A Rustic Boro Shibori Dyed Furoshiki: Wonderful Hand Spun Cotton Yarns

late nineteenth, early twentieth century
46" x 38", 117 cm x 96.5 cm

This is a rustic and rough beauty--and it is marvelous for that.

It is a furoshiki or a traditional carrying cloth that is hand woven from marvelously hand spun cotton yarns.

These yarns not only impart what the Japanese admiringly call "thread flavor," which is a characteristic you want to find in folk textiles, they also support the super crude shibori dyeing that decorates this rural cloth. 

The shbori is amateurish in execution and attempts to appear symmetrical and decorative. This awkwardness of design is charming but it also commands a kind of visual power: when you look at this cloth you know you are looking at something deeply rural, or so it seems.

There are ten old patches that grace the surface of the furoshiki and many small areas of stitched mending. The two sides show tears from use.

Seen in person this furoshiki has a subtle visual power and it certainly announces itself as being a country textile--and it should be proud of this distinction.

Just lovely.

Recommended.