8 Textiles
These coats were rarely worn after the 1930s
Traditional Awaji fisherman’s coat, Awaji Island, first half of the 20th century Iwaya Shinto shrine on Awaji Island, the home of the creator deities
Roberts,
According to historian Luke of
the University of
California at Santa Barbara, who co-curated the exhibition Japanese Fishermen’s Coats from Awaji Island in 2001 with Los Angeles County Museum of Art Japanese textile expert
Sharon
more than 20 fine examples of the island’s unique sashiko no donza have
been preserved. In 1975, Sadako Takeda,
sashiko no donza were rarely worn after 1930, when fishermen began putting engines in their boats and other forms of mechanisation significantly altered the way of life in the string of villages along the island’s northern coast. In the wake of industrialisation, men’s formal clothing styles changed to factory- made business suits Running-thread
sashiko
and jackets. quilting
long practised by the fishermen’s wives and mothers was replaced by machine-stitched clothing. Tanks to one man’s determination, however,
Tominaga Takashi began a personal mission to collect sashiko no donza historical artefacts from the five villages that comprise the town of Hokudan. Among the representative items of the region’s fishing culture that Tominaga acquired are thousands of clay octopus pots, some dating from the Jomon period (circa 10,000 BC to circa 300 BC). As well as collecting old fishing
gear for his museum, he searched out examples of the garments fishermen wore – not for work on the boats, but for related activities such as selling fish and the annual blessing of the fishing boats. Although farmers in northern
Japan also traditionally wore sashiko- quilted coats, on Awaji Island and
throughout much of central and southern Japan they were worn solely by fishermen and sailors. Te fishermen wore their sashiko no donza about town, to parties, while visiting friends, and while assuming positions of authority on the job. Sailors wishing to appear well- dressed wore them into ports of call for an evening’s entertainment. Wives and mothers created these
coats for their menfolk. Te finest, most elaborate of them, which took from two to six months to complete, were saved for special or formal events. Fishermen would wear the coats unbelted – without either the traditional straw rope (nawa) obi worn for work or the silk obi used for dressing up – so that the designs enveloping the body could be viewed without obstruction. Since no two sashiko no donza are
identical, people would marvel at the different designs. Te construction of sashiko no donza differs from most Japanese quilted items, which are padded with unspun cotton. When wet, such wadding becomes heavy and is slow to dry. Instead, sashiko no donza were composed of
more layers of dyed cotton fabric stitched together with white cotton thread. More like thick darning yarn than fine thread, the overall patterning of white stitching added another layer of protection against cold and damp weather, as well as identifying the wearer’s occupation within the feudal hierarchy. Te most intricately stitched
sashiko no donza patterns dazzle the eye, visually transforming the flat surface of the cloth into three- dimensional shapes. Each coat part – front, back, centre-front overlaps,
collar, and sleeves - functions as a logical, predetermined section on which to organise different sashiko stitch patterns. Many of the coats are simply decorated with parallel vertical running stitches. Others feature dense zigzag or
three or
herringbone designs or variations on traditional persimmon flower and lozenge patterning. Te most locally derived of all the sashiko patterns are the geometric grids overlaid at each intersection with criss-cross stitches which, in appearance, resemble the knotted configuration of fishing nets. While sashiko no donza are still performers during the
worn by
Bountiful Fishing Festival, held at Awaji Town on the second Sunday of March each year, their proud role as distinctive almost
regional cultural memory. costume faded into the has realm of
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Shaikh Zain ud-Din, Black-Hooded Oriole and Insect on Jackfruit Stump (detail), Calcutta, 1778, watercolour. Gift of Elizabeth and Willard Clark, Minneapolis Institute of Art
Shaikh Zain ud-Din, Black-Hooded Oriole and Insect on Jackfruit Stump (detail), Calcutta, 1778, watercolour. Gift of Elizabeth and Willard Clark, Minneapolis Institute of Art
Shaikh Zain ud-Din, Black-Hooded Oriole and Insect on Jackfruit Stump (detail), Calcutta, 1778, watercolour. Gift of Elizabeth and Willard Clark, Minneapolis Institute of Art
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