Well… it is indeed happening: a word starts walking by itself in its trend with leaving stories behind (言葉の一人歩き）. The whole purpose of this account is to “share” so that I can fulfill something filtered out by those who make profit out of “Sashiko” & “Boro”. I received comments expressing their surprise at my previous post saying that [I didn’t know the Boro has a negative aspect]. As I have explained deeply in English Live Streaming on 6/23, the word “Boro” with positive meaning is a very recent phenomena. Calling someone “Oh your Boro looks Cool” can be extremely insulting in some cases – and trend with those cultural stories behind can be quite painful to someone like me – who try to pass it down.
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The trend is ongoing: The bigger, and the faster I can handle. Some advised me that “Sashiko” and “Boro” was in Show. It has quite a big impact in terms of publicity… but I don’t know if it will be a good one or not. Since I haven’t watched the episode, I will not talk about it at this moment. However, “Boro” introduced in English is insufficient: it is missing a lot of important essences.Although it is not my intention to summarize the essence so superficially, I couldn’t keep silence to see “Boro” being something “fancy” without any cultural contexts. To question today’s trend, I made a video on Youtube. I hope you have time to watch that.
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It is NOT me who can change this trend. We don’t need to “Stop” the trend because the trend itself is good stuff – we should “recycle” and “reuse” what we have. I just want the trend to be more mindful, especially because they are using Japanese words. It is YOU who can change this trend, and therefore I keep sharing stories here so that you can learn more. Please do NOT celebrate “Boro” with ignorance. Please appreciate Boro with proper knowledge & wisdom.
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本日の配信もありがとうございました。脱線しまくりですが、大切なお話はできたと思っています。昔から危惧していたことではあるのですが、現在「襤褸(BORO)」という言葉には主に「ポジティブ」なイメージが定着しているようで、これは昔の言葉の使われ方としては逆ベクトルです。違いや変化が悪いのではなく、その変化の過程が無視されてしまっているのが問題かなと。大切なことなので動画も作ってみました。まだまだ英語が主ですがご覧頂けたら嬉しいです
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2022-06-25 01:03:02
刺し子についての諺も以外に無いんですね。
I would not watch the episode. I was horrified. They did not even explain what Sashiko was and then complained that it was not done well. I was so very disappointed with the whole way it was handled 😞
Hermoso trabajo bordado 👏👏👏
I read your messages nearly every day. Explaining and understanding the cultural subtext is so important to me, and I want to thank you. I will begin practice soon – I have a repair in mind – and I want to thank you for the mindfulness that will be a part of it.
I’ve been thinking about a western comparison this week to illustrate the negative connotation of boro within its native culture. And here’s what I came up with: before vintage and second-hand became almost glamorised in the west, there were a great deal of negative connotations associated with not having the economic buying power or access to new clothes or new fabrics. It’s easy to forget that to those who only had access to second hand clothing and discount fabric growing up, that they might’ve grown up with a sense of shame around their attire.
I’d say there were a lot of fails in that episode, very superficial intro to sashiko, boro and kimono just as “japanese words for mending or a thing to wear”. The cultural significance of kimono, only as it related to its influence on Western fashion, commented on by a Brit historian. Not great.