Ainu textiles

(Apologies for the font size - Blogger is insisting on publishing this page in the very smallest size)

While researching Ainu patterns for my embroidery course I came across a book called "Textiles of Japan (The Thomas Murray Collection)" by Prestel publishing.

https://prestelpublishing.randomhouse.de/book/Textiles-of-Japan-eng-/Thomas-Murray/Prestel/e549631.rhd

The contents sounded very interesting and featured a far broader range of Japanese textiles than other books (ie not just silk kimono).  With an eye-watering recommended retail price of £75 it's not an impulse buy but I looked at online prices and it's easily available for around £50.  Slightly less eye-watering but for 520 pages of non-kimono Japanese textiles; good reviews on Amazon; and a selfless desire to support the economy during Covid-19, I decided to splash out and buy the book.

And I am very pleased I did!  The book is MASSIVE - more than 4cm thick.  The photography is excellent and the introductory sections and descriptions are very informative.  The book has three sections: the first on Ainu; the middle (and largest section) on mingei (folk arts - the more familiar type of garments); and the last on Okinawa (the most southern island of Japan).

So far I've only studied the Ainu section in depth.  It's very informative and felt like the lock-down equivilent of visiting an excellent exhibition.  I highly recommend this book!

There's a lovely summing up of Ainu textiles:

"To say the textile art of the Ainu is compelling is the grossest of understatements.

...

Designs that were intended to ward off malevolent spririts have the opposite effect on human beings; they draw us into their labyrinth in a manner that makes it very hard to look away."

Here are some examples of the Ainu robes.

Retarpe ("white things") made from nettle fibre, a natural white colour:

Attush (at = elm; tush = bark) made from elm bark fibre:

Chikarkarpe ("the things we embroider") made from cotton.  The robes in the book have brown base fabric that has a stripe or plain pattern woven into it.

Kaparamip ("thin clothes") made from cotton.  Note the different style of applique and that it covers the whole of the front and back:

Ruunpe - made of cotton with applique fabric in different colours:

Chijiri - embroidered directly onto the fabric with no applique:

The embroidery in this example is astonishingly accurate:

There are a few Ainu items that are not clothing, eg this apron:

And this is from the Okinawa section, to give an example of the colourful fabric that is so different from the indigo patterns we are familiar with.  The fabric is called bingata and although it is made of cotton it was highly valued and used for Ryukyuan royalty on Okinawa.