Yuzen Dyeing was invented in the middle of Edo era (around 1700) by Miyazaki Yuzen-sai, and has been the ultimate art of kimono dyeing ever since. Yuzen also has superiority technically: the color is stable and water resistant, a wide range of fabrics can be used and their characteristics are retained after dyeing. An advantage of Yuzen dyeing is that you can make very precise and thin lines and very beautiful blurring. Many moderate and neutral colors and gradations can be expressed in Yuzen. Traditional Yuzen process is described below. This is only 1 cycle and it must be repeated many times to complete the design: (1) the base drawing is done with the spiderwort flower juice. The color washes off later in the water rinse. (2) The base drawing is over-drawn with protection glue. This glue is traditionally made from a very sticky kind of rice, but is now replaced with synthetic rubber glue, with which even thinner lines can be drawn. (3) Areas surrounded by the glue are painted with bean juice. This will soak the glue deeper to avoid color leaking out the area. (4) Now the area is painted. The boundary is painted with small brush to express a very sharp line or beautiful blur. (5) The painting is dried by heat. (6) The painted parts are covered with protection glue and base color is painted. (7) The fabric is rinsed in water. Each process is done by a specialist and the person who integrates and manages their work is called Sensho (Dyeing Meister). Ei Sakahara is a second generation Sensho (Dyeing Meister). He studied under his father and also for five years under the supervision of Tadaharu Ogasawara, a very famous Sensho. Then he studied design under a famous painter, Nobuo Nagahama. This brought in a creative painting style to his work which other Sensho have not adapted. He has been dyeing silk from 1964 and he is now 65 years old. Unfortunately his son has not followed in his footsteps so his craftsmanship will be lost sometime in the future.