A Length of Hand Spun Cotton Katazome: Beautiful Indigo

late nineteenth century
25 1/4" x 12 3/4", 64 cm x 32.5 cm

This is a fragment of old, hand spun, hand woven cotton katazome cloth whose texture and weight are of the exact type you would like to see in a classic Japanese folk textile.

The indigo tone is a kind of dull, mid-range indigo and the complex pattern is made of abstracted flower forms, stylized pine and what appears to be a broken checkerboard design. 

Some of the flower forms and pine are filled with a design motif which adds interest to pattern. The bottom, left hand corner shows a vertical slit that has been stitched closed and there is a slightly darker tone of indigo around it.

More than likely this length was taken from a half under kimono called a han juban.

This is a wonderful, small length of old katazome cloth and one with great age and a real presence.