An Unusual Sakiori and Zanshi Furoshiki: Intermittent Rag Weft

ca. mid twentieth century
29" x 32", 73.5 cm x 81.25 cm

This furoshiki, a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth, is just lovely, both for it coloration and for its unusual weaving.

Certainly by looking at the progression of color throughout the furoshiki we can see that the weft yarns are an assemblage of leftover yarns: the random color blocks tell us this.  But even more unusual is that the weft slubs of this cloth, which happen intermittently, are the result of a ribbon of hand-torn cotton cloth that is used as a weft yarn.  This is a kind of variant on sakiori, which is the traditional Japanese rag weaving, which is familiar to many of you.

The overall effect of the fixed, cotton warp yarns and the randomly fed weft is really lovely.  Note, though, that there is a faint but soft and prominent stain on the proper, left hand side of the cloth, at approximately 7 o'clock.  Another, similar stain appears in the body of the cloth, both of which are shown in the accompanying detail photos.

Stained or not, this is a really gorgeous and inspirational old cloth, which also shows a hand written tag, easily seen at the bottom, center of the furoshiki.

Wonderful.