#invisiblemending

The pockets aren't perfect, but they're better than they were.

I am slicing my life off to share what the Sashiko is for us. I am not sharing Sashiko only for “fun” or “money”. It is for my dignity. Sashiko is my identity. ☆ Some say, ‘’Any publicity is good publicity”. I agree. If my goal is to be “famous”, any publicity is awesome. However, when it comes to “protecting my own culture in foreign environment”, not all publicity is good, because it takes more energy to correct the misunderstanding than just “sharing”. There are many articles about Sashiko associating to Visible Mending. There are many mentioning Sashiko and Boro as the techniques. If you follow this account for a while, you know Sashiko is not (only) the word for Visible Mending (for reasons), and the Sashiko is not (only) about learning the “Sashiko technique”. They aren’t so much “wrong”, but very much “insufficient”. ☆ I guess what I am trying to do is “unteaching” as we all need some “unlearning” before learning something new. Please, please try to be as “respectful” as possible. It is easy to shout “Sashiko is New Visible Mending Technique!” and find someone who can support the voice, but there is a pain behind that convenience. I found an article saying, “Easy Sashiko Japanese Visible Mending”. If the writer doesn’t know anything about Sashiko, it is unfortunate but understandable. If they (think they) knows about Sashiko, then this is a good example of “Cultural Appropriation (or more like Cultural Ignorance)”. ☆ - - - ☆ ”取材”について。2019年に一度ブチギレて配信でも愚痴ったことがあるので記憶にある方もいらっしゃるかもしれませんが、一度、本の一部を書かないかという提案がありました。報酬を確認したところ、「私の本に取り上げてあげようとしてるのよ！報酬どころか、私にお金を払ってでも書きたい人は沢山いるのよ」と、とんでもなく失礼な事を言われた件です。英語の諺で、”any publicity is good publicity”というものがあります。意訳ですが「有名になる為にはどんな手段でもOK」的な感じです。炎上商法とかもこっちかな。でもね、目的が有名になることじゃないんですよ。”刺し子を知ってもらうこと”なんです。前提から違う。 ☆ #Sashiko #SashikoStitching #VisibleMending #InvisibleMending #JapaneseSashiko #刺し子 https://www.instagram.com/p/CK9qOqWJIjV/?igshid=19vblasrk26oy

Back to the topic of Sustainable Fashion a little bit. Yes, I repair my own clothes. I haven’t purchased clothes since 2017 when I decided to try this “Social Experiment”. However, I am not an extreme activist. This is merely a choice. I dare not to ask people around to stop purchasing the new clothes. ☆ As I keep saying, the key of “sustainability (with Sashiko)” is an ability to imagine “as if” we were. It is the “Care” we should have naturally. “Care” isn’t even an ability - it is a choice - we just choose (or not) to care in certain things. For that, Fashion is full of caring. A designer who offers new value to society. Tailors who make clothes with artisanship. It is a beautiful thing to think of someone when we purchase a Jacket while thinking of the “someone”. It is a wonderful moment to wear something new toward the new day. Recycling with “whatever” is not the answer of Sustainable Fashion. I don’t have the answer yet, but I am sure that “care” is a very important factor. ☆ I do not want “Happiness over someone’s pain”. However, unfortunately, in Capitalism, it is very difficult to avoid all of the possibilities. We may benefit from someone’ pain. How do we change it? Being mindful. Being caring. Think before we act. Learn it so we can avoid ignoring. For that, Sashiko is a good way to be mindful and slow us down. (Sashiko is NOT a word for Slow Stitching. Stitching slow itself isn’t praised in Sashiko - at least, I was very much criticized in my childhood for stitching slow.). ☆ - - - ☆ どんどん英語化しているこのアカウントですが、”できるだけ機械翻訳で英語を日本語にして読んで欲しくない”という我儘があったりします。それだけ英語で書いている言葉自体は僕が大切にした本質からは外れます。（本質を伝える目的の為に、敢えて本質から外れた手段を選んでいるとご理解下さい）。行間を読む（空気を読む）ことと想像力。ムラ社会の日本に存在した良くも悪くもある文化を、如何に伝えるか。◯◯活動家になりたいわけじゃないんです。ただ、英語圏では、主張をしないとスタート地点にすら立てないので。今年の目標です。しっかり日本語でも気持ちを纏めます（配信で語っている内容です）。 ☆ #Sashiko #JapaneseSashiko #SustainableFashion #SlowFashion #SashikoDenim #InvisibleMending #Mending #日本人の刺し子 #刺し子 #刺し子ジーンズ https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ1FLwcpxw_/?igshid=15h984xljnfn2

