Oigawa Kudzu-fu is a cloth made out of the vines of a kudzu plant—a fast-growing and versatile plant found all over Japan. The process of creating Oigawa Kudzu-fu is long and delicate, completely done by hand. The earliest Kudzu-fu was discovered in China, dating back to the Neolithic era. In Japan, Kudzu-fu’s origin can be traced back to the Tumulus Period and was unearthed in Fukuoka. This type of cloth has been used throughout Japanese history for clothing or armor: for example, during the Edo Period, Samurai wore travel jackets or formal jackets made from kudzu-fu.