A Beautifully Patched Tsunobukuro: Very Attractive Cotton Horn Bag

early twentieth century
46" x 15 1/21", 117 cm x 39.5 cm

This is an old cotton tsunobukuro, or horn bag, so called because of its distinctive appearance: this bag is fashioned from one length of cloth hand sewn on the bias, the result of this construction are two "horns" which appear at the top of the bag.

Tsunobukuro are a kind of collector's piece and are well-regarded by those who collect Japanese folk textiles.

Because the cloth of a tsunobukuro is set on a bias this bag is stretchy and it can accommodate a large volume of rice, grain or beans which it was intended to store.

This beautifully repaired tsunobukuro has been worn well over a good deal of time. The patches are cotton and they lend a remarkably beautiful allure to the piece which is equally interesting on both sides.

Here the bag is shown inside-out in order to reveal the many mending patches, some of which reveal interesting passages of stitching that adhere them to the base cloth. As well, there is a vestige of writing which can be seen on one side of the bag.

For the serious collector of  old Japanese of rural cloth and utilitarian, functional fabrics, this bag is a welcome addition to your collection both for its condition and its type: it is a very good example of an old, repaired horn bag.

A real beauty.

Recommended.