A Thickly Woven Obi: Sakiori-Like Texture

early to mid twentieth century
120" x 6", 305 cm x 15 cm

This thickly woven and nicely textured obi, or kimono sash, is woven from what appear to be either narrow strips of recycled cotton or from a thick, cotton yarn.  In any case, it looks and feels like sakiori, which is the recycled rag woven textiles from old Japan.

The weft yarns are white and black; the warp yarns are black, which gives the overall coloring of this sash a kind of newspaper-grey look.  Along the selvedge edges are feathery, black shapes which are in beautiful contrast to the white-grey ground.

The obi does show some ingrained soiling from wear and there is a blip of white (maybe) starch along the length--not terribly noticeable--but shown in the detail photos that accompany this post.  The obi is in good condition with just a few, very minor breaks.

A lovely thing.