A Length of Striped Zanshi ori: Leftover Yarn Weaving

early twentieth century
59" x 13 3/4", 150 cm x 35

Zanshi ori 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 warp is regulated and the weft is fed with these random threads  producing an irregular horizontal 'striping'; if home threads are used, knotted slubs can often be seen.

This is an extremely good looking and good quality length of zanshi ori, notable for its fine design of warp-based wide stripes in tones of deep indigo, clear indigo and greyish-white. 

The random weft yarns are very well seen here in the many blips of white that appear horizontally on this length. This seems to indicate that leftover kasuri yarns were used to feed the weft. The effect of this soft, insistent white noise against the strong tonal stripes of the warp is visually effective.

This is a very handsome length of zanshi ori and one that is slightly uncommon to see for the strong, regular, warp-based stripes.