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Boro Book
Boro - Rags and Tatters from the Far North of Japan
From the frozen north of Japan, a form of textile evolved out of desparate necessity during the Edo Period and throughout the Meiji Period, called boro — or rags.
Impoverished, cold, and cotton-deprived, the dirt poor farmers of the Aomori Prefecture created work clothing, shoes and bedding by means of handstiching layers upon layers of scraps using anything they could get their hands upon, mostly hemp and shards of indigo-dyed cotton that occasionally made their way north. Their only focus, pure and simple: a shivering desire for warmth.
However, despite its utilitarian origin, the resultant heavily patchworked aesthetic with its distinct colors and sashiko stitching, easily represents the finest example of unintentional folk craft, or found art ever before seen. The compositions, textures and wear patterns look more at home on a gallery wall than a body at times and would surely give any Parisian fashion house a run for their money. This really is as good as it gets.
Presented in this book is the collection of Chuzaburo Tanaka, who alone travelled the villages of Aomori from the 1960's to present seeking out the best examples of this rare, long-forgotten, historical fabric.
by Yukiko Koide and Kyoichi Tsuzuki (2009)
128 pages. Paperback. Full-color. Japanese / English (21 x 16.8 x 1.8 cm).
Printed in Japan
$84.00
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