Each Little World: Boro: Rags and Tatters from the Far North of Japan

Every Wednesday, Mark and I eagerly await an email alert from Stephen Szczepanek announcing his weekly on-line sale. Szczepanek's gallery, Sri, specializes in antique Japanese folk textiles. But since it's located in Brooklyn, NY, our shopping — alas — will likely never be in person.

Ever since I discovered his business via a small ad in Selvedge magazine, Mark and I have been hooked on Szczepanek's wares. They run the gamut from small balls of twine or fabric sample books to a Noren that I bought Mark for his 60th birthday that runs the length of our library wall.

Stephen Szczepanek

A boro textile on display at Sri.

Last fall, Szczepanek started his own blog — Sri threads — where he showcases his collection of textiles, posts images of his visits to Japan, and offers vast amounts of information and education about a wide variety of Japanese textiles. Our personal favorites are the mended and patched textiles and clothing known as "boro" or "rags." For a longtime they were considered a social and cultural embarrassment since their existence attested to the extreme poverty experienced by some areas of rural Japan.

But to people outside of Japan — and a few within the country — boro have been viewed differently. If you've seen the quilts made by the women of Gee's Bend or Robert Rauchenberg's painted quilt ("Bed," 1955) or modern painting in general, then the strong qraphic quality of boro textiles will likely appeal to you. And if you love indigo, then the endless combinations of varying hues and patterns of blue will draw you in as well.

Last Spring, Mark and I splurged on the piece below; ostensibly as a birthday present for me. We'd been looking for a boro that appealed to both of us and this one spoke volumes. When you see how Stephen described it on his site at the time, you begin to realize what a learning process is involved in just understanding the basics about these peices. It's a "Layered, Very Stitched Boro Shikimono: Large Miura Shibori over Katazome Patch, circa early to mid twentieth century." That means it's a kind of sleeping mat (Shikimono) with stencil designs (katazome) and "big puddly splotches" of dye (miura shibori). Got that?

Luckily Stephen offers detailed explanations about the terminology of the pieces he's selling as well as general history on Japanese textiles including techniques and uses. He noted that this particular item could be used as "a small area rug by the bed or in the bathroom." We, however, wouldn't dream of walking on such a treasure. It's destined for the wall to be viewed as "art."

Another plus with this particular boro was its size: 54" x 27 1/2," meaning it was a good size for our house. Space for displaying big dramatic textiles and paintings is pretty much gone. Stephen always clearly indicates size which is really important when you're considering any purchase on the Web. So many big items look small and small things look big on the screen. I'm always dashing away from the computer for a tape measure so I can visualize things for myself.

For Mark and me, the only drawback with these boro textiles has been that there are few books on the subject where one can see more examples or learn about them. But recently Sri had the book we've been waiting for: "Boro: Rags and Tatters from the Far North of Japan." We snapped up a copy of this charming full-color volume. Every page has a picture and the text is in Japanese and English. And the English translation by Alfred Birnbaum is clear, concise and informative. The book was edited by Yukiko Koide and Kyoichi Tsuzuki, photographed by Kyoichi Tsuzuki and designed by Yasuko Aoki.

The book depicts just some of the items in the collection of Chuzaburo Tanaka, who "virtually alone in all of Tohoku, walked the farming and fishing villages of Aomori from the mid-1960s, searching out these traces of the locals' love of fabric known as boro." The piece we bought came from the Tohoku district.

Sri always has a number of books on Japanese textiles for sale and it's possible that this little delight (8 1/4" x 6 3/4", 65 pages) may surface again. In the meantime, check out their other titles to see what piques your interest. The other excellent source for books on textiles is the Selvedge magazine "bookstore."