A brief summary of my message in 2022 is: “Sashiko introduced in English is NOT wrong, but insufficient (not explained enough)”. Some react to this statement aggressively as if they are defending something. I am not “accusing” anyone – I am sharing the existence of something they may not know.
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How do you measure “it”? [Season of Love] – my favorite song from my favorite musical – Rent. We need “it” to measure. A ruler tells us the length in “Inch”, ”Centimeter” and more. A scale describes the weight in many units. How do we measure Sashiko? Sashiko introduced in English today is like just measured by the Western rule & scale – in imperial measurement. There is nothing wrong in Imperial, but there are more like Metric measurement. Well, do we understand “it” when we “convert” everything into both Imperial & Metric…? Unfortunately not because there is also Japanese measurement – which tells us the length, weight and more – with many stories why.
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We never use the Japanese Measurement in life outside of Japan. However, it is essential to understand it as a Japanese person. It is like not knowing sqf when we purchase a house in the US. Sashiko introduced in English is filtered by Western Measurement. Therefore, there is a slight difference in accuracy, and when it is “taught” as “Japanese Sashiko”, the slight difference will be significant over time. Therefore, I ask them to learn Japanese first before teaching Sashiko. If you are here to just enjoy Sashiko, just acknowledge that we have another value to “measure” it. Then, you will start understanding what Sashiko really can be – with many stories around.
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「貴方は一年をどう測定（評価）しますか？」好きなミュージカル、RENTの一節です。何かを測る時、必ず基準が必要になります。時にそれは単位で表現されます。畳を知らない人に四畳半の部屋の大きさはわかりません。日本の日常の中には沢山の日本の測定基準が存在します。良いとか悪いとかじゃなく、これまでの文化として、あるものは継続して使われ、あるものは廃れていきます。でも「存在する」のは間違いありません。
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不動産取引において「坪」と言う単位の表記は禁止されていますが、昔ながらの日本の不動産取り引きを誰かに教える場合、尺貫法を知らないのは文化を無視したことになります。今の英語圏でも刺し子では同様のことが起こっているような気がするのです。間違っていない。でも足りてない。だからこその私の存在意義なんだろうと思っています。
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2022-08-10 04:37:00
Thank you for making this clear, I’ve always wondered about the measurements! When I learnt sashiko stitching at a workshop in Australia I was told that the stitch length and space was equal to the length of a grain of rice. The space between stitches also was thus length. Fine! Then I tried to picture the actual grain of rice 😢 What type of rice?? Short grain, long grain? Even if it’s Japanese rice what type.?? And is there a ‘rule of thumb’ in terms of the length?? All I know is that my stitching looks too big and basic compared to your beautiful and complex creations – love your work, mine not nearly as much 😍🔥❤️
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I love Rent too! ❤️ thank you for the time and effort you give to explain such important things. I look forward to your posts, they remind me to be open to all the things I do not know about sewing and making practices more generally.