A Length of Rustic Egasuri Cotton: Cranes, Tortoises, Pines, Streams

late nineteenth, early twentieth century
50" x 12 1/4", 127 cm x 31 cm

This length of faded and worn rustically woven kasuri cotton was taken from an old furoshiki or wrapping cloth which accounts for its curved shape.

But this is a wonderfully woven length of old kasuri whose crude and beautiful folk rendering of cranes, tortoises, streams and pine is absolutely charming.

What makes this length even better is that the cotton yarns are hand spun and the cloth is, of course, hand woven. The scale of the images in relation to the size of the cloth is just wonderful: the spirited design is made more so by its jovial crowding and its playful rendering.

There is fading and a good deal of wear the cloth and there is at least one repair that is shown on the detail photo that accompanies this posting.

A little treasure from old Japan.