Japanese Embroidery & Sashiko

About this book

Two great needle traditions live in Japan. Sashiko, the white running stitch on indigo, warmed and mended the cloth of farming and fishing families - and grew, stitch by stitch, into geometric patterns of waves, hemp leaves and tortoiseshells. Nihon shishu, silk embroidery, dressed kosode, obi and wedding robes in filament silk and couched gold. This complete guide brings both together in 200 entries of one clear format: the stitch and its story, its thread, cloth and technique, how it is worked in practice, and how to buy it, learn it and judge it.

Inside: the classic sashiko patterns and the palm-driven stitch itself; the counted traditions of the north - Tsugaru kogin, Nanbu hishizashi, Shonai sashiko - and the layered world of boro, noragi, firemen's coats, thousand-stitch belts and the guardian stitches on a child's back; the silk techniques of Japanese embroidery, from seed stitch and gradation shading to gold couching and nuihaku; forty motifs and their meanings, from the three friends of winter to the treasure ship; and the stitcher's whole world of threads, needles, thimbles, kits, shops, museums, vintage cloth, care, repair and the modern visible-mending movement.

Written and produced in Japan by a Japanese author and publisher, with model project sets, an index by place and a full glossary. Prices, stock and opening hours are never asserted - every entry closes with the instruction to confirm them in official sources, so the guidance stays honest long after shelves change.