ca. early to mid twentieth century
114" x 7", 289.5 cm x 17.5 cm

This is an interesting sakiori piece.  Sakiori is a kind of Japanese rag weave that uses shredded kimono and bedding as the weft yarn, and, in this case, uses asa or hemp yarn for the warp.  We love asa warped sakiori as it indicates either age or a kind of rural quality of weaving--and it gives a beautiful texture, as this one does.

This long piece of asa warped sakiori was intended to be a work vest called a sodenashi: a complete, sewn one is shown here.  Note the areas along the length of this cloth that are "blank", meaning, devoid of a cotton weft.  These areas of asa warp and weft are where the cloth was to be cut in order to properly design and fashion the sodenashi.

This cloth here is really roughly woven and is gorgeous because of it.  Pay special attention to the detail photos to see the wonderful passages of shredded cotton.

Just beautiful. Very recommended.