Weaving an Obi

Today Miss Sachiko and I had planned to go to a concert at the I-Link building, but when she arrived Sachiko said there was a Textile Exhibition at a little Gallery in Suwada and today was the last day.  Which did I want to go to.  She knew the answer - Textiles.

The exhibits were mainly obi and kimono or things made from obi or kimono. In the center of the room was a loom and it wasn't too long till a woman in kimono sat down to the loom and began weaving on an obi. She was clearly flattered at the attention of 5 or so people and happy for me to take pictures. Her work is incredible. For example the piece at the right.  It's something easily recognized in Japan - take no ko (maybe literally "little one of the bamboo") Americans probably won't recognize this as the source of their "bamboo shoots" but here it is sold in the spring - whole, looking something like this.

Here is the weaver at the loom happily chatting away while weaving.  Her base warp thread is white and her pattern was being worked in gold, bronze, green and yellow mainly. The loom itself was a thing of beauty. Her work was varied and really quite interesting.  I find that the photos I took show more dimension that I noticed when looking at them. I also found my own reflection in some of the framed pieces :-/




To see the whole set please go to the link here: https://picasaweb.google.com/107123733477272247567/AWalkAndAnExhibition#