A Length of Pieced and Patched Katazome Cotton

early twentieth century
59 1/2" x 13 1/2", 151 cm x 34 cm

This is a length of katazome dyed cotton that is composed of two pieces that are hand stitched together. There is one mending patch to the upper, left hand side of the cloth.

The pattern is interesting. It is a tight one, very stylized, and it shows bamboo. At first glance this length may have seemed to be striped or to have been dyed in with an abstract pattern but no, the pattern is an image.

Bamboo in Japan signifies resilience since bamboo bends but does not break. It seems likely that whoever owned this cloth or whomever commissioned this cloth to be dyed was well aware of the symbolic significance of bamboo.

This is a subtle and beautiful length of indigo dyed katazome cotton.