Continued from yesterday’s post. The popular words, Wabi-Sabi, Zen, Ikigai… are indeed well related to the Sashiko we practice. However, they are often an “outcome (by-product)” of the practice itself – not a goal to achieve. I find accounts & information sources to try to promote their Sashiko/Boro (products/service) as “how to easily get it”. […]
Ikigai, Umami, Kotatsu, Kakeibo… There are so many Japanese words “translated (transformed, interpreted, or sometimes even twisted)” into the English Community. Sashiko and Boro aren’t as popular as the others, but they are already establishing their own meaning – unfortunately & sadly. Wabi-Sabi, Zen, Mottainai… these are popular words often combined with Sashiko to “market” […]
I try to keep my goal as “simple” as possible. It is to pass down the Sashiko we have been practicing with decent change, with as little filtration as possible. The reason I have business (@upcyclestitches) is more primitive: I just want to support my mother, who is an extra-ordinary Sashiko “artist”. This journey started […]
The society we live encourages us to not to think. In order to stay above the deluge of information, we need to keep “following” instead of thinking, as if we need to keep swimming or the trend will wipe us away. In reality, we don’t need that much information especially when our goal is to […]
I often find a big misunderstanding about my message: “he is so stubborn (resisting) to the change in Sashiko”. This isn’t true. Although I am quite stubborn in teaching, I am the opposite of “resisting” change in Sashiko. Change happens, and it is important to form culture. I welcome changes. I just want the change […]
I appreciate many feedback to the previous post: my new voice for “Cultural Sustainability”. One of the most significant misunderstandings of the word “Sashiko” and “Boro” is that they became the words for mainly “Techniques” or “Design. Yes, Sashiko requires some techniques, and I teach them in my workshop. However, it is merely a preparation […]
I used to want to be “someone special”. What I received as a privilege, Sashiko, seemed too boring and too ordinary. Interestingly, my youth was all about how to be someone else who wasn’t me. After 20~30 years, the ordinary I despised became an important element of my life. You may find some “messages” from […]
Words Matter. It is so sad to see “Sashiko” and “Boro” become whatever: or whatever they make become Sashiko and/or Boro. There aren’t Right and Wrong in Sashiko Stitchery in terms of “what one should do”. However, “whatever with intentionally ignoring what they can be” is wrong from a cultural perspective. ☆ “Not knowing itself” […]
Boro is always a result, but never definite. The discussion of exchanging “answers” about Sashiko and Boro in English isn’t wrong, but unbalanced. The result (outcome/design) can be westernized, but when “mindset (ordinary expectation)” gets unreasonably westernized, it is no longer Sashiko no matter how it looks. ☆ In my workshop, I almost never sit […]
Fabric carries Stories. Some call it fabric’s memory. Others may call it the history of fabric. I sometimes call it “Spirit” in Fabric. Cloth/Fabric separate us (human beings) from other mammals, and therefore, it is important to be mindful. ☆ Sashiko/Boro is just a Japanese word. However, words also carry Stories. It is understandable to […]