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Tsugaru district, Aomori Prefecture, Japan ca. late nineteenth/early twentieth century indigo dyed hemp and cotton 37" x 45", 94 cm x 114.5 cm |
Detail: Close-up A very fine kogin (counted thread embroidered) kimono: white cotton thread on indigo dyed hemp. This refined folk kimono was created in the northern most (or eastern most) area of the island of Honshu, in the remote and rural Aomori Prefecture which experiences harsh winters, with bitter cold and plenty of snow. As cotton is not native to Aomori, cotton threads were considered a luxury, thus they were employed to create the intricate, geometric repeat patterns on the bodices of their fanciest garments. It has been suggested that the white cotton embroidery--in stark contrast to the deep blue hemp field--is a visual metaphor for snow. Aomori's distinct districts each created their own embroidery patterns so a garment's location is encoded into its decoration. Detail: Back |
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