I enjoy a lot of feedback in the previous post about “Ordinary” and Sashiko. Thank you. Ultimately speaking, I guess this “Sashiko in the Ordinary” is all I would like to protect from various types of Romanized Sashiko for someone’s profit. Some say Sashiko is a stitching to embrace imperfection as if it is okay to avoid effort to be better. Some insist the “answer” to Sashiko, or even “what is Right Sashiko”. Is there any “right bread” when I bake it for my family & friends? Isn’t it natural to practice more to bake better bread for them so that they can enjoy it? Therefore, I say, Sashiko is a form of “praying” – not only the technique, design or not even meditation. (I accept the meditative outcome of Sashiko, but defining Sashiko as Meditation is risky. For me, Meditation is more “inward” to treat oneself. Sashiko is more “toward” to care for someone)
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Please, please embrace your own ordinary as well instead of applying someone’s “answer”. Don’t let others define your happiness. Some of my choices are the outcome of “pessimism”, yet I find the outcome as my happiness. I bake bread since I cannot find the bread I want my family to eat (I wouldn’t be doing it if I had a local bread store). I wipe the floor while my wife isn’t at home (as she feels bad that I am wiping the floor). Some elderly people would consider my “mended denim” as “poor” because they used to do so for their survival (like my mother in law). We all live in the “perspective”, and I want you to be the one who decides what you choose (not want – choose). Sashiko is a good practice to do so. Why? Because that’s how Japanese people have(had) been stitching Sashiko for more than centuries.
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Another Thursday with Live Streaming – and then Sashiko Gathering. Link on Story & Highlight. I share my ordinary with no editing & filters. Photo from Good Old Memories from 2017 When I was a Stay at Home Dad.
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「お子さんに刺し子は教えているの？」とよく聞かれます。教えていません。娘が興味を持てば道具を渡し教えるでしょうが、強制は絶対にしないと決めています。ただ、「日常の中に刺し子に触れられる機会」は作るようにしています。私は「刺し子が上手だ」とは思ったことがありません。それはもっと上手な人を見てきたからです。ただ、一つだけ「刺し子を教える側」として誇りに思っていることは、「刺し子を見てきた時間」です。幼少期からこれだけ刺し子に触れている人はそんなにいません。だからこそわかることもあると思っています。配信