A Beautiful Length of Zanshi Ori: Indigo Dyed Leftover Cotton Yarns

late nineteenth, early twentieth century
64" x 13 1/2", 162.5 cm x 34 cm

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

This is an especially lovely example of zanshi ori cloth which is composed of leftover yarns all of which are dyed in indigo.

The randomly spaced stripes going up the length of the cloth are a trademark of zanshi ori where an arbitrary order is the result of a collection of many and various yarn scraps.

The dark patches against the paleish ground is lovely to see.

A good example of zanshi ori.