A Rustic, Old Beautifully Woven Sakiori Obi: Wiry Bast Fiber Warp

early twentieth century
128" x 6", 325 cm x 15 cm

This is serious sakiori. It is hand woven from a weft of what appear to be very old recycled cotton kimono rag yarn against a rustic and wiry bast fiber warp.

When sakiori was first woven cotton was scarce and was a fairly new commodity in Japan. In order to be able to wear cotton clothing, people with little money would buy old kimono and other cloth and they would shred it to make yarn. Since cotton in its raw form was not yet available to the peasant class of Japanese they did not use a cotton warp, the would have to use bast yarn that they invariably made by themselves.

This obi or kimono sash is made just like the original sakiori was made, with a bast warp and shredded cotton weft. 

The color of this obi is hard to translate in photography.

It is deep and drab but it also has a bluish cast although this bluish color is not pronounced. It is a kind of cool, dark neutral color that is variegated. It is beautiful to look at up close and in so doing you are able to see the very old cotton cloth that was used to make the rag yarn.

This is a really wonderful piece of old sakiori that seems to not have yet been used.

Recommended.