A Thickly Textured Rustic Obi: Black Stripe

ca. mid twentieth century
112" x 5 3/4", 284.5 cm x 14.5 cm

Although at first glance you may assume that this beautifully textured, rustic obi is woven from rags or is sakiori, a closer look shows us that this is woven from thick, slubby yarns and does not use a rag weft yarn.

Still, it is beautiful.  The color is rich and the condition is very good.  What is striking about this rustic obi is its graphic appeal, the most immediate detail being the wide, center stripe that runs down the length of the piece.  This stripe is the result of a congregation of black cotton warp yarns; the warp yarns to the right and left of this are white cotton.

The weft yarns are slubby and thick, the predominate colors being a wine red with some flecks of pink yarns that flank the blue and yellow horizontal stripes which repeat along the length.

Just beautiful, and a bit unusual in its colors and design.