first synthetic dye, mauveine, by William Perkin. For the exhibition Kimono Style: The John C. Weber Collection, ten kimono from the late Edo (1603–1868), Meiji (1868–1912), and Shōwa (1926–1945) periods were selected to investigate the introduction of synthetic dyes in Japan’s textile industry. Analysis with liquid chromatography-diode array detector-quadrupole time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (LC-DAD-qToF-MS) showed only natural dyes in pre-1854 kimono. Synthetic dyes appeared at the end of Edo, immediately after they became available, gradually increased during Meiji, and completely replaced natural dyes around the 1920s in the Shōwa period, as domestic production began in Japan.