Introduction
This short historical narrative primarily focuses on Japanese vintage textiles made from cotton and linen (hemp) which date from the mid 1800s to the mid 1900s. Of course, silk played an important historical role in Japanese society especially when talking about nobility and the upper classes but we will ignore silk and center our attention on those fabrics which are associated with Japanese folk art; indigo textiles for daily use and peasant clothing (noragi) of the period. As in other Japanese folk crafts (mingei), what was originally a necessity by the Japanese who created and used these textiles subsequently became to be considered an artwork by many of us.
Animal Symbols in Textiles
In Japan both the turtle and crane are symbols of long life and good luck. The turtle is a favored motif of netsuke-carvers and other artisans, and is featured in traditional Japanese wedding ceremonies while the origami crane is probably best know as a world peace symbol. Also, according to Japanese tradition, if one folds 1000 origami cranes, his wish for good health will be granted. The turtle and crane motifs are frequently seen in Japanese katazome and kasuri patterns. The Historical Importance of Linen-Hemp & Cotton The Japanese do not distinguish between linen and hemp as a fabric. Both are referred to with the same Japanese word, asa.
In the Edo Period (1603 – 1867), peasants were restricted by law from wearing silk as it was for use only among the Japanese upper classes. Rural Japanese wore clothing made from a common agriculturally grown fiber, linen-hemp. The course home spun linen-hemp fibers were hand loomed into fabrics which in turn were made into everyday peasant clothing.
By the 18th century, cotton cultivation was brought into Japan by way of China and was firmly established in the warmer southern regions of the Japanese archipelago where the climate and fertile land were well suited for growing the fiber. During this time, cotton hand spinning and hand looming cottage industry centers developed in rural Japan which supplied cotton fabric throughout the country. Gradually, with the introduction of more efficient home based spinning and weaving looms, the cost of production was significantly reduced and the more comfortable cotton replaced the usual rough linen-hemp fabric worn by Japanese commoners.
A few large commercial cotton spinning and weaving mills were constructed in Japan in the 1870s, rather late compared to the Western experience. But these mills did not turn out the bulk of the cotton threads and fabric for the marketplace of the period. That sill remained firmly in the hands of the rural Japanese textile cottage industry. Most of the cotton spinning and weaving production was shouldered by Japanese farm women who made homespun and hand loomed textiles in their homes as a means of earning a secondary income for their families.
Mosquito Netting (kaya) The Japanese poet and Zen monk Ryokan (1758 - 1831) slept under mosquito netting in the summer, not to prevent being bitten by an insect but to avoid squashing one inadvertently while he slept.
Most Japanese wished simply to be protected from the mosquito (ka) and covered their sleeping area with this very porous hemp textile which allowed the free flow of air but generally discouraged the flying insect. Kaya was commonly used in Japan from the early 1800s through 1950s. Usually hemp was the fiber which was hand spun and hand loomed to make the kaya although sometimes a more expensive cotton was used.
Currently, numerous Japanese artist and clothing designers work this fabric into their creations such as the garment pictured here. The designer incorporated several different colors of mosquito netting and some cotton indigo to fashion this folk art jacket.
Japanese Textile Dyeing Techniques Indigo was widely used throughout Japan as a dying and textile designing agent. Indigo dye in Japan is made by a fermentation process of the native indigo plant. Numerous design techniques were developed early on which gave Japanese their distinct style. Shibori, kasuri and katazome are probably the best know, each with its own unique method of fabrication. Less well known among Westerners is the Japanese incorporation of madder color along with indigo to make exceptionally interesting textiles. Making a textile with multiple colors required more skill than dying with a single color and were always more expensive and more desirable.
Historically indigo blue has been the most popular color for peasant textiles in Japan because, it is said, that it mirrors the color of the vast ocean surrounding the islands.
Kasuri fabric is woven with fibers dyed (indigo) specifically to create patterns (splash) and images (e-gasuri) in the fabric. It is an Ikat technique. During the dying process, threads are bundled together in a predetermined way so that when loomed, a geometric or picture design is created in the textile. The Japanese are credited with originating the picture design technique . The outline of either design is slightly fuzzy, an idiosyncratic feature of kasuri.
Katazome is a Japanese originated method of dyeing textiles with a resist paste which is applied through a paper stencil (katagami). A sticky paste is made from rice flour and rice bran. This mixture is forced through a katagami (paper stencil) on to a piece of fabric, the stencil is removed and the paste on the fabric is allowed to dry. Next, the fabric is coated by brush with a sizing solution of soybean liquid. When the fabric is completely dry, the dyeing color is applied by brush. Then the sticky paste is washed away, and what remains is the stencil pattern in the fabric's original color and the surrounding area has absorbed color of the dye. Japan is credited with developing this dyeing technique to a level of unparalleled sophistication.
Tsutsugaki is a Japanese term for the practice of drawing designs in rice paste on cloth, dyeing the cloth, and then washing the paste off. The rice paste is usually made from sweet rice which is sticky and adheres easily to fabric because of a high starch content. The paste is applied through a tube (the tsutsu) similar to the tubes which are used by bakers to decorate cakes. White cotton is normally the fabric of choice with indigo dye applied resulting in a white on blue design. Often designs are patterned after creatures from Japanese mythology such as the crane or the tortoise, or a family crest, or a name in kanji. Flowers and trees are common motifs as well.
Japanese Sewing Techniques
About Sashiko
Sashiko is a very old form of Japanese hand sewing using a simple running stitch sewn in repeating or interlocking patterns usually through several layers of fabric.
