Today I am showing a group of zanshi-ori, or cloth woven from leftover, cotton yarns.  The centerpiece of this group is a work coat, or noragi, unusual for its lining of zanshi-ori, shown here as the coat’s exterior.

For some reason, zanshi-ori is most often woven and used as bedding, so seeing it applied to a garment is refreshing.  This particular coat seems not to have been worn, and its proper exterior is not of zanshi-ori, but of a hand woven, checked cotton.  This coat most likely dates from the mid-twentieth century.Zanshi-ori is usually distinguished by its randomly spaced pattern of stripes seen on the weft.  In most cases, the warp is fixed–as in the case with this coat–and the weft is fed with an assortment of yarns that have been knotted together:  the result is this intermittent striping.Zanshi-ori is one of my personal favorite categories of Japanese country textiles: not only is it distinctive and beautiful, its origins in thrift and resourcefulness are inspiring, and something of a life lesson.  Below, on the right-hand side, you’ll see a length of zanshi-ori cotton that belies what I said above, that the warp is fixed with a non-zanshi yarn and the weft is fed with zanshi threads.  In this case, the cloth is woven from a warp made from leftover kasuri threads and the weft is a regular pattern of stripes.What I love about the zanshi-ori futon cover, below, is there is evidence that kasuri or ikat threads were used in weaving this piece, as little blips of weft kasuri images appear on this cloth, as can be seen below.

Zanshi, or cloth which is handwoven from leftover yarns, is one of my favorite of the many different types of Japanese folk textiles.  Today I am showing a small, boro cloth that is rich and deep in many applied patches on one side, and on the other side, we see deliciously abraded zanshi cotton.

This zanshi boro piece, which is literally congested with patches, is one favorite from my collection of boro.

Below is shown the gorgeous zanshi base cloth onto which many patches were sewn: apparently this three panel cloth, which measures 43″ x 38″ or 109 cm x 96.5 cm, was taken from a futon cover.

Notice the irregular striping–blue/white, white/blue–that occurs up the length of the cloth: leftover cotton yarns were tied together to form the weft, the result is a random patterning from these tied yarns.

This piece was used hard: note ALL that abrasion, and then refer to the other side, the top two photos shown here.  Now it’s clear just why so many patches were applied; the zanshi cloth had grown threadbare from use.

Now think about this: the zanshi cloth was woven from leftover yarns.  This life of this cloth, borne of “recycled” materials, was further extended by patching and mending: this is a clear indication how people in old Japan valued the hand woven cloth they produced–and it also is a vivid illustration of  their frugality.

I find this zanshi fragment a wonderful thing to look at and to contemplate–and the softness of the cotton and the layers upon layers of patches lend a wonderful tactility that adds even more appreciation to the enjoyment of this old cloth.