A Length of Egasuri: Tsurukame

early twentieth century
56" x 13", 142.5 cm x 33 cm

This length of indigo dyed cotton kasuri cloth shows alternating images of a tortoise and a crane. Egasuri is the term used for "imagistic or picture" kasuri.

This combination in Japan is referred to as tsurukame (tsuru= crane; kame=tortoise) and when tsurukame is depicted it conveys a wish for long life: according to a Japanese proverb "cranes live 1000 years, turtles 10,000 years."

The images are rustically simple and therefore have a kind of folk charm. The images are weft based and each is rendered with clarity. This length was no doubt taken from a futon cover.

The cotton base cloth seems to be of hand spun cotton and altogether this soulful piece of cloth conveys auspicious meaning.