The first cottons milled and introduced in Japan were very expensive. Some creative person discovered that garments became much warmer and lasted longer if several layers of fabric were stitched together. Thus sashiko was born. By layering the fabric and then adding sashiko stitching to hold the layers together, clothing could be home made that provided much better protection from the elements and most importantly lasted longer. Japanese sashiko is most commonly seen on indigo-dyed cotton fabric with colors ranging from a pale light-blue to a deep blue-black.
About Boro
Boro is a Japanese word meaning “ tattered clothes” and it’s the term commonly used to describe patched and repaired bedding and clothing lovingly used much longer than their normal expected life cycle. Like early North American patchwork quilts, Japanese boro fabrics revealed much about family living standards and the nature of the country’s economy of their time.
Cotton cultivation was brought to Japan via China and was firmly established by the eighteenth century in the warmer Southern regions of the islands. However, cotton was a precious commodity in the northern provinces where the climate was too cold to allow the fiber to grow. Beginning in the Edo Period (1603 – 1867) seafaring rag traders sailing up and down the Japanese coastal waters sold used, discarded cotton cloth from southern Japan to the poor northern rural and coastal communities.
For some time for the Japanese, boro textiles were regarded with great shame because these utilitarian textiles were strong evidence of rural Japan's impoverished past.
Textile Designs
About Sarasa
The Japanese term “sarasa” originated in the 16th century and derives from the Portuguese word for calico “saraca”. During the Edo Period, Portuguese seafaring traders introduced cotton calicos from India into Japan where these beautiful, exotic fabrics quickly became enormously popular with wealthy samurai and merchant classes. These calicos with vivid colors and striking abstract geometrics were very different to the Japanese eye from traditional homegrown cotton and hemp indigo fabrics. Indian calicos were expensive and therefore small pieces were used to make valuable and colorful items like bags for tea ceremonies and tobacco cases and pouches.
The Japanese, who were already skillful at making distinctive textiles, easily adapted their own style and production techniques for reproducing the hitherto expensive Indian calicos. While maintaining the eye-catching floral and scallop Indian fabric patterns, Japanese textile makers applied their indigenous katazome (rice paste resist dyeing, stencils) textile printing skills to making domestic sarasa, characterized by shades of madder reds and browns with distinctive Indian floral designs and geometric shapes. As Japanese sarasa became widely produced, less expensive and more common than the imported calico, sarasa found its way for use widely in ordinary domestic applications like futon covers, wrapping cloths and kimono obi.
Farmer's Clothing (noragi)
Jackets, Vests & Monpe Pants At a time before shopping centers and mass market retailing, Japanese farm women spun and loomed cotton fabric to sell and to make clothing for their family. This homemade hand stitched clothing was called noragi. The three most common articles of farmer's clothing are: jackets, vests and pants (monpe or mompe). The noragi tradition was passed down each generation from mother to daughter and was part of the basic homemaking repertoire of every Japanese farm woman. These women not only made clothing but also made other household items from these fabrics: futon (mattress) covers, curtains, furniture covers, aprons and many other articles. Indigo was the primary textile color and kasuri, katazome and shibori patterns were incorporated into the fabrics to give a bit of joy to the routine drudgery of farm life.
The old farm clothing we sell was actually worn by Japanese farm women. They might have worn the items while working in the fields or in the house. It was common for women to work as much in the fields as a man. The clothing might have been made from scrap or new fabric. And, usually one will find some small stains and minor repairs on the jackets and vests. Sometimes we find clothing that is like new, and we will note that on the description.
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A few large commercial cotton spinning and weaving mills were constructed in Japan in the 1870s, rather late compared to the Western experience. But these mills did not turn out the bulk of the cotton threads and fabric for the marketplace of the period. That sill remained firmly in the hands of the rural Japanese textile cottage industry. Most of the cotton spinning and weaving production was shouldered by Japanese farm women who made homespun and hand loomed textiles in their homes as a means of earning a secondary income for their families.
o make the kaya although sometimes a more expensive cotton was used.
(katagami). A sticky paste is made from rice flour and rice bran. This mixture is forced through a katagami (paper stencil) on to a piece of fabric, the stencil is removed and the paste on the fabric is allowed to dry. Next, the fabric is coated by brush with a sizing solution of soybean liquid. When the fabric is completely dry, the dyeing color is applied by brush. Then the sticky paste is washed away, and what remains is the stencil pattern in the fabric's original color and the surrounding area has absorbed color of the dye. Japan is credited with developing this dyeing technique to a level of unparalleled sophistication.
from traditional homegrown cotton and hemp indigo fabrics. Indian calicos were expensive and therefore small pieces were used to make valuable and colorful items like bags for tea ceremonies and tobacco cases and pouches.
At a time before shopping centers and mass market retailing, Japanese farm women spun and loomed cotton fabric to sell and to make clothing for their family. This homemade hand stitched clothing was called noragi. The three most common articles of farmer's clothing are: jackets, vests and pants (monpe or mompe). The noragi tradition was passed down each generation from mother to daughter and was part of the basic homemaking repertoire of every Japanese farm woman. These women not only made clothing but also made other household items from these fabrics: futon (mattress) covers, curtains, furniture covers, aprons and many other articles. Indigo was the primary textile color and kasuri, katazome and shibori patterns were incorporated into the fabrics to give a bit of joy to the routine drudgery of farm life.