A loom, an algorithm and a leaf: Hironori Fukuoka of Kyoto

Nishijin-ori is the intricate weaving of Kyoto's Nishijin district, a tradition that the Associated Press, in a story published on 3 August 2025, says goes back more than a thousand years, to the Heian era of The Tale of Genji. Its survival is at risk because demand for kimono has dropped sharply as everyday life has modernised. Kimono can cost up to a million yen, and many Japanese now rent one for weddings or skip it altogether.

Hironori Fukuoka is the fourth-generation head of Fukuoka Weaving. He has been working with researchers from Sony Computer Science Laboratories, including Jun Rekimoto and Dr Lana Sinapayen, on an experiment. The AI was trained on existing Nishijin patterns and asked to generate designs of its own. It only suggests; people and a traditional loom do the making.

Fukuoka found some suggestions strange, but one used a leaf motif to soften the angular lines of a traditional pattern, an idea he said a human might not have had. The result is a soft green kimono that, according to the report, has not been priced or put into production. Researchers hope to teach the system from how the weaver corrects its designs, because digital tools cannot yet capture the colour gradations of the craft. Rekimoto said, “We don't believe AI can do everything.”

Fukuoka is also testing whether the weaving technique can produce very strong materials for uses such as fishing rods and aircraft parts. For a traveller, the point is that heritage crafts are not static. They survive by adapting, and visiting a workshop or small museum, and buying something, is one practical way of supporting them.