A Katazome Dyed Cotton Noren: Traditional Door Covering in Non-traditional Cloth

early twentieth century
41" x 35 1/2", 104 cm x 90 cm

In Japan, noren are traditional door hangings which are hand stitched from panels of cloth. Most often they are used in front of the entry door to a building as a way to demarcate outside and inside spaces, as sort of a psychological division between the two "worlds" of public and private space.

In many cases a family or business name is written on the noren which means that it is also used as a shop sign. In this case, noren are hung in front of the entry door to indicate when the business is open.

This is a traditional noren made of beautiful, hand spun, hand woven katazome dyed cotton. What is non-traditional about it is that the cloth used to make it is bedding material; it was taken from a futon cover.

Judging from the entirely hand made quality of the cotton it seems to be rather old, probably from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. The cotton is of very good quality as is the katazome dyeing.

However the unusual choice of cloth and the fact that the noren is machine stitched indicate that this noren was configured sometime in the early to mid twentieth century. It was definitely used in the home as can be seen by the wear marks to the noren; someone re-purposed bedding material to make a door covering. This noren might have been used inside the home.

This is a really lovely noren for those looking for one; the cotton is of good quality as stated above, the design of the katazome is rich and the proportions of the noren are very nice to look at.

Very recommended.