If you thought quilts were a Western art, think again!
š§µYou know how Japan embraces stuff from all over the world, and then turns it uniquely Japanese? Every year at the end of January, Tokyo hosts one of the most magnificent displays of quilting in the worldāthe Tokyo International Quilt Festival.* Japanese artists come from a long tradition of meticulous craftsmanship, so when it comes to quilting, their fiber artists really outdo themselves. The charming Japanese motifs are the most obvious way they make us look at quilts in a whole new way, but they also deploy very Japanese color choices and traditional Japanese sewing techniques. Without further ado, feast your eyes on THESE!
First, my favorites, because they blend such wonderful meanings with beautiful imagery
This one features lots and lots of sparrows, and is called āVoiceā (by Yoshiko Karagiri) because the artist gently disagrees with the famous Japanese saying, āOne craneās voice is louder than a thousand sparrows.ā In other words, she thinks that the opinions of the common people ought to be stronger the pronouncements of the powerful.
āKimono Meet-Upā by Akiko Yoshinaga is about the very Japanese pastime of friends going see an event together, after agreeing they’ll all wear kimonos. I often see these groups of ladies at museums or having lunch together at a restaurant, enjoying each other’s combinations, which are never the same twice.
But it’s also a monument to the sheer number of painstaking hours Japanese artists are willing to put into a piece. This quilt features over 1500 appliqued and embroidered ladies wearing kimonos, and no two are the same
āKaleidoscopeā by Hideko Onozaki looks like a lovely but typical quilt pieced from all kinds of printed fabrics…
…until you notice that each of the patterns on the pieces is hand-embroidered in traditional Japanese sashiko quilting techniques
The pictures on the fans in āMoving Picture: An Homage to Doshokusaieā by Reiko Nakahara pay tribute to…
…18th century Japanese painter ItÅ JakuchÅ«. He was famous for his animal paintings, and I’m sure you can find the ones on the cover of this book in the quilt!
And that leads us into quilts that celebrate other uniquely Japanese arts and techniques
Besides being a masterpiece of applique, āThe Kumiko Suiteā by Keiko Morihiro celebrates the equally labor-intensive and precision-requiring traditional craft of kumiko woodworking…
…in which intricate patterns are pieced together from precisely cut pieces of bamboo, and held in their frames entirely by pressureāno nails, no glue, NOTHING but friction and gravity.
Let’s look at a tiny detail of this quilt, shall we?
Indigo dyeing is one of the oldest Japanese arts, and āListen!ā by Noriko Hasegawa celebrates the changing beauty of indigo as it fades and ages
āReleasingā by Etsuko Misaka is also a play on indigo and traditional Japanese fabric patterns, creating a modern optical illusion of a square that appears and disappears depending how close you are to the quilt
And then there are the ones that are all about the strongest theme in all Japanese art and literature: the seasons
Spring
What could be more seasonal (or labor intensive AIEEEE) than the venerable tree depicted in āCherry Blossomsā by Masako Sakagami
In case you thought that gnarled old trunk was a quilter’s fantasy, check out this thousand-year-old cherry tree I visited in Fukushima known as Miharu Takizakura!
āWisteria and Peonies Throw a Partyā by Sadako Kagoshima is a quilt about that brief moment in the spring when the peonies are still in bloom, and the wisteria start to flower. These flowers are seldom seen togetherāwisteria is a twining vine trained over arbors for shade, and peonies are raised in beds for showāso their coming together refers to a rare, but possible, event
Village men dressed up as oni demons for a spring festival in āIn Memory of Fatherā by Yoshiko Kawakita(You can tell it’s spring, because the bamboo in the background is just sprouting!)
