{"id":1125,"date":"2025-03-17T14:33:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T18:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/living.okinawa.halekulani.com\/?p=1125"},"modified":"2026-03-03T18:30:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T23:30:47","slug":"%e5%bf%83%e3%81%ae%e5%bd%a9%e3%82%8a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/living.okinawa.halekulani.com\/en\/%e5%bf%83%e3%81%ae%e5%bd%a9%e3%82%8a\/","title":{"rendered":"Colors of the Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThe delicate petals and buds were blooming in the garden as if singing,\u201d writes bingata artist Tomoko Nawa in a poem entitled \u201cBlooming Like a Song.\u201d \u201cI kept it in my heart, wanting to turn it into a design. I dye it again and again, so that it blooms inside the fabric.\u201d The poem is one of many Nawa has composed over the years as lyrical companions to her bingata creations. Joyful and contemplative, they speak mostly of encounters with nature\u2014rapturous, ephemeral moments in communion with the ocean, sky, and bounty of the seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one poem, a bash\u014d tree beckons with its giant flowers and lush fruits. In another, Nawa ponders a seashell\u2019s origin. In \u201cRound Flower,\u201d she describes twirling a blossom around in her hands \u201clike a kaleidoscope. The seven different flowers dance and sing. I fell in love, as if being sucked in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nawa was struck by a similar sense of awe upon discovering bingata in 2003. She was living in Japan\u2019s Hy\u014dgo Prefecture at the time, working at a caf\u00e9 after graduating from drama and nursing school. Okinawa had been a source of fascination since her late teens, and while flipping through a magazine article on traditional Okinawan crafts, she was stunned to discover bingata\u2019s world of vivid technicolor: maple leaves and plum blossoms bursting in shades of crimson and peony, jade-green forests of bamboo and pine vibrating against fields of cinnabar red and canary yellow. \u201cIt was love at first sight,\u201d Nawa recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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