Japanese Sashiko Story March 23

When I say “Sashiko is NOT Art (to me)”, some agree saying Sashiko is a form of “Folk Art”. The general definition of “Folk Art” may describe Sashiko, yet I feel a need of sharing another Japanese word – “Mingei (民藝)”. Well… when I look for the English translation for Mingei, it will be “Folk Art”… so, I am like playing with words… but before offering the answer Sashiko as “folk Art”, I want the world to know the beautiful & unique concept of “Mingei”.
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“Mingei” is a more popular word than Sashiko. Soetsu (Muneyoshi) Yanagi found the beauty in “usage” – calling it “You-Soku-Bi 用即美”. He defined “Mingei” with 8 characteristics of its function & beauty. Sashiko was also found as a part of this movement. I am “Not” saying Sashiko is equal to Mingei, though. It is true that Sashiko “can” be under the definition of “Mingei”, but for me who actually have observed people stitching, it is more… personal. When Mingei categorizes the beauty in a “community”, I find Sashiko in a smaller size such as “family”… or even “parent and child”.
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I won’t explain the whole picture of my understanding toward Mingei & Sashiko here. It will be like a chapter (which I wrote & it became a chapter on Patreon…). All I am doing here by sharing stories is to ask you/them to not to “define” the answer so easily. Unfortunately, without understanding Japanese, one cannot fully understand what Sashiko is. No need to understand Sashiko fully to enjoy Sashiko itself – I just want to stop the trend of “someone” being a master without even knowing these “basic” knowledge. In Japan, I will try to find a sample of “Mingei”, and hopefully I can elaborate more while sharing more photos & stories. (But again, for me, Sashiko isn’t really equal to Mingei).
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もしかしたら配信で図を書きながらの説明になるかもしれませんが、個人的に「刺し子」と「民藝」は横一列には並ばないと思っています。「用即美」の概念含め、民藝で定義された美学と刺し子が一致する箇所は沢山あります。でも、では「刺し子は民藝か？」と問われると、自信を持って「はい！」とは答えられないのです。多分民藝だけど、でも、ちょっと民藝っぽくないとこも…と曖昧にしたまま今日を迎えていて、もっと言うと、この曖昧さが大切かなすら思っているところです。そんなに難しく考えなくて良いのですが、日本国外で言葉が一人歩きして勝手な答えを身に纏い出すと、やっぱり考えてしまうのですよ。
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#Sashiko #刺し子 #JapaneseSashiko #民藝 #mingeivia IFTTT