Summer
I love āGoldfish Versus the Fish Netā by Satomi Tominaga because she actually pieced it from…
…the goldfish-printed gauze dish towels that are EVERYWHERE in Japan
And because it so playfully pays homage to that ultimate summertime activity, trying to catch goldfish with a paper net at a festival
Going on a date to see the fireworks while wearing traditional summer kimonos is the top romantic thing to do in the summertime (āFireworksā by Makiko Mori)
Late summer means awaordori dance exhibitions, and this swirl of movement captures that festival atmosphere perfectly (āDancing in the Windā by Masako Sakagami)
Autumn
I love this one, because I recognized the place immediately! āSunbeams Between The Treesā by Hiroko Oouchi
Uncannily accurate, am I right? I took this photo the first time I went to see the wild higanbana amaryllis at Kinchakuda Park, near Koma. They bloom for only a few days, right at the autumnal equinox.
This one has the same higanbana flowers, but āMemory of An Unspoiled Landscapeā by Kazuko Tanaka shows them the way they usually grow wild in Japan, suddenly appearing at roadsides and on the borders of the small graveyards that dot the deep countryside
The bug-eaten leaves of late autumn become even more beautiful in āSilver Hammockā by Kumiko Morita
And the annual carpeting of the ground in gold under the gingko trees is perfectly captured in āThe Street of Golden Leavesā by Keiko Kimura
āFlowers in Modeā by Michiko Sonobe is super-Japanese in two ways: it uses a very Japanese color palette, and features flowers associated strongly with all four seasons, in a way that make this “flower quilt” not about the flowers themselves, but about the passage of time throughout the year
Winter
This gorgeously appliqued study of tree trunks in a snowstorm…
…uses lace and white tulle overlays to give the unusual effect of frost and snow falling
And finally, quilts with depictions of satisfyingly only-in-Japan things
The auspiciously festive whole snapper served when there’s something to celebrate āCongratulations, I Want to Eat, I Want to Loveā (“Medetai, tabetai, koishitai”) by Chizuko Kojima
The summer wind bells known as “furin” chime at the slightest breeze, to make you feel cooler in the summer heat (“Wind Chime” by Koseki Suzuko)
All the ways to eat rice, in āRice ā Things We Can Doā made by the 8th & 9th grade students of Kawaguchi City Junior High School
“Kokeshi’s Stories” by Megumi Mizuno brings delightfully animated kokeshi dolls and daruma figures to life
Kokeshi dolls have a scroll of paper inside their long bodies, which are often signed by friends and well-wishers, then given on a special occasion
Every family in Japan has a circular family crest (most often seen on formal kimonos and gravestones) and this tour de force of applique and quilting stitches riffs on some of the most beautiful ones
āUltimate Autumnā by Reiko Nakahara uses an Escher-like tesselation technique to give the impression of falling leaves…but with ornamental koi fish
*So many wonderful events fell victim to the pandemic, and I was beyond sad to hear that the Tokyo International Quilt Festival was one of them. I only pray that it will be resurrected again, once travel restrictions lift ( ; _ ; )
Did you enjoy this feature? Come back and join me next month by subscribing! It’s free.
For three hundred years, a missing masterpiece is passed from one fortune seeker to the next, changing the lives of all who possess itā¦read more In paperback, ebook or audiobook
āļøāļøāļøāļøāļø The Last Tea Bowl Thiefwas chosen as an Editor’s Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense on Amazon
āA fascinating mix of history and mystery.ā āBooklist
I know you’ve seen most of them before (o faithful quilt post reader!) but I never get tired of seeing them! I was reminded just how many amazing quilts there were at these shows as I looked through my gazillion photos for this post, and wished I’d gotten a hit with the clue stick sooner, because I didn’t think to take info card snaps of the earliest ones. I so want to post photos of more, but it seems wrong to do it without artist attribution ( ; _ ; )
Thanks for showcasing these quilts, Jonelle!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know you’ve seen most of them before (o faithful quilt post reader!) but I never get tired of seeing them! I was reminded just how many amazing quilts there were at these shows as I looked through my gazillion photos for this post, and wished I’d gotten a hit with the clue stick sooner, because I didn’t think to take info card snaps of the earliest ones. I so want to post photos of more, but it seems wrong to do it without artist attribution ( ; _ ; )
LikeLike
Love, Love, Love ⤠the quilts! What inspirations.
LikeLike