A Large Boro Sakabukuro Textile: Patches and Mending

ca. mid twentieth century
33" x 34", 84 cm x 86.5 cm

This is an unusual textile.  On the title of the piece here, we refer to it as a boro sakabukuro mat, simply because it is made from the same materials as a traditional sake straining bag and it is mended in a very similar way.

That said, this large, square, hand mended cotton canvas mat does not seem to be a splayed sakabukuro, but rather it seems to be a very wide piece of commercially produced canvas that has been dyed in kaki shibu and is mended as would be a sakabukuro.

Very curious, but these are the ways of old Japanese cloth.

Still, this is a really lovely piece of old cotton.  It has massive character from its color, wear and mending, and it shows great surface patina and coloration.