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. orimono 織物 weaving .
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sakiori, saki-ori 裂き織り/ 裂織 weaving with old cloth stripes - Introduction
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Weaving – saki-ori: some design considerations
Over the last few years, I’ve found the contributions to issues of the newsletter of the Complex Weavers Japanese Textiles Study Group relating to
saki-ori weaving from recycled silk kimono very informative and inspiring. I’ve supplemented that knowledge with watching sakiori auctioned on eBay, including textile dealers in Japan who buy at auction and re-sell to the West via the internet(1). When last in Japan, I noted several examples sold at the regular antique dealers market at Toji Temple in Kyoto held on the first Sunday of the month in the temple grounds- this is the smaller, more specialised version of the larger general temple markets held late in the month.
I was very pleasantly surprised to see saki-ori weaving included in the San Francisco Folk Art museum book devoted to recycled Japanese textiles (2), which confirmed my impression that this was a textile activity that was popular in the first decades of the 20th century, apparently having flourished allegedly since around 1750. It looked very much a ‘lost art’ in Japan, and relatively little studied outside Japan, until details emerged recently of a
Sakiori Association in Japan (3) which seems to have moved the art form from historical re-creation and isolated indvidual weavers back towards centrestage in the variety of weaving forms of contemporary Japan.
As we know, organising individuals into formal craft associations is the key to longterm survival and promotion in Japan – Associations lead inevitably to public exhibitions (e.g. saga nishiki) and sometimes graded certification (e.g. temari) and worldwide networks (e.g. shibori), sometimes to loose gatherings of individuals meeting at conferences (e.g. kumihimo and loop-manipulated braids). What follows is an overview of some design considerations surrounding sakiori, since information in English to date is very often limited to the technical aspects of how they are made – how to prepare the warps and the possibilities of using paper, hemp and silk as wefts.
Obi, lags and vests
The first thing to be said is thaｔ the vast majority of early 20th-century sakiori, those which are extant, are obi – a very informal obi considering the recycled nature of the materials.
Secondly, sakiori must, of necessity, be linked to rural Japan(4).
And thirdly, much use is made of colur – karafuru or colorful, seems to have been the overriding approach (5).
Many sakiori obi are thinner than the standard Japanese woven textile width of 13inches – very manyseem to half that width, some as narrow as 4 inches. I think the appropriate term is han-0bi or half-obi. It’s thick enough not to require folding. Where sakiori stick to the standard 12-13″ width, these obi lengths are sewn together to form lags or blankets and they seem to fall in line with a standard of five obi widths, with a length of the same total: most are about 65″ square, e.g. 65×65, 47×47, 68×55, etc. – the largest one noted is 70-76. Comparartively few of these come on the market, compared to the informal obi. The lags are invariably of the same type: plain stripes. I’m aware of some sakiori obi transformed into blanket-type lags but used as welcome mats at the front doors of houses and ‘carpet’s (cotton wadding used as padding and backed with plaid or check fabric). I’m also aware of a rug with a detachable square in the middle perfect for a family sitter around a brazier in the winter. Even more rarely, sakiori vests, sometimes with sashiko stitching, come on the market. I’m aware of a bunch of American recently who created knitted sakiori vests in the sleeveless style, known as sodansha – sleeveless, so that Japanese agricultural workers didn’t get their long sleeves wet planting rice I imagine.
Stripes
Plaids and checks
“Feature” stripes
Monochromatic
“Patterns”
Very occasionally, so rarely they defy the rule of plain stripes, sakiori obi with rather more complex surface designs come on the market.
Endnotes
From rags to riches
source : Vav Magasinet, 2008
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- ABC - List of sakiori from the Prefectures
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. . . . . . . . . . Aomori
Nanbu sakiori 南部裂織
from the Nambu region of Tohoku
八戸南部裂織
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. . . . . . . . . . Niigata
. Sadogashima 佐渡島 Sado Island .
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. . . . . . . . . . Shimane
Izumo sakiori 出雲裂き織り
produced in Hirose City
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1. Produced in Hirose City, Shimane Prefecture.
2. Characteristics:
A regenerated fabric, in which hemp or cotton threads are used as warp and used silk or cotton cloths are used as weft. The combination of used cloths creates varieties in stripes. Thick, strong, and therefore, good for keeping warm.
3. Uses:
Working clothes, farming clothes, sashes, table cloths, small articles.
4. History:
In such areas as Northern Tohoku, Sado Island or Sanin District, where cotton does not grow well, and therefore, was valuable, this type of regenerated fabric was produced and used for cloths for private uses.
- source : kimono.or.jp/dictionary -
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. Reference .
. gangu 玩具 伝説, omochcha おもちゃ toy, toys and legends .
- Introduction -
. Legends and Tales from Japan 伝説 - Introduction .
- - - #sakiori #weavingsakiori - - - - -
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. Join the MINGEI group on facebook ! .
. Regional Folk Toys from Japan .
. Japan - Shrines and Temples .
. Tohoku after the BIG earthquake March 11, 2011
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