Kumihimo is the ancient Japanese art of braiding. It dates back to over 1500 years ago but unfortunately not much is known about the early years of this art as it was a craft that was generally considered insignificant in comparison to other Japanese arts.
As times changed, Kumihimo or the kumihimo braids began to play a more important part in Japanese culture. They were used to lace up armor for the samurai, as an obijime (a decorative sash that keeps the obi from slipping in traditional kimono dress) and were even used on tea pots to insure that no one person could poison the tea.
Kumihimo can be done using a Marudai and/or a Takadai. The Marudai is more common and is used to make round braids. The Takadai is usually used to make flat braids, with different colors on each side.
The 0.5MM, 0.8MM/1MM and the 1.4MM chinese knotting cords are all popular sizes for making the Kumihimo braids as are the 1MM, 1.5MM and 2MM satin cords.