And both are different from Indigofera ticntoria and Indigofera suffruticosa, both used in Indonesia and other parts of South and Southeast Asia!
I visited a famous indigo-dyeing workshop in Kyoto called Aizen Kobo, http://www.aizenkobo.jp/, which perfectly illustrates how the former disdained handicrafts of peasants have to become high art (and priced accordingly) to survive. As soon as cheaper, better-functioning substitutes were available, people use them, and handmade products have to become tourist or art products. Textiles are one of the best examples. The richer classes in developed countries disdain synthetic fibres, but for many purposes they are genuinely superior in performance. They are cheaper, they can be washed and dried easily, good synthetic dyes don't fade as easily as natural ones, vermin aren't generally interested in eating nylon.
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I visited a famous indigo-dyeing workshop in Kyoto called Aizen Kobo, http://www.aizenkobo.jp/, which perfectly illustrates how the former disdained handicrafts of peasants have to become high art (and priced accordingly) to survive. As soon as cheaper, better-functioning substitutes were available, people use them, and handmade products have to become tourist or art products. Textiles are one of the best examples. The richer classes in developed countries disdain synthetic fibres, but for many purposes they are genuinely superior in performance. They are cheaper, they can be washed and dried easily, good synthetic dyes don't fade as easily as natural ones, vermin aren't generally interested in eating nylon.