A Page from a Shima cho: Recycled Paper with a Rustic Drawing of Mountains

1882
9 1/2" x 12 1/2", 24 cm x 32 cm

This is a page from a shima cho; it is actually one leaf or two pages that are opened and laid flat. Please note the darkened area on the face of the paper which is no doubt ingrained dirt due to age.

Shima cho means, literally, "stripe album." The small, cotton swatches contained within it are usually striped cotton, or some variation on striped cotton.

A shima cho is said to be an album of home weaving that a bride takes from her family home when she marries, leaves her family and begins her life in the home of her new husband's family.  Most likely this is in part true, however it is more likely that a shima cho has a broader beginning and a less prosaic life.  It is not unthinkable that a sliver of a neighbor's weaving found its way into a shima cho, or some such thing.

This leaf from a shima cho is made from recycled, used paper and its reverse side shows a good amount of hand written kanji--and primitive, hand-drawn images of two mountains, one of them attempting to depict a landscape replete with a stand of pine trees and a rich, vermilion sun.

Absolutely charming.