A Very Large Pieced Cotton Drawstring Bag: Oversized

mid twentieth century
18" x 20" x 20", 45.75 cm x 51 cm x 51 cm

This very large bag is hand stitched from over 30 individual pieces of (mostly) hand loomed cotton cloth, the selection and arrangement of the pieces is seemingly random. The drawstring used here is a thin length of twined natural fiber.

The many pieces of cloth that were used to create this bag were clearly left over and their re-use here is very much part of the Japanese way of life.

Bags that look like this but made in a small size are referred to as komebukuro or rice bags because they were often used to bring token offerings of dried rice or beans to a temple or shrine festival and the bag used to carry the offering was meant to have a festive air.

Such a very large bag as this would have been used for something else, probably some form of storage, but the actual intended use for this bag is unknown.

Although the dimensions listed above might indicate a size that does not seem terribly large, in actual fact this bag has the capacity to hold a great volume of stuff and when fully packed it occupies significant space.

Wonderful.