A Pair of Stitched Zokin: Traditional Dustrags

ca. mid twentieth century
blue/gold zokin: 12 1/2" x 6 1/2", 31 cm x 16.5 cm
white zokin: 13 1/4" x 7 1/4", 33.5 cm x 18.25 cm

A zokin is a traditional Japanese dust cloth or cleaning rag; it is usually made from old pieces of cloth and it is usually layered and stitched for durability.   Along with diapers, zokin are among the traditional household textiles that represent the end of the line where the repurposing or recycling of cloth is concerned.

This pair of zokin is really lovely and heavily layered; each is hand stitched from commercially produced cotton cloth, the zokin pictured on the left is made from a large scale checked textile and the zokin on the right is recycled from a yukata or tenugui.