The exhibition at the Portland Japanese Garden, Mottainai, The Fabric of Life: Lessons in Frugality from Traditional Japan opened on 4 November.  Here are some installation shots.
I’m exhibiting with my friend, Kei Kawasaki of Gallery Kei in Kyoto.   Kei and I decided that I would show indigo dyed cotton boro pieces and she would show bast fiber and paper pieces.  The items I have contributed to the show can be seen below.Above and below is a large, woven cotton boro mosquito netting or kaya.

Above and below are sashiko stitched pieces.  Centrally place above is a large, sashiko stitched kotatugake.  To the left and right are garments from Yamagata prefecture.Stitched aprons and zokin can be seen above.

Above and below are sakiori garments.

Above is pictured a boro yogi or sleeping kimono, while below you can see noragi or work coats.Below is a fantastic boro futonji or futon cover.This piece, below, a shinafu or linden fiber tsunobukuro or horn bag is filled with balls of shredded indigo dyed cotton yarn and twisted paper yarn.   Kei brought this to the show to act as a transition between her bast fiber textiles and my indigo dyed cotton ones.  It’s an amazing object.  Kei’s other textiles can be seen in the images below.

Above and below are some woven paper garments.  On the photo, above, situated on the right is an okuso zakkuri or a coat made of woven hemp waste.  Below, seen in the middle, is a fujifu or woven wisteria garment and a shinafu or linden fiber garment to its left.

Below are two elm fiber garments: to the right is a traditional Ainu attush, to the left is an unusual dochugi or traveling coat, made from ohyo or elm fiber.  Since this dochugi is made from traditional Ainu cloth, we can assume that the cloth was traded with the Ainu by a merchant from Honsu island.

A marvelous, resist dyed ramie kazuki from Yamagata prefecture can be seen above and below.  A kazuki is a kimono-shaped veil which was worn on the head by upper class women.Below are repurposed paper items. A splendid bashofu or banana fiber kimono from Okinawa can be seen below.All of the pieces are for sale through the Portland Japanese Garden.  If any are interesting to you, please let me know and I will put you in touch with the Garden.

Bashofu, or cloth woven from the fibers obtained from the leaves of the “thread banana” plant (ito basho) is synonymous with the Okinawan Islands (Ryukyu Islands), where it was produced for at least 500 years.From the essay, “Bashofu, The Mingei Movement, and the Creation of a New Okinawa” by Amanda Mayer Stinchecum published in the exhibition catalog “Material Choices: Refashioning Bast and Leaf Fibers in Asia and the Pacific“:

“The first written evidence of bashofu in the Ryukyu Islands appears in an eyewitness account, dated 1546, reported by Pak Son and eleven other shipwrecked Koreans from Cheju Island.  Reaching Ryukyu in 1542, they returned to Korean four years later.  Their report includes descriptions of clothing, agriculture, and the cultivation of banana plants for making cloth:The larger trees are the size of a house pillar.  These are harvested, and the outermost skin stripped off. The sheaths inside are sorted into three grades.  The fineness or coarseness of the finished cloth depends on whether the fiber is taken from the outer or inner layers.  The innermost layer yields the thinnest and most lustrous fiber, and the color is as pure as snow.  It is incomparable.  Women’s clothing of high quality is made from this. (ikeya et al. 2005, 1:121)”Bashofu is still very much appreciated all over the globe for its beauty and its depth of character.  It is one of Japan’s most precious and esteemed textiles–it is difficult to convey the high admiration the Japanese hold for bashofu.  Rare and  historical examples are often prohibitively expensive–should they be brought to market–which is rare.

These three lengths were taken from everyday kimonos: the fragment on the left is a very small warp ikat, the center piece is a cotton/banana combination and the example on the far right is a plain, striped bashofu length.  I find them exceptionally beautiful.