My friend, Nao, in Kyoto, sent me these wonderful and mysterious indigo dyed cotton kasuri yarns: three bundles of weft yarns and three drums of their complementary warps.  I believe they may be the yarns used to make Kurume gasuri, the kind of ikat done in Kurume on Kyushu Island, but I’m not sure.  Not yet, at least.

Another good friend, Hiroko Takeda, a genius textile designer and weaver who lives nearby me in Brooklyn,  has been trained in the ‘folk textile’ traditions at Joshibi University in Tokyo.  Hiroko said she’ll come by one day and help me match weft yarns to the proper warps.  As Hiroko is expert in complex weaving techniques, I look forward to working with her on this as her feedback and insights will certainly be interesting.

I’m thrilled to own these ‘kasuri-in-the-raw’ yarns and I welcome any comments you may have.

This is a wonderful boro yogi, or sleeping kimono.   A yogi is a kimono-shaped duvet or comforter; yogi are lined and then stuffed with either cotton batting or bast fiber and are used for warmth during sleeping.

Although the shape of a yogi is that of a garment, it is not worn like a garment.  Instead, it is placed over the sleeping person, exactly in the same way a comforter is used.  This particular yogi is exceedingly rich in patches and stitching of indigo dyed cotton, its lining and batting have been removed, and because of this, we can see the amazing blizzard of patches inside and out.

Notice the wonderful texture created by so many patches and all the hand stitching.  As I mentioned in earlier entries, precise dating for pieces like this is almost impossible as the making/remaking/repair/addition to a garment like this can span a generation or more, however I believe this yogi is from the late nineteenth/ early twentieth century.