One of the significant change for Atsushi in 2018 is the Sashiko Live Streaming on Instagram and Youtube. In 2017, we started broadcasting our Sashiko stitching throughout the web cam. With seeing the increase in demand, we kept going and going. In 2018, we hosted more than 100 Sashiko Live Streaming in a year. We intend to continue this Sashiko Live Streaming with introducing who we are, the “as is work” of Atsushi with no editing and no hiding.
Sashiko Live Streaming may be boring
It is just a view of me hand-stitching after all. In comparison to the other Live Streaming such as Game Playing Broadcasting at crypto poker sites, the Sashiko Live Streaming can be very boring. As of today, I am okay with the fact it is boring. But if you don’t want to be bored, then a site like DAFABET is for you.
I want this Sashiko streaming to be the opportunity to anyone to watch someone’s Sashiko stitching, relax, be mindful, and learn a bit by watching someone doing it. Therefore, the Live Streaming is not designed for teaching some of the Sashiko technique we practice. I am happy to answer any questions regarding Sashiko, but I wouldn’t stop moving my hands to demonstrate the technique of skill.
Learn by observing | No teaching
In Japanese craftsmanship, “teaching” is something very unnatural. A disciple is supposed to learn by just observing the master. They didn’t value (or build) the structured curriculum to teach the technique and culture.
For example, in Sushi chef industry, a disciple’s job for the first few years would be just cleaning the restaurant. He/she will get the opportunity to sneak into the kitchen and observe the master’s work when he/she isn’t that busy. Then, they can move up by mastering the skill (without any structured lessons), then become a Sushi chef after 10 years of training.
*There is a discussion of how inefficient it is to pass down one culture to the next generation without actually teaching the skill. I somewhat agree with it. If one culture decides to make a structured teaching opportunity to pass down its tradition, the more people may join to get the skill. It probably won’t take more than 10 years to get the “skill” of making good Sushi. However, in a process of “observing”, we get something else rather than the technique or skill. It is not good or bad, I would say. As a Sashiko craftman who wishes to pass down Sashiko to the next generation, I try to do everything I can to “teach” Sashiko, but I sincerely respect the culture of “learning by observing”.
I am also one of this case. I barely remember the lessons I got from my family. I was raised in the environment where everyone was doing Sashiko. I learne a lot from them, but not much the structured technique or skills. All of the materials for the Sashiko stitching workshop is our original based on our 30+ years of experience.
So, it may be boring to watch someone’s hand-stitching for a hour or so. However, I hope I can communicate some of the technique, skill, and mindset of Sashiko by showing them to you, and you learning them by observing it.
Language As my Challenge
I am a Japanese who was born and raised in Japan. I came to the United States after my high school to attend the university, but I could’t even order a glass of milk when I landed to the US for the first time.
(*I knew how to order by saying, “Can I have a glass of milk” grammatically but the pronunciation of milk was something completely different from the English we speak now.)
For the live streaming, I intend to talk in both language, Japanese and English. I would like to introduce Sashiko in Japan as well. My intention is to be balancing the language out, but I tend to speak more Japanese in the live streaming because of 2 reasons below.
- The numbers of Japanese viewers who gave me comments to talk about.
- English my second language after all.
In order for me to keep trying to talk in English in Sashiko Live Streaming, your contribution to the Live streaming by leaving the comment and small questions are very much appreciated. In order to be fair to those who visit the live-streaming often, I may not repeat the same explanation over and over again, but I will provide the link to the website page where you can find the answer.
For exaple, the most frequent question is “why does Atsushi make a loop at the end of Sashiko stitching.” The answer can be found on this blog post I wrote.
Why loops in Sashiko Running Stitching
Join us and make it more comfortable for you
Your contribution to the live streaming would be so helpful to make the Sashiko live streaming more English friendly. Again, I do not intend to exclude any non-Japanese. Because of the opportunity that I can speak in English, I end up with talking a lot in Japanese.
Of course, there may be a time that I would like to talk just in Japanese. I would mentioned that in advance, and will never exclude the comments in English without any reasonable explanations. (Please understand that the live streaming isn’t the “teaching & learning” opportunity. If you are interested in learning Sashiko systematically, please consider taking the Sashiko Stitching Workshop (Core and Basic) by Atsushi.
We look forward talking to you over the screen.
