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The People of Adanwomase.

The Home of Quality Kente Cloth and Friendly Cultural Tourism

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AKWAABA

Welcome to Adanwomase, original home of Ashanti Kente Cloth. We hope you enjoy your time here and learn a lot about Kente Cloth and the rich history and culture of our town. The chiefs and all the community members are happy to have you here.

The Adanwomase Tourism Management Team is a community - based volunteer organization responsible for organizing and improving tourism in this town. All profits earned through tourism benefit the entire community. All profits are put toward community development projects such as improving sanitation and primary education.

We aim to do everything possible to ensure you have a positive experience here. Please feel free to ask any questions and let us know if there is anything that we can do to improve your tourism experience.

The aim of this website is also to introduce to the world all over to new designs of kente cloths (fabric) and their associated products as they come into market.

 

DO NOT JUST TOUR GHANA, LEARN KENTE WEAVING BEFORE YOU LEAVE. CLICK HERE FOR INFO!!!

 

Please click here or visit ADANWOMASE KENTE SHOPS PAGE to buy kente. We also have over  500 pictures of new kente designs in our online gallerry . Please buy code for only $5 from secure button  below to access it or  CLICK HERE FOR FREE ONES. You may also send your money to adanwomase@hotmail.com. We  update these pictures regularly. This is done to protect local kente weavers from unauthorized users.

The beginning of Asante Kente

Asante Kente assumed prominence around the beginning of the C17th during the reign of King Osei Tutu 1 and the subsequent reign of Opoku Ware 1.  Before this time it is possible that pockets of weavers existed in some Ashanti localities but royal input and concerted effort at this historical time defined Kente as Asante Kente.

 

Four Asante towns, ADANWOMASE in the present day Kwabere District of Ashanti, ASOTWE in the Ejisu-Juabeng Municipality, BONWIRE also in the Ejisu-Juabeng Municipality and MAMPONG-BEPOSO in Mampong Municipality were by royal command sent to BONTUKU in the ‘North’ to perfect the craft of hand loom weaving.

 

As has been stated before, some form of weaving had been going on in some Asante localities prior to this because hand loom weaving was a Trans continental phenomenon.

Weaving was known to exist in Europe, the Orient, Japan and the cities and empires of Africa south of the Sahara.  As we will find later it was from the sub Saharan Empires and cities that Ashanti royals came to be associated with and subsequently sent their budding weavers to under study their techniques and how to acquire raw materials.

 

The historical facts available indicate that weavers from these four towns were sent to Bontuku which is sometimes called BONDUGU, a bustling commercial city that thrived during the Empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai.  It was a meeting point for merchants of all shape and color who come to trade in gold, salt and textiles from far and near continents.

It was also the center of fashion where royalty and the upper class will come to shop.

 

This is where the chief of YEFRI (Yefrihene) in collaboration with the chief of NKORANZA

(Nkoranzahene) who is a prince and a child of the King of Ashanti, advised the King to send his weavers to study fabrics and perfect the art of hand loom weaving.

Yefri, a town in present day Brong Ahafo region was a border town in the Ivory Coast at the time. In relative terms it was closer to BONDUGU than Manhyia and the chief of Yefri paid visits to the bustling city.  It was one of such visits to Bondugu that he saw fascinating and dignified textiles and apparel which in his view was fit for the King’s wardrobe.  Yefrihene’s first reaction was to inform the Nkoranzahene who in turn informed his father at Manhyia Palace in Kumasi about the ways and means of having the weavers in Asante to make the products locally. When these backroom planning was going on little did they know that one day this was going to be the genesis of a vibrant industry in Asante and spread all over the world.

 

By Asante culture and practices, there is a chief who’s main duty is to look after the  Asantehene’s wardrobe.  He is called the ABENASE HENE. His duty is to know the number and the condition of all the cloths the King of Ashanti has or should have.  He also selects the kind of cloth the King should wear each day and on which occasion.  The King wears different cloth each day which may signify court days, ceremonial occasion, Akwasidae, durbars or meeting outside dignitaries. At this time in history the substantive ABENASE HENE was not at post so the ADUM HENE was acting as Abenasehene.  Adumhene’s substantive office is security chief but at that time was acting as Abenasehene.  Because this was purely a matter relating to the King’s wardrobe, the Adumhene was instrumental in convincing the King to sponsor the BONDUGU expedition.  The weavers from these four towns therefore had the green light to go to Bondugu.

 

They all retuned safely and on their return settled at Manhyia Palace as their base for operation.  With specific reference to Adanwomase however, five weavers went on this expedition.They constitute the celebrated royal weavers for the King from Adanwomase.

The leader among them is the Mfufutomahene and the remaining are the actual  weavers for the King.

With the Mfufutomahene at the King’s court at Manhyia not only does he link the palace to the town with respect to the industry but is in contact with the Abenasehene on a regular basis. Asante kente history therefore is a history of four weaving towns who from their collective effort and with conscious support from the Kings of Ashanti has propelled kente to it’s glory and fame it enjoys today. 

 

NANA OWUSU-BAAH

(Mfufutomahene)

Kente is more than a cloth. It is regarded the most distinguished African textile with a visual representation of Ghana's history, its philosophy, values and oral literature.

 

KENTE DESIGNS have a purposeful symbol of the Ghanaian and African identity.Traditionally, Adanwomase has the title of Otumfour's (great Ashanti King's) 'Fufutoma' i.e. supplier of white woven kente cloths to the royal's palace from time immemorial.The town is therefore, governed by a traditional head and his elders who are assisted by the town's Unit Committee with the Assembly man being a member.

