A Semamori cho: Album of Hand Stitched Amulets for Children

late nineteenth, early twentieth century
when closed: 6" x 3 1/4" x 1/2", 15 cm x 8 cm x 1.5 cm

20 pages, 40 stitched designs
4 pages have holes from insects

In Japan, there is a certain magic associated with stitching: the very act of enclosing a body in cloth is rich in meaning and stitching a garment closed has power in it.

It is no wonder that stitches applied to children’s garments are done intentionally and that they are meant to protect the child from psychic and spiritual harm or bad intentions.

These protective stitches are called semamori, and offered here today is a semamori cho, or a practice album of decorative stitches that, when stitched on a child’s garment, would have been held in place one of the kimono’s two ties.

In this album there are 20 pages containing a total of 40 stitched designs, many of them crudely stitched and showing fairly realistic portrayals of plants and flowers, rustic scenes, rabbits, bats, fish, birds, etc.

Some are stitched in partial chain stitch while most are stitched in a straightforward manner.

Be aware of some very faint staining to the pages and some loss of paper in certain instances as already noted. The accompanying detail images aim to represent this aspect of the book.

Objects such as this are becoming increasingly difficult to find now in Japan and this particular semamori cho is a small treasure. 

Recommended.