I am a mere Sashiko artisan. I have been living with Sashiko that some find so trivial. I am not a fashion designer with sparking skills & inspiration. I have been just stitching Sashiko, which some think is so easy to master and teach others. I don’t consider myself as an Artist who can actively communicate to the world. I am a mere stitcher who hold a needle every day with the same form (Kata), which some think it can be ignored in Sashiko.
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In my youth, I wanted to be “someone (special)”. After all, I am facing myself in stitching time as just a mere Sashiko artisan. In the definition of “someone” that I longed for, I am Nobody. I became one of the Sashiko Artisans I didn’t want to be.
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Well. After all, I am very proud of it. Only thing I can do is to hold the needle everyday, and occasionally teach the Sashiko we practice. I am nowhere close to someone unknown/undefined whom I admire with no idea who they are. Instead, I know what I am doing & what I can. There are a number of mere Sashiko artisans like me who spent decades of years in one simple form of stitching. As it is simple, it can be copied & imitated easily on the surface level. I encourage “you” to copy & enjoy what we do as Sashiko. However, it doesn’t mean that the degree of its practice/culture is shallow.
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I am not someone whom I wished to be, who may impact the world. Instead, I accepted myself with ideas of what I can & should do. It is to keep sharing the “degree” of Sashiko that many Japanese people ahead of me cultivated. Sashiko should change its form – but change should include the past. The change ignoring the past isn’t really the change, is it?
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先日の配信でも少し触れたのですが、昔は「なんで俺が刺し子なんか…」という奢った考え方でおりました。若気の至りとしてしまえば良いのかもしれませんが、刺し子を見下していたことは確かです。だからこそ、余計に、「違う誰か」になりたかったのかもしれません。結果としての今なので、英語で情報発信できることも含めて頑張ったことに無駄はなかったのですが、今では逆に「何者でもない」ことを意識するようにしています。調子に乗らないように。
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SNSで誰でも知名度を上げられる社会になりました。目的と手段を履き違えると、「知名度をあげる為ならなんでもいい」として、刺し子が使われることも増えてきます。私の立ち位置はそこではなく、知名度は「手段」で「目的」ではありません。あくまで日本の刺し子を残したいという目標を忘れずに。
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