In my twenties, I had two critical encounters, which, I’m certain, led me to my handicraft. The first encounter was seeing the traditional clothsTraditional Cloths of OkinawaOkinawa, Japan. On the last day of my trip to OkinawaOkinawa, I happened to visit the OkinawaOkinawa Prefectural Museum, just to kill a time before the final departure. There, a lot of OkinawaOkinawa’s traditional clothsTraditional Cloths were exhibited: Kimonos of Bin-Gata (one of the traditional Okinawan dyeing techniquesTechniques), kimonos made of abaca cloth, and of cotton, dresses being worn by the nobles of OkinawaOkinawa kingdom, and those worn by the commoners. For me it was the first time to see OkinawaOkinawa’s traditional clothsTraditional Cloths, and I was deeply impressed with their beauty and sublimity. Although these cloths were made more than 400 years ago, they claimed their existence with vigorous, powerful beauty. It was the first moment of my life to feel the greatness of handicraft.