This content was created by Hiroko Matsuda. The last update was by Kandra Polatis.
Bodies and Structures 2.0: Deep-Mapping Modern East Asian HistoryMain MenuGet to Know the SiteGuided TourShow Me HowA click-by-click guide to using this siteModulesRead the seventeen spatial stories that make up Bodies and Structures 2.0Tag MapExplore conceptsComplete Grid VisualizationDiscover connectionsGeotagged MapFind materials by geographic locationLensesCreate your own visualizationsWhat We LearnedLearn how multivocal spatial history changed how we approach our researchAboutFind information about contributors and advisory board members, citing this site, image permissions and licensing, and site documentationTroubleshootingA guide to known issuesAcknowledgmentsThank youDavid Ambaras1337d6b66b25164b57abc529e56445d238145277Kate McDonald306bb1134bc892ab2ada669bed7aecb100ef7d5fThis project was made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Ara Kinue today
1media/Ara Kinue Profile pic_thumb.png2020-01-12T07:22:30-05:00Hiroko Matsudadcd719582014fb85f4ce73292fca95ce698fbfa9354Photo taken from the Minsa kogeikan's homepage (http://www.minsah.co.jp/guide/company.html)plain2020-09-06T03:08:42-04:00Hiroko MatsudaHM-0029Kandra Polatis4decfc04157f6073c75cc53dcab9d25e87c02133
Ara Kinue was born on Taketomi Island in 1926. She migrated to Taiwan along with her family when she was three years old.
She was raised in Keelung and had never lived in Yaeyama until the whole family repatriated to the home island after WWII.
In 1971, she established a company dealing with Yaeyama's traditional textile art, Minsa (Minsa ori). The company promoted the recovery of Yaeyama's traditional textile art while Yaeyama islanders had virtually stopped producing traditional textiles for their everyday use. As Yaeyama's tourist industry developed after the 1970s, Minsa textiles grew to be popular as folk art, and her company became very successful.
Today Ara Kinue is recognized as the artist who revived and promoted Yaeyama's traditional art and has received numerous national and prefectural prizes.