Textiles 7


A fishing place in Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture, circa 1920. Awaji constituted its own province between the 7th-19th centuries. After the Meiji Restoration, Awaji was incorporated into Hyogo Prefecture in the Kansai region. Today, Awaji Island is connected to Honshu Island by the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world.


FISHERMEN’S COATS FROM AWAJI ISLAND


A


waji Island, in the Seto Inland Sea, is considered Japan’s ‘first island’ according to the Kojiki


(712), and holds great cultural significance as the legendary birthplace of the nation, being the first island created in the Japanese archipelago by deities Izanagi and Izanami. Izanagi (Male-who-invites) and Izanami (Female-who-invites), are the central Shinto creator deities in Japanese mythology.


Tey


created Awaji Island as the very first of the Oyashima (eight great islands) of the Japanese archipelago.


After


descending from heaven, they stirred the sea with a spear, and the brine dripping from it formed Onokoro Island,


off its shores. Today, highways and bridges connect Awaji Island to its larger


island neighbours, Honshu


and Shikoku. Sadly, many of the historic buildings in the fishing villages were destroyed in the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake. Indigo-dyed quilted cotton coats


called donza were traditionally worn throughout rural Japan prior to the 20th century. Like many traditional costumes that have fallen out of favour in past decades, the elaborately embroidered coats of the Awaji fishermen are no longer worn as indicators of status


within the community. Tese coats are renowned for their intricate white-on-


where they


established their home and began the kuniumi (birth of the land) process. Situated between Honshu and


Shikoku, the island served as a vital, historic, and agricultural conduit for the imperial court. During the Heian period (794- 1185) and earlier, the island was first known as Miketsukuni, providing abundant food and marine products to the Imperial court. Today, it preserves ancient traditions in the Awaji Ningyo Joruri puppetry, traditional incense making, and is the location for significant Shinto sites,


including


the oldest shrine, Izanagi Jingu. It is also home to a distinctive regional dress – the fishermen’s coats of Awaji. At the northern tip of Awaji, a


steep-hilled island 50 kilometres long and 20 kilometres wide, lies just off the port city of Kobe. In imperial times the island’s name was changed to Mikkekoku (Land of Food) in recognition of the abundance of its farm produce and the seafood caught


Traditional Awaji fisherman’s coat, Awaji Island,


first half of the 20th century


indigo geometric patterns, created by women to provide warmth and strength for fishermen. Tese heavily stitched, layered indigo- dyed cotton coats, popular through the 1920s, functioned as protective, durable work wear and stylish, symbolic garments for community festivals. Te coats, which could take many months to make, represented care and protection. While most sashiko no donza were made by fisherwomen for their husbands or grandmothers


for their grandsons, wealthier families would


commission skilled


needlewomen to embroider more elaborate sashiko designs. Many of these designs date back to at least the 17th century and were talismanic, protecting the wearer from misfortune at sea. Te Iwaya Shinto shrine, on the northern tip of Awaji, still preserves a small number of these jackets for use at the annual Bountiful Fish Festival, where the creator deities of Japan, Izanagi-no-mikoto and Izanami-no-mikoto are enshrined.


Continued on page 8 ASIAN ART | MARCH 2026 JAPANESE


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