薇 Zenmai 薇
Osmunda japonica, Royal Asian fern, is native to China, Taiwan, Korea, Sakhalin, and Japan. Its young fiddle heads are commonly eaten, known as “the king of the wild vegetables,” especially at New Year, but are also used in weaving a type of tsumugi, or silk pongee. The brown fuzzy material is also used in tying fishing flies since it is waterproof.
It is called zǐqí or juécài (紫萁 or 蕨菜) in Chinese; gobi (고비) in KoreaIt is called zǐqí or juécài (紫萁 or 蕨菜) in Chinese; gobi (고비) in Korean, and zenmai (ゼンマイ; 薇) in Japanese.
Of the various types of tsumugi [which see] there were two sorts which incorporated foreign matter into the silk fibers; one utilized swans’ down, unfortunately no longer made. The other wove the fuzz from the wild ferns and was named after them, zenmai tsumugi, being waterproof and insect repelling. It was first produced in 1717 in Kameda Shinmachi, Iwashiro cho, Yuri gun, Akita Prefecture by weavers who came there from Echigo, Niigata Prefecture.