There are many religious sects in the town. Among them are the Roman Catholic Church, Seventh Day Adventist Church, Methodist Church, and several of the Pentecostal Churches.Adanwomase has a kente festival. This comes on every five years during which time new and old designs are displayed.Hospitality in the town is excellent and both children and the grown-ups display it to all strangers to the town.

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The four weaving enclaves of Ashanti

What happened to Asotwe and Mampong Beposo

Today you hear of Adanwomase and Bonwire as the Kente weaving towns of Asante, take a breath, it wasn’t like that in the past.  The four original weaving enclaves were Adanwomase Asotwe, Bonwire and Mampong Beposo. 

 

The initial orders by the King of Ashanti to go to BONTUKU in the late 17th century to learn more about hand woven Kente involved these four towns. Bontuku was in the ‘NORTH’ and the north was bordered around present day Ivory Coast, southern parts of Niger in the present day Mali.  Trans-Saharan trade and the emergence of renowned empires like Songhai, Mali and Ghana had exposed fashions and exotic designs to the upper social class of sub Sahara Africa.  By a royal edict, these four towns Adanwomase, Asotwe, Bonwire and Mampong Beboso who were already weavers sent a pioneering group of weavers  to BONTUKU to learn the new technique in the trade.  They went and all returned safely to their positions as weavers at the Manhyia Palace.

 

While there is no one reason to explain the demise of Asotwe and Mampong Beposo on the modern Kente radar, four main theories have emerged to explain the demise  of these once royal weavers.

These include but not only the following (a) Competence (b)  Banishment (c) Palace vs. local area weaving and (d) The Salaga trip for Cotton Yarns.  Any one of these, or a combination of them may explain why their names are not mentioned in modern Kente circles in Ashanti but only Adanwomase and Bonwire.

COMPETENCE

Some of the weavers were not competent enough to continue as royal weavers.

Competence issues arose frequently with weaving, if a weaver’s competence is questioned amongst the celebrated royal weavers, they may lose their position at the court or get demoted.  So it was with ordinary weavers and their masters in the towns where the business was being nurtured.  The beginners and apprentices had to be certified by their masters from a broad spectrum that may include commitment, dedication to work, the correct skills for the job and honesty.  In most cases these apprentices don’t show enough interest in the training process and so do not acquire the masterful skills that will make a good weaver an expert.  Thus if a weaver or weavers under perform in their respective enclaves the business will not thrive and will spell their demise in their local towns

BANISHMENT

It was not uncommon for weavers who violated their oath of office i.e. to weave only for the King to violate it.  If such a thing occurs, especially for the royal weavers, they are banished and may not pursue weaving again as  a profession.  Violating an oath and subsequent banishment spells doom for the future of the local industry.

PALACE VS. HOMETOWN WEAVING.

Some royal weavers when they returned to their communities were not interested in the development of the industry at the local level even though they were very good at the palace

Neglecting the local industry may spell the doom of the town as a kente weaving centre, or for any historical significance it may have had in the past as a royal weaving enclave.

THE SALAGA COTTON YARN EXPEDITION.

We have heard of the BONTUKU expedition to the ‘north’ in the C17th..  With respect to Adanwomase weavers, there was a second expedition to the north, this time the ‘north’ is present day SALAGA in  Northern Ghana.  The main reason for going was to explore how they can secure constant supply of cotton yarns, a critical raw material for weaving. Most kente cloth at that time were made from white locally spun cotton.  The white yarn was dyed locally to get black or indigo color which was combined in several ways with white cotton to produce’ Black and White’ kente designs.

In Asante kente history Adanwomase is noted prominently for their pursuit of this critical commodity.  Sad to say that none of the original  group of five weavers who went to Bontuku was alive at the time of the Salaga expedition but equally dedicated family members went to learn the manufacture of cotton yarns  They spent about seven years in this expedition at Salaga learning how to grow, harvest and process the raw cotton wool into cotton yarn. 

When they returned the royal industry as well as the local weaving progressed immensely at Adanwomase.

The kente stool name, MFUFUTOMAHENE was appropriately derived from the expertise Adanwomase had on cotton cloth through her acquisition of cotton yarns.

Weather any or all of the other weaving houses especially Asotwe and Mampong Beposo had constant supply of cotton yarns at that time to push the industry forward is not known.  But access or lack of it to this vital raw material in any weaving town  could in a significant way explain whether such a town or weaver can sustain the young industry at that time.

If Asotwe and Mampong Beposo lost out with the acquisition of cotton yarns, the C20th emergence of colored yarns may be too late for them to embrace in their localities.

 

While there may be other reasons for the demise of these two towns from the modern history of Asante kente I don’t share the view that it is an attempt by kente historians to discredit these towns in Ashanti of their contribution to Kente.

Similar reason can be attributed to why the celebrated musician and academic Dr. Ephraim Amo thought Asante Kente began and ended with Bonwire. The famous “Asante Bonwire Kente yi de menteebi da o”may fall short of the total contribution Asnteman made to the sustenance of Kente and for that matter the unconscious recognition Adanwomase was denied since we have been in the forefront and still are in Asante Kente evolution  from day one.   

 

PLSEASE NOTE THAT ALL DESIGNS ARE PROPERTIES OF ADANWOMASE AND FOR THAT MATTER, ADANWOMASE KENTE ASSOCIATION. ANY USE OF ANY OF THEM MUST BE APPROVED BY THEIR PRESIDENT.

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