A Zokin: Traditional Dust Rag of Leftover Cotton

mid to late twentieth century
7 1/2" x 13", 19 cm x 33 cm

A zokin is a traditional Japanese dust cloth or cleaning rag; it is usually made from old pieces of cloth and it is usually layered and stitched for durability.   

Along with diapers, zokin are among the traditional household textiles that represent the end of the line where the repurposing or recycling of cloth is concerned.

This example shows a sashiko stitched zokin hand made from machine-aided kasuri cotton cloth of an intricate pattern and in tones of brown folded into several layers.