A Length of Pale Blue Zanshi ori: Flecks of Kasuri Yarns

ca. early twentieth century
59" x 13",  150 cm  x 33 cm

This is a really gorgeous length of zanshi ori, or cotton cloth woven from leftover yarns.  Were it more photogenic, of if you could see this in real life, its subtle blues and its gorgeous, randomly fed weft yarns would be sure to win you over.

The base of this cloth is a fixed warp of indigo dyed yarns; the warp is in four tones: dark, light and medium toned indigos, and white.

Fed against this tonal warp are blues of the same basic four colors, but he feed is unplanned so the finished effect is an uneven rippling of indigos as they make their way up this length of hand woven cotton.  Within this randomly fed weft are yarns that are resist dyed, or kasuri, and these yarns create little, white "blips" wherever the appear on this cloth.

A beautiful length of zanshi cloth.  And sophisticated.