A Length of Hand Spun Cotton Katazome: Two Patches

late nineteenth, early twentieth century
34" x 13 /14", 86.5 cm x 33.5 cm

This is a beautiful length of hand spun, hand woven indigo dyed katazome cotton. The quality of hand spun yards is rich and beautiful--and just what you want to see in an old Japanese folk textile.

The piece seems to have been taken from a han juban or half under kimono as there is a bar of darker indigo on the top, right of the length that indicates it was covered and was not faded as the rest of the piece is.

The pattern is unusual and shows small images sprinkled over the surface of the cloth. We see a variant on the Buddhist swastika along with what appear to be flower blossoms that are rendered as plaid and set against weeping branch forms.

The grain of the cloth is lovely. The slightly faded indigo is lovely, too. There are two mending patches, both in kasuri dyed cotton, that add contrast to the overall length.

A really lovely length of old katazome cotton.