Japan's blue-and-white cotton textiles are regularly associated with its traditional rural culture. In fact, they are often referred to as “country textiles” yet the hand-loomed, hand-dyed indigo cloth was first used primarily by Japanese city dwellers beginning in the mid-eighteenth century.

The widespread use of indigo cotton by country farmers came later and its adaptation was a gradual process, taking hold around the early-to-mid nineteenth century.

While it’s true that farmers cultivated cotton beginning in the sixteenth century, it was too costly a fiber for them to use themselves. Instead farmers spun and wore linen-like bast fibers, especially hemp, ramie, wisteria, nettle and other indigenous fibers, which they either cultivated or foraged.

Śri’s collection of antique Japanese country textiles reflects our special interest in the genre of patched and mended indigo textiles, collectively referred to as boro.

Each antique textile is chosen for its rarity and beauty and each is judged against comparable items, if possible. We rate an individual piece by its relative age, its strength of character, and its aesthetic appeal.

Our collection represents many techniques and styles of indigo-dyed cotton, including kasuri, katazome, tsutsugaki, sashiko, sakiori, and shibori. We also offer prime examples of asa or bast fiber textiles, the hand-plied hemp and ramie textiles of old Japan.