Indigo dyeing seen from the viewpoint of nature
1. 13.7 billion years since the birth of the universe → 4.6 billion years since the birth of the earth → Beginning of self-preservation and self-proliferation life activities ~ 3.8 billion years since the birth of the first life and primitive microorganisms →
1-1. (Animals and plants are primitive life → photosynthetic bacteria → aerobic cells → symbiosis with bacteria (prokaryotes (DNA floating in the cytoplasm) / bacteria) → multicellular end)
2. 3.5 billion years have passed since the birth of extremophiles that survived several ice-ages→
2-1. Indigo = Extremophilic microorganisms → (amino acids → proteins →
enzymes) Dyeing using alkalophilic bacteria (living in an environment where
hydroxide ions (OH-) exist outside the cell membrane) = high Alkali (around pH 10.8) strengthens the structure through hydrogen bonding, etc.
3. 1 million years after the birth of the first humans → 200,000 years after the birth of Homo sapiens → 100,000 years after spreading from Africa...
3-1. Indigo-dyed threads have been found woven into the linen wrappings of
Egyptian mummies around 2400 B.C.
3-2. Advanced dyeing and weaving techniques existed in the Americas, mainly
in Peru
3-3. Indigo dyeing has been practiced in India since ancient times
3-4. There is an article about cloth dyed with indigo in the "Gishiwajinden" 「魏志倭人伝」written around 3C.
3-5. AD.7-8C ``Manyoshu'' 「万葉集」``The color of the robe is printed on the
dayflower, but it is painful to say that he has a hollow color''「鴨頭草(ツユ
クサ)に 衣色どり摺らめども うつろふ色といふが苦しさ」 ``The Kojiki''「古事記」
``Engishiki''「延喜式」 blue using mountain indigo There is a description of
printing
4-1. This moment in the end (The natural world is full of microorganisms)
4-2. Indigo dyeing seems to be an act in which Homo sapiens of at most 200,000 years have been allowed to use the work of microorganisms in extreme environments for 3.5 billion years, and have received color and indigo for at most 4,000 to 4,400 years.