I am sorry for so many posts lately. I feel as if I am in a big whirlpool of “surprise”.
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I thought, well “hoped”, the followers here for a while would get the most important message from Sashiko. I wrote it here and there, mainly as a part of the story. Receiving so many comments tonight, I feel responsible to state it clear. I prefer they try to read between lines, but this cannot be misunderstood. It isn’t definition, history or technique. It is about the heart of Sashiko.
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It is “Appreciation (to what we have)”. Animism kicks in here. We appreciate fabric, needle, thimble, thread, and everyone/everything related to it. The comment states as if I enjoy cutting the fabric. It is inevitable to cut the fabric for many reasons & purposes, but I do NOT enjoy cutting the fabric. The artisans taught me that “Cutting fabric is equal to cutting yourself” – which is a teaching of how “careful” we should be when we cut the fabric. It is one example of appreciation. If we “have to” discuss the origin of Sashiko, “appreciation” is the origin – not how they stitched it or what they made for. It is too ordinary to generalize the origin – but I believe all Japanese “appreciated”. In this context, appreciation doesn’t mean only “gratitude”. It also includes the acceptance of their ordinary, saying “good enough” even with giving up some hope.
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This “Appreciation” is also a difficult word to describe in English as I intend to. Then, with learning here, I now use the word “mindfulness/care” as the application of “Appreciation”. More accurately, it is all 3 of those together, if it makes sense. Please do not twist this post. This is my origin as well (If you have taken my lecture, you may know why it is the origin).
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By the way, I do not block an account unless it is obviously harmful to others. Disagreement is fine (when they read what I write). There are many accounts we had “disputes”, yet they keep following me (Thank you!). Yes, I am an idealist. You may think I am an idiot, and I am aware of that. I am not strong but determined. So, I should be okay. My goal is to “pass down” and what I chose to do is “share”.
2021-07-09 23:42:54
Thank you for your passion, commitment and generosity of sharing this with us.
What Japanese word/phrase are you translating to mean, “appreciation/mindfulness/care?
Thank you for all of your posts, especially these recent ones – and for your patience and perseverance in sharing your honest and raw thoughts, beautifully worded. With each post, I have greater appreciation for the respect (is that an ok word to use?) that goes into Sashiko: both in the doing of the practice and in the mindset that sparks it.
I always read what you write 😌😊
Oh this bit on appreciation is much appreciated. From the first moment I heard you speak about appreciating the fabric I knew you were using this word in a far more profound way than I had come across before. I’ve been listening hard for learning and looking to my own interactions with fabric for clues. And later as I grew in understanding, with the other tools of the trade as well. Please speak to this more when you have a chance as the topic is bigger than words. (Words are just the clues we can provide towards the understanding)
Moi je dirais que le Sashiko est ancestral. C’est une transmission de génération en génération. Le travail effectué est une méditation, une connexion avec ceux qui ont transmis le Sashiko au fil des ans, un merveilleux retour aux origines.
Not necessary to ask “educate me”, reading your stories do the job. Thank you for your writings.
For me what you’re talking about makes me think of the socks I handknit for myself and my partner. They are worn and loved daily, as they start to age I use wool that matches or complements to both repair, but also enhance what is already there.
「ありがとう」
大好きで大切な言葉の一つです。おばあちゃんっ子だった私は小さい頃、祖母がいつも何かにつけ「ありがたいなぁ。ありがとう。」と言っていたのを覚えています。小さい頃は「有難い」と言う漢字を知らなかったので深くは考えていませんでしたが意味がわかるようになり、祖母の言葉一つ一つがありがたく心に残っています。
大袈裟かもしれませんが毎朝目が覚める、ご飯を美味しく頂ける、健康、歩く、本を読む、刺し子する、、当たり前に出来てる事が出来なくなった時に気付く有り難さって日々の生活にわんさかあるんですよね。だからいつも感謝の気持ちを忘れないようにしています。
ありがとう。
Thank you for your posts. I find them truly interesting and inspiring.
❤️
The appreciation of the object is something that has been forgotten in the West as we’ve moved further and further from our roots as makers. Before industrialization, everything was made by somebody. That awareness of human hands and human labour meant that a thing carried with it a spark of something more. We knew that a person spent time learning a skill and that they applied that skill to the creation of the object we now held. Industrialization changed all that. Yes, people may still work on assembly lines to make the things we buy and use, but they aren’t craftspeople. They have learned a step in the process, but yesterday they may have been doing a different step and tomorrow they may be doing something else to make something else and it doesn’t matter because the steps have been broken down until they can be taught to almost anyone in a matter of minutes and the people doing the work are as interchangeable as the pieces of the machines they work beside. Manufacturers have more invested in their machines than their workforce and the workers are much easier to replace. Since skill and craftsmanship are largely viewed as quaint, sentimental anachronism, the spark of something more is absent. When people made things themselves, or bought them from human makers, they came with a past and a story and so they were valued