A Beautifully Colored Boro Length: Abraded Plaid Layer

ca. late nineteenth, early twentieth century
62" x 12 1/2", 157.5 cm x 31.75 cm

This base cloth of this length of boro cloth is hand stitched from two distinct pieces of hand woven cotton, one being a white-on-blue striped cotton and the other a brownish and blue stripe of varying width, each very attractive.

What makes this boro length wonderful to look at is the layering achieved by the hand stitched patches to the face of the length: there are three, very abraded brown cotton plaids and two white-on-blue kasuri patches.  The abraded brown patches, of course, are the dramatic visual aspects to this piece of boro, and they catch the eye.  Also, these distressed pieces of cotton patching also illustrate the penurious life of the previous owner/maker of this cloth, and shows very well how cloth was repurposed in old Japan.

A really lovely length of old cotton boro.