Japan · Textile Arts / Weaving
裂織 (sakiori; saki = tear, ori = weave); regional variants of the word include sakkori, sakkuri and zakkuri; related terms zuzure and boro in some districts
A way of weaving in which worn cotton cloth, usually old kimono, is torn or cut into thin strips and used as the weft, with a hemp or other bast-fiber warp (cotton or silk in later work), on a loom to make thick, warm, durable cloth. It grew in the snowy north of Japan, where cotton could not be grown and secondhand cotton arrived by coastal ship, and it was made for work clothes, vests, aprons, obi, bedding and kotatsu covers. Weavers in the Sea of Japan and northern Honshu districts used it most, but scholars note it was not exclusive to Aomori. It is now being revived as an upcycling technique in sustainable fashion.
Risk level: Vulnerable as a utilitarian tradition (replaced by cheap manufactured cloth after World War II); revived by preservation societies and fashion · Not inscribed
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