Japan · Textile Arts / Weaving
南部裂織 (Nanbu sakiori); saki = tear, ori = weave; loom term jibata (地機, ground loom)
Weaving from the Nanbu (southeastern Aomori) region in which worn cotton clothing and cloth is torn into thin strips and used as the weft, with cotton (formerly hemp) warps, on a ground loom whose tension the weaver holds with the body. It grew from the scarcity of cotton in a cold climate and produced durable, warm kotatsu covers, obi, work clothes and aprons whose colors are unpredictable until woven. Nanbu sakiori became a prefecturally designated traditional craft in March 1996 and is now kept alive by preservation societies and workshops in Hachinohe, Towada and other Nanbu towns. The general technique is described in CRAFT-2955 (Sakiori Rag-Weft Weaving).
Risk level: Vulnerable (kept alive mainly by preservation societies and hobbyist weavers; hemp weaving ended with the 1948 Cannabis Control Law) · Not inscribed
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