ca. early to mid twentieth century
44" x 10 1/4", 112 cm x 26 cm

Zanshi, or kuzuito, is cloth that is woven from threads either leftover from home production of yarn making, or from broken threads that were purchased from local commercial weavers.  Usually the weft is fed with these random threads while generally the warp is regulated, producing an irregular horizontal 'striping. If home threads are used, knotted slubs can often be seen.

There are very lovely patches of what appear to be a printed version of Niko Niko kasuri (a kind of mechanized, 20th century ikat woven cloth) applied over the lovely zanshi base: the highlight of this small, boro piece of cloth is the complex, intersecting stitched lines that reinforce the cotton patches and are interesting in and of themselves.

A beauty.