Farmer’s Jacket (Shigotogi)
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Probably once owned by a well-to-do farmer, this stylish and sturdy jacket is made with alternating blue, green, pink, red, and orange scraps of fabric of various widths. Strips of cotton were reused as wefts, woven together with warps of mountain wisteria (tree-bast fiber, yamafuji) in a plain-weave technique known as sakiori. This method began as a means of recycling old textiles, mainly cotton, which were too valuable to discard. Often women wove sakiori textiles on a traditional backstrap loom, using a heavy batten or hand-beater to force the thick weft into place. This jacket’s pristine condition suggests that it was never worn. Very few antique farmer’s jackets survive.
Artwork Details
- 裂織仕事着
- Title: Farmer’s Jacket (Shigotogi)
- Period: Shōwa period (1926–89)
- Date: second quarter 20th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Plain-weave cotton scraps with mountain-wisteria fiber
- Dimensions: 47 1/2 × 49 3/4 in. (120.7 × 126.4 cm)
- Classification: Costumes
- Credit Line: Promised Gift of John C. Weber
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art