ca. mid Twentieth century
16" x 21 1/2", 41 cm x 55 cm

Komebukuro, or rice bags, are festive items usually created from scraps of cloth, ingeniously pieced together.  Komebukuro were used to carry rice which would be used as a gift or a tribute, hence the upbeat, playful, fancy touches used in sewing these drawstring pouches.  This bag is unusually wide and large, and has a great clarity of cloth pieces which comprise it.  The eyecatcher is the bold, tsutsugaki dyed kanji (Chinese characters) shown on the front of the bag.