Sorting through a box of Japanese vintage fabric that Keiko collected for a special project. The Japanese vintage fabric obtained its value in the last 10 years. It used to be not so expensive… now it is extremely difficult to find a good vintage fabric (Good vintage fabric equals a piece of well-suitable fabric for Sashiko stitching). ☆ We can make “authentic Boro” by making it and using it. I teach how to do Sashiko so that anyone can make their own “Boro”. At the same time, in Sashi.Co & Patreon, I share the importance of “Not-fantasizing the Boro too much”. Boro existed in the ordinary of Japanese - in fact, the ordinary of poverty. ☆ It is very important to have good materials to feel it. These package may be available in our store. I could “add” stitches and offer it as the “end-product”. However, I want them to stitch it for themselves as well. ☆ #Sashiko #JapaneseFabric #VintageFabric #Kofu #Boro #JapaneseBoro #Mending #InvisibleMending #Visiblemending #ToBeBoro #BoroArt  #刺し子 #襤褸  https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ7UPlendvD/?igshid=1wvyng7l0afiu

“To be Boro” Sashiko Throws: Theme. Generation of Hon-Indigo Dye. Made mainly by Keiko (@Sashi.Co) and Atsushi. Sold. Thank you. ☆ Before 2020, I introduce & offer these “One-of-a-kind” items that we occasionally create. It is the best way to communicate face to face, how it is made, with touching the actual texture. However, after the new society, offering the in-person workshop became a big challenge. ☆ Instead, I decided to make a website where I can offer the “One-of-a-kind” items, with those who are interested in purchasing them. Since everything is moving to online, it is a necessary task to enrich the web… so, I will push (advertise) the on-going website that I started a year ago. (Yes, a year ago…. I have been quite busy). ☆ I will keep updating. The password for the “One-of-a-kind” page will be shared when I actually list something for sale. ☆ #Sashiko #JapaneseFabric #VintageFabric #Kofu #Boro #JapaneseBoro #Mending #InvisibleMending #Visiblemending #ToBeBoro #BoroArt #刺し子 #襤褸 https://www.japanesesashiko.com/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CEYEfpSHVQq/?igshid=nt4mmwocnvyp

Congratulations To President-Elect Joe Biden. I respect the U.S. to vote for their own future. Majority rule is a fundamental of today’s society. Let’s keep it in mind. Majority rule is a means for organizing government and deciding public issues; it is not another road to oppression. ☆ Considering a case of passing down a “culture”, I am not a big fan of majority decisions. Loud voices (Ability to write / power to publish / capitalism) can create a majority understanding. How about the silent voice that was not “introduced”? Japanese are well-known as a “silent majority”. We barely speak up our “opinions”. Within this silent majority, what I am trying to do is to pick up the voice from the silent minority.  ☆ I thought I was in a majority of Sashiko 15 years ago. Now, in a “normal” of Sashiko in English, I have become a stone in a big stream of trends. That’s how the world changes with keeping silent. That’s how majority rule can over-paint the culture. I know everyone means well. They have good intentions. However, unfortunately, as long as there are people with pain, it "can" be a form of oppression. Therefore, I decided to be a loud-minority. I used to be a silent majority in my own culture - now, I have to be the loud minority, in my own culture again. Please listen to the voice of Japanese Sashiko. ☆ - - - ☆ アメリカ大統領選挙、結果が出ましたね。選挙人の数だけ見れば圧勝ですが、実際はとても接戦だった様に思います。民衆主義の大原則である多数決の結果です。 ☆ こと”文化”に限ってですが、僕は多数決が嫌いです。英語では「多数決の原則」みたいな本もあって、そこには「少数派を抑圧するような多数決であってはならない」と書いてあるのですが、文化に限っては数が多い少ないで決められるようなものじゃないと思うんです。っていうか、両方あって良いやん？（大統領が二人いたら困るので、選挙は多数決が必須です）。 ☆ 出版やメディアという流れの中では”人気”が大切で、その人気が多数派を作ります。だからこそ、静かな少数派の意見も丁寧に伺いたいなと思っています。あ、ちなみに、僕はまだ日本語での刺し子だと（静かな）多数派だと思っています。ただ、英語圏だと、どうやら少数派。なんでここまで捩れがでるんでしょうね。これも面白い考察になりそうです。 ☆ #Sashiko #JapaneseSashiko #Boro #JapaneseBoro #InvisibleMending #Mending #日本の日常 #刺し子 #襤褸 https://www.instagram.com/p/CHTMqNOJ8KM/?igshid=1h3j05rdqqcl1

I have shared this photo here and there. It may not be the first time to post on Instagram. I apologize if it is not something new to you. However, the image often communicates the message more than words. ☆ Again. “Boro” is not a word for Visible Mending. The patches are inside. ☆ Please do not get me wrong. I enjoy “Visible Mending” myself, and “Boro”s are beautiful. I have been enjoying “non-traditional” denim mending for more than a decade. I just want to say that “Boro” is not someone’s word to express their self-assertion ☆ I believe mending culture exists(ed) everywhere in the world. Often, it was from poverty. So is Boro. Celebrating the word “Boro” for what they did not want to do is a bit too much, don’t you think? ☆ This is a “To-Be-Boro” Jacket I am “wearing” today. It is folded in a drawer so I can wear it again in winter. It is a culture of 2~500 years old with limited documents (They did not want to leave). So, we can only synchronize our “caring”. Again, don’t get me wrong. I am happy that people are celebrating their visible mending as “Boro”. Just “(Try to ) care” the origin behind (especially if one is making teaching/selling/publishing for commercial purpose). ☆ - - - ☆ もう何度も紹介している襤褸（になりつつある）ジャケット。僕がNYCで刺し子を紹介する際に襤褸の話は避けて通れないだろうということで、「実物が何よりも語るよね」と、恵子さんが作ってくれ、今はそれを引き継いで僕が紡いでいるジャケットです。 ☆ 襤褸は素敵だ！は大歓迎です。実際僕も素敵だと思うし。ただ、「カラフルで自由な芸術性を求めた襤褸」は、その原点を無視されているようで、やっぱり嫌なんです。本来、きっと、襤褸を作った人は、襤褸を作りたくなかったわけで。その葛藤があったからこその美しさで、そこに到達する為には、思いを重ねるしかないんだろうなと。 ☆ #Sashiko #Art #Craft #SashikoStitching #JapaneseSashiko #Boro #InvisibleMending #UpcycleStitches #JapaneseBoro #Artist #Artisan #刺し子 #襤褸 https://www.instagram.com/p/B_rzSB7JIwj/?igshid=gudrkf8q4mhu

My friend was right. It is too late to introduce a whole picture of “Boro (& Sashiko)”. Her advice was based on her experience in both Japanese & Western fabric industry & her network. I was more idealistic, and she knew the reality better. Her observation was quite accurate. However… even if it is too late, what can I do? It is my identity we are talking about. ☆ It is too late, but I cannot (should not) stop sharing. I hope you (who follow this account. Thank you/) will be the one who passes down the whole picture of Sashiko and Boro to the next generation. Boro is NOT the word for the “Visible Mending”. Yes, Boro as a result is beautiful. However, the current trend of Boro (& Sashiko) has messed up “orders”. If you have been following us, I believe you know what I mean by “orders”. ☆ It is sad that I may be facing an actuarial cultural repainting. Celebrating the colorful, obvious, and self‐assertive patchworking is opposite of the Boro I have received - the necessary fabric with caring stitching, in which our ancestors put them in the ground (to hide). Sashiko & Boro were(are) the result of quiet voices. I will continue speaking up… even though it is too late. ☆ Occasionally, I disagree with what Keiko does. Her “playful-mind” goes over my comfort zone. The photo, Keiko wonder if it is Boro, I say, "Don't know". However, she “knows” the origin. If the majority start “not caring” about the origin, and focusing on the trend, then what I do for my life is repainted (deleted from the surface) soon or later. Do I compromise to survive? Or, do I keep this small stream of Japanese “tradition” next to the mainstream of trend? I don’t know. What I can do is to keep advocating what I am proud of - the identity I finally realize. Umm. I guess I am angry (probably way too tired). ☆ - - - ☆ 「虹色に彩られた襤褸」。これが今の襤褸のトレンドを表す一言かもしれません。もっと雑に言うと、カラフルな自己主張の強い襤褸。原色をふんだんに使ったハギレの重ね合わせた自己主張の強いものを襤褸という言葉で表現するのであれば、その襤褸を恥ずかしく思い、土に埋めた人の気持ちはどこに行くのか。ちょっと苛立っております。やっぱり配信が必要だな。ちなみに、「玉虫色に輝く襤褸」だと、同じカラフルでも嫌悪感がない不思議。 ☆ #Sashiko #JapaneseSashiko #SlowStitching #SashikoStitching #Unshin #Boro #InVisibleMending #JapaneseBoro #刺し子 #運針 #襤褸 https://www.instagram.com/p/B_nprydpL6L/?igshid=osf6d0fyi6z5