Episode 1: Tannafa family

Part 1: Aunt Matsu’s Upbringing and Her Aunt’s Legacy 

Matsu’s* mother passed away when she was very young, so she was raised by her aunt. Her aunt was deeply involved in the creation of Kijoka Bashofu throughout her life. On top of that, she was a Kaminchu (a spiritual guardian/priestess) and a member of the Association for the Preservation of Kijoka Bashofu.
She possessed all the traditional tools required for making Bashofu, and she passed every single one of them down to Matsu. Along with the tools, Matsu was also given the Bashofu kimonos that her own parents used to wear. 

Part 2: The Mother-in-Law’s Passion and the Deep 
Bond with U-umi (Fiber Spinning)

After Matsu got married, she found that her new mother-in-law was also a Bashofu maker. The Tannafa family she married into even owned their own fields.
The elderly Mother Tannafa absolutely loved making Bashofu. In her final years, U-umi (spinning the fibers) was her entire reason for living. Whenever she ran out of her own fiber, she would go around asking everyone, “Please, give me some u (fiber).” She would even say, “I don’t mind if it’s shisaa-u (coarse, lower-grade fiber),” but at the time, even shisaa-u was hard to come by. It was a matter of supply and demand. Back then, there were many people in Kijoka who spun fiber. For her, it was a true purpose in life—she felt she couldn’t keep living without it. It wasn’t about wanting money; she just desperately needed the fiber because it kept her alive, constantly asking, “Give me some fiber, please.”
Even toward the end of her life, when dementia began to set in, her desire to making threads never faded. The family would hand her yarn instead to let her practice the motions. She would say, “This isn’t u, is it?” but she would keep making threads anyway.

* name has been changed to protect her privacy