Cotton printed using the katazome technique where rice paste is pressed through stencils to create a resist then the fabric is dipped in dye, usually Indigo or kakishibu.
I didn't notice any cracking as you would see in batik, a similar process, perhaps the rice paste stays flexible?
There are some good notes on the history of Japanese stenciling here, read how human hair was once used to secure intricate, fragile parts of a stencil - typical Japanese attention to detail and problem solving.
