A Pieced and Patched Asa Cloth: Edo Komon Patch

ca. late nineteenth, early twentieth century
43" x 34", 109 cm x 86.5 cm

This wonderful, old, piece-constructed cloth is assembled from repurposed, indigo dyed hemp or ramie cloth: it seems that the cloth once was part of a kimono.

The shape and the wear patterns on this old cloth seem to indicate that it was used as a traditional wrapping cloth or furoshiki.

It is hand stitched from four, separate pieces of cloth and it shows seven patches, one of the, which we have highlighted on the accompanying photos, is a patch of Edo komon cotton, an extremely small figured, stencil resist dyed cloth that was popular during the nineteenth century.  In this case, the pattern on the patch is that of shippo tsunagi, or interlocking circles.

As can be seen in the photos here, there is some loss and wear to the asa or hemp woven cloth; this loss occurs in about five groups, which can be seen by poring over the photos shown here.

A handsome and lovely old textile from another era.