Many agree that “Mending Fabric” is similar to the process of “Mending ourselves”. I move my needle in complete silence when I am in need of “mending myself”. It isn’t easy to go through this “Internet based on Individualism”, where anyone can say anything with complete ignorance, without expecting the pain. I speak up to keep what Sashiko/Boro is because it became too much of a pain to see the current trend. However, it can be more painful to speak up. While someone is mending their fabric with their own individualism based on their “choice & preference”, there may be someone being in pain. That’s the complexity of cultural concerns in dominating (privileged & more influential) countries. The solution is simple, though. We just need to acknowledge it and try to be kind (caring) for the voices behind the words.
☆
“Sashiko is a mending technique” or “Boro is a technique to mend fabric” are not wrong statements. However, they are insufficient. If one thinks that they can “talk” about Sashiko/Boro with this limited understanding, then Cultural Appropriation can happen. All I am asking is to acknowledge. Sashiko/Boro is more than what they know. Stitching itself is, for me, an ordinary yet sacred (spiritual) practice. One some try to push their value in this, I feel dirtied (soiled/invaded/insulted), which forms the pain later on.
☆
Again, all I am asking is to “acknowledge”. It is sad that one’s “mending” may be harmful for someone. Unfortunately, it can happen when we do not “acknowledge” it. Not knowing is fine. Please keep learning, and hopefully please support those who can share the stories instead of those who make money out of their “convenience understanding” of their foreign culture. Mending itself is a caring process. So, I want you to care for someone’s culture as well.
☆
–
–
–
☆
体調不良の為、配信も思うようにできておらず申し訳ないです。昔のゲームセンターでやったもぐら叩き。楽しい記憶があるのですが、あれが延々と続くと多分嫌になります。ふと、そんな無為な感覚に襲われて、その後ガクッと体調が崩れてしまいました。刺し子……というか針仕事には、心を癒やし繕うチカラがあると思っています。その刺し子を紹介する中で逆に傷つき苦しんでしまう。文化とは難しく、単純が故に伝わりにくいのだな……と日々勉強です。無為は良いのです。賽の河原の石積みにもそれなりに意味はあります。崩れた理由は、「もうもぐら叩かなくても一緒じゃね？」と妥協しそうになった自分です。ほんとまだまだだなぁ。
☆
2021-11-11 09:48:55
日本にきてワイワイしてたら少し軽くなりそうな気がします😊
あらあら。少し身体を休めて下さいね。
❤️
お近くに住んでいたらお話を聞くことで少しでも助けることができたらと思いました。そんな変な人が刺子をする人にいるなんて残念です。
しのぶさんの仰る通り、日本に戻って来られたら、心も身体も元気になると思います。
😍😍😍😍😍😍
Many of us are trying to learn not just the stitches but also the history and culture behind Sashico and Boro. I have never attempted a finer technique with out respect for the culture it comes from.. I would have cheated myself. Stay strong there are many of us out here. 👏👏
Perhaps the way someone is mending and referring to Sashiko and Boro can only result in pain when they start explaining it widely and in absolutes, as though they know the whole of it when their pool of knowledge is tiny and not fact-checked either. I’d rather trust someone who is standing in a lifetime lake of knowledge and still humbly says that Sashiko is bigger than what they know.
I so appreciate your continued attempts to communicate culture and cultural cooptation. It is difficult for priveledged majority culture in any country to understand because that confrontation rarely occurs. Appreciation is a window but people need to care, slow down, observe. look deeper. And be comfortable that what we are doing in the united states is something different, with roots in japanese sashiko but …
そんな時の井戸端会じゃないですかね！日本語でお喋り大事です。私もこの間とても元気を頂きました😊
I so admire your determination to engage westerners to the sacred. We definitely have too little of the sacred in our lives. We are compulsive consumers and think we can buy our way into anything and also just take from other cultures. How shallow are we? The people that support you, are proud of you. Stick to your guns!! 🌈
🙌❤️beautiful thank you❤️🙌