Throw bock….participated in Textile Week at World Expo 25, organized by Ministry of Textiles of India & NIFT, talked about Sashiko and Kantha, and possible relations of those, in the past and future.
June is over. This month I was even busier than usual with visitors from India and ongoing exhibitions in various places, but in between, I participated in a panel discussion called "Handmade Textiles of India: Sustainability through Darning -Sashiko and Kantha" at the Textile Week organized by the Indian government in conjunction with the Kansai Expo "Future of Food and Living Week". (6/12)
Due to various circumstances, we were unable to make the announcement in time, but together with Shani Himanshu from 11/11 (Eleven Eleven) and Ms. Shubhra from Ministry of Textiles, we spoke about the commonalities between the textile cultures of India and Japan, particularly sashiko and kantha.
It seems that the talk was also available on YouTube until recently, but it has now been made private, so I would like to write about it here as a record.
We briefly explained the background of Japanese fabrics from the Shinto perspective, which holds that offering new cloth is a form of nature worship and purification, as well as hemp (cannabis, ramie), bark cloth and paper.
After that, linen remained an important material for a long time, but the situation changed with the introduction of cotton.
He also briefly touched on the history of cotton, something that many people in both Japan and India are not aware of, including the various theories of its spread and the influence of Tozan (Tozandome), which was brought over from the port of San Tome in Chennai, southern India, during the Edo period.
There are surprisingly similar designs between Tohoku sashiko, which is made on hemp when cotton was banned for everyday use, and Kanta, which is made by layering thin cotton saris, but I think this is inevitable due to the highly resilient stitching patterns, rather than a result of transmission.
What is more interesting is that at the end of the 7th century, the concept of fusokyo (called pansukura in Sanskrit) as the most prestigious robe, and sashiko techniques were introduced to Japan from the continent along with Buddhism.
It has permeated Japanese culture to the point that you would not notice it unless you paid attention, as it is used as work clothing such as dusters and donza.
In India, it is believed that putting scissors or needles into cloth is impure, but in Japan, wearing rags with multiple needles stuck into them is a sign of frugality, and in addition to their practical uses such as durability and warmth, they can also be symbols of mercy and prayer.
The existence of Indian Kantha became known to many people through the collection put together by Hiroko Iwatate.
In May, a group of Indian teachers visited the Iwatate Folk Textile Museum, met Professor Iwatate, and viewed some of the Kanta collection.
He also mentioned that thanks to the efforts of embroidery artist Mari Mochizuki and others, the circle of people practicing Kantha embroidery in Japan is now expanding.
After the event, I met with Kantha embroidery instructors and enthusiasts who had watched the talk on YouTube almost every day in various places, and had many conversations with them.
What was most interesting was that the Kantha work that Shani Himanshu showed during his presentation closely resembled an image of a dung garment said to date back to the 8th century.
However, even he didn't know the concept of kusoshogi.
It may be something that is so common in India.
Finally, due to various circumstances, preparations were made at an unusually short notice, but we would like to thank everyone at the Iwatate Folk Textile Museum and our colleagues at Kyarico for their kind support in preparing the materials under such a difficult schedule.
Iwatate Folk Textile Museum_Sashiko and Kanta
Arisato Studio Yuri Hironaka_Natural Fabric
Irufu Kaori Miyamoto_Sashiko (Duster) from Gallery Kei
Mayumi Yoshida_Darning
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