Sashiko
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Sashiko is a type of traditional Japanese embroidery or stitching used for the decorative and/or functional reinforcement of cloth and clothing. Owing to the relative cheapness and abundance of white
Detail of a mid-19th-century kimono decorated using sashiko, with white cotton threads on an indigo-dyed plain weave background (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Child's sleeping mat (boro shikimono), late 1800s. The stitches are decorative, but also functional; they hold the pieced cotton rags together
An assortment of sashiko designs
Reversible Fireman's Coat with Interlocking Circles, Chinese Characters and Ginkgo Leaves LACMA M.2000.78
Hikeshi banten
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Hikeshi banten is a reversible hanten coat worn by hikeshi, Japanese firefighters of the Edo period, often decorated with symbolic images. Firefighter brigades consisted either of samurai or commoners
Sashiko
…ultimately stronger. It would also be used to layer thin fabrics to create warmth, and, in the case of some garments such as the coats of firemen (hikeshi banten), to create a thick and absorbent material that would be soaked in water before carrying out duties as a fireman. Though most sashiko utilises only a…
Fireman's coat, Japan, Late Edo period, 1800 1850 AD, cotton, paste resist dyed Textile Museum, George Washington University DSC09527
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