A Sakabukuro or Sake Filter: Meandering Stitches

early to mid twentieth century
27 1/4" x 8 1/4", 69 cm x 21 cm

A sakabukuro is a straining bag or filter used in sake production. Crude sake, or sake lees, is poured into this bag. The sealed bag is then subjected to the force of great pressure and the sake is filtered out of the this strainer.

This particular sakabukuro is made of a kind of commercially produced cotton canvas which has been saturated with kaki shibu, or green persimmon tannin and shows a relatively pale brownish tone.

But please pay special attention to the fanciful stitched machine-sewn mending which can be seen on the attached detail photographs: the stitching is done in arcs and loops and is a joy to behold.

In addition to this utterly delightful machine mending there are also areas of mending done by hand.

Just lovely.