Japan

Japan

Ainu decorative needlework is associated with the indigenous people of northern Japan and parts of northeastern Russia (Sakhalin and Kuril Islands). By the twenty-first century the Japanese Ainu were mainly concentrated in the Hokkaido region. 

The Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin houses a bast fibre tunic from among the Ainu in Hokkaido, Japan. It dates to the second half of the nineteenth century, or earlier, and was acquired by Max August Scipio von Brandt (1835-1920). The fabric is made of the bast of the Atsui tree. The tunic measures 123 x 115.6 cm. The embroidery is worked with cotton.

Tne Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, holds a coloured woodblock print by Utamaro II (Koikawa Shunchō) and is dated to 1808. It measures 38 x 26 cm. It is one in a series called Instructive Patterns for Women's Handicrafts, and refers to the craft of Chinese embroidery.

The Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin holds a drawing of an embroidered, Japanese bast fibre tunic. The drawing was collected by Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866). It shows the type of tunic, worn by the Ainu, discussed elsewhere in TRC Needles. The German physician Von Siebold worked for the Dutch government at Deshima between 1823 and 1829, and settled in Leiden, The Netherlands, upon his return from Asia.

A fukusa is the name for a gift cover that traditionally was draped over a box that was placed on a tray. Inside the box was a gift. The selection of a particular fukusa was always very significant, both to the gift-giver as to the gift-receiver.

Furoshiki (風呂敷) represent a form of traditional Japanese wrapping cloth. They may be made of various materials, including silk, cotton, or synthetics. They may be decorated with printed designs or embroidery. They vary in size from that of a handkerchief to that of a large bed-spread. Their popularity in modern Japan decreased after the Second World War, but recent initiatives try to revitalise this old tradition.

An embroidered and black velvet gift cover (fukusa) from Japan, dating to the mid-nineteenth century, is housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The embroidery is worked in silk and Japanese thread (gold-wrapped thread). The cover measures 76 x 67.1 cm.

Higashi kogin is a form of kogin zashi (itself a form of pattern darning) from Japan. Kogin literally means 'small cloth' and zashi means 'stitches'. It is one of the sashiko forms, and was developed by the farmers of the Tsugaru region in the northern part of Honshu Island, and in particular from east of the Iwaki river.

Hira-nui is the Japanese term for the satin stitch. It is generally applied to create flowers and leaves using a floss silk.  WV

Hishizashi is an embroidery style from the Nanbu region in the north of Honshu, Japan. Hence it is also sometimes called Nanbu hishizashi (Nanbu diamond stitch). It developed out of the practice of reinforcing (hemp) garments with cotton threads. It may be classed as one of the sashiko forms.

Hitomezashi sashiko ('one-stitch sashiko') is a form of sashiko that is based on a pattern of straight lines. The stitches can be joined together or cross each other. 

The tradition of making embroidered paintings developed in Japan in the nineteenth century. The representations made by famous painter/artists, such as Kishi Kikudō (1826-1897), Imao Keinen (1845-1924), and Takeuchi Seihō (1864-1942), were turned into embroideries, using the embroidery skills developed since the Edo period.

Japanese embroidery (nihon shishu) is characterised by its use of silk and metal threads (passing) to embroider intricate patterns on delicate silk fabrics. Embroidery in Japan is generally carried out irrespective of the ground material itself (free-style embroidery). Embroidery is being used on kimono and many other garments and textiles, including the fukusa (coverings), wall hangings and bedspreads.

Kaeshi-nui is the Japanese term for the outline stitch. WV

Kakinohanazashi is the Japanese term for the Persimmon flower motif. WV

Kakurezashi is the technical term for a form of sashiko wherey the stitches are covered with indigo dye. WV

Keshi-nui is the Japanese term for an embroidery technique that creates work small dots, as for instance for a family crest. WV

The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, houses a small fragment of a kimono that dates to the late sixteenth or early seventeenth centuries. It is made of monochrome figured satin silk (rinzu) with applied gold leaf decoration (surihaku, tie-dyeing (kanoko shibori) and embroidery with silk and metal threads. The fragment measures 58.5 x 30 cm.

Kin koma is a Japanese embroidery technique that involves the couching of metal threads.

Kiri-osae-nui (lit. cut-and-anchor stitch') is a laid work technique, in which a larger thread is fixed to the ground material by a series of small diagonal stitches.

Page 1 of 3