A Section of a Boro Obi Shin: Beautiful Age

late nineteenth century
92" x 12 1/2", 233.5 cm x 31.5 cm

For its age, the kind of cloth used to make it and for its artistry, this is a special and good quality boro textile.

It is a section from an obi shin which is a length of cloth used for giving body and for stiffening an obi or wide kimono sash. In the old days scrap cloth or boro cloth like this one was used as an obi shin--why not use repurposed cloth if it will never be seen?

The base cloth is hand spun, hand woven cotton in an earthy brown tone, clearly dyed in a plant-derived dye. 

The surface is studded with lovely patches, all of them 19th century cottons, 9 in total.

The arbitrary arrangement of patches on this very long piece is beautiful.

Most of the patches are of a really lovely, 19th century type. The contrast between the patches and the ground is really wonderful: this is immediately evident by looking at the cloth.

This is special boro cloth: it has very good age and a very good design, the quality of the design is much enhanced by the soulfulness of its age.

Recommended.