A Length of Zanshi Ori: Left Over Cotton Yarn Weaving

early twentieth century
63 1/2" x 13 3/4", 161 cm x 35 cm

Zanshi ori is cloth that is woven from threads either leftover from home production of yarn making, or from broken threads that were purchased from local commercial weavers. 

Usually the weft is fed with these random threads while generally the warp is regulated producing an irregular horizontal 'striping'; if home threads are used, knotted slubs can often be seen--the back of this piece shows a fair number of these knotted slubs.

This piece is textbook zanshi ori: a variegated weft with a fixed warp, the color tones sitting within a narrow spectrum of blues and neutrals.

The color and the subtlety of the length is hard to describe in photos and the ones accompanying this post unfortunately do not do the piece justice as the color tones are richer or more nuanced than shown here. This also applies to its texture which is beautifully hand woven.

This is very handsome and recommended for someone who likes zanshi ori or for someone wanting to collect or study it.