Sashiko ( 刺し子 | Little Stab ) is a simple continuous running stitch design atop a surface. The stitch is slightly longer atop than on the underneath.[1] Often many Sashiko designs are done in an interlocking, repetitive or overlapping manner, often using indigo cloth and white thread.[3] The nature of Boro and Sashiko traps heat, making it more likely to be found in the North of Japan where it is colder, also helping enable the cloth to last longer. Many of the motifs common to traditional Sashiko designs are from plants, animals or nature like clouds and steam.[3] Many Sashiko techniques and styles derive from local folklore and rural communities and were made for practical everyday wear.[4][5]
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Sashiko began as a practical design element for the Heimin wives of farms/fisheries to show off their Embroidery skills in making kimono, like repairing Boro Kosode.[3] Due to the influence of the sumptuary laws, most Boro and Hemp Kimono were made creative by dying them in indigo, a readily available local dye for Heimin and some Chonin who travelled around for Sankin Kotai.[4][7] Japanese firemen until the 19th century used to have their uniform made from Sashiko stitch with padding, which was drenched in water to act a shield from fire during rescue attempts.[2] By the late 17th century however, these designs began to become part and parcel of a wider revolutionary aesthetic reform of Kosode surfaces which made the Chonin look more powerful than the Samurai, which was a no-no for the Fudai and Kuge Daimyo. In a bid to curb these powerful aesthetic markers of status, the Heimin were given designated fabrics and dyes which saw a rise in the popularity of Indigo Sashiko.[4]
By the 18th century, fashionable Sashiko Kosode used local folklore to distinguish local meanings specific to their maker and communities, like the Hoshi-ami (干し網｜Fish Net) design used by fishermen's wives when making Donzu/Noragi Coats, or for some Chonin the common characteristics of their daily lives from the city.[3][5] Particularly in the merchant town of Osaka, Sashiko would have a popular infusion of mother's frugal stitchwork, and being part of the new fashionable elite emerging there. By the 19th century, these designs were incredibly intricate and were no longer done in the Boro spirit, but to show off how skilled their creator artisan/embroiderer was.[5] For example the designs of Hokusai-Moyo ( 北斎模様 | Hokusai-patterns/designs) which were particularly popular after Hokusai published his 'New Patterns' ( 新形小紋帳 | 1824).[8]
With the introduction of new chemical dyes and machine made textiles, Kimono were increasingly less labour intensive by the early 20th century seeing a decline in the popularity of Sashiko designs from 1950-1980.[6] As part of the 1990s Web Kimono boom however, teachers like Kiyoko Endo (dates unknown) began teaching laymen artisans and craftspeople how Sashiko is used as a folk art (Endo teaches Harakata Sashiko, a Yonezawa style) and has become popular today in the West amongst embroiderers.
Bibliography
[1] https://www.athreadedneedle.com/blogs/with-a-threaded-needle/sashiko-kogin-hitomezashi-boro-what-are-we-stitching
[2] https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O18904/firemans-hood-unknown/
[3] https://indigoniche.com/2018/06/26/sashiko-origins-and-designs/#:~:text=Sashiko%20is%20a%20Japanese%20folk,in%20repeating%20or%20interlocking%20patterns.
[4] See Sumptuary Laws (1604-1685) in Bijin #3
[5] See The Genroku Osaka Bijin (1680 - 1700) in Bijin #3
[6] https://www.inspirationsstudios.com/the-history-of-sashiko/
[7] See Patterns #17
[8] https://mag.japaaan.com/archives/113368
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