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五 · Cloth — Tsugaru, Aomori

Kogin-zashi

Peasants were forbidden cotton. So they stitched cotton into hemp until it was warm.

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Kogin-zashi — Tsugaru, Aomori
Tsugaru, Aomori · Edo period, out of necessity

In Edo-period Tsugaru the domain forbade farmers to wear cotton. Hemp was permitted, and hemp in the far north is a cold, open cloth. Cotton thread, however, was not the same thing as cotton cloth, and it could be got.

So the women stitched. Counting over odd numbers of warp threads — one, three, five, seven — they filled the hemp with white cotton until the weave closed and the garment held heat. The patterns are built from small named units, and they were handed down by watching, not by drawing.

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Kogin-zashi — at the workshop
At the workshop
How it is made
  1. 麻布Asanuno

    The ground is hemp — open, cold, and all the law allowed.

  2. 目数えMekazoe

    Stitches are counted over odd numbers of threads: one, three, five, seven.

  3. 刺し子Sashiko

    Cotton thread is run in, filling the weave until it holds warmth.

  4. モドコModoko

    The small units combine into named patterns, handed down without paper.

It is a whole decorative tradition that exists because of a sumptuary law and a hard winter. Nobody set out to make it beautiful. They set out not to be cold.

White on indigo, geometric, and severe. It looks modern, which is the usual reward for work done with no thought of taste.

From four sides
Kogin-zashi — Front
Front
Notes
Ground
Hemp — the only cloth permitted to farmers
Thread
White cotton, counted over odd numbers
Why it exists
A sumptuary law, and the cold
Three styles
Higashi, Nishi and Mishima kogin
About the place

The far north of Honshū, where the winter comes off the Sea of Japan and stays. In the Edo period the domain forbade farmers to wear cotton. Hemp was permitted, and hemp in that climate is a cold, open cloth.

Tsugaru · Kogin counted stitching →Ask us to find one →The North · By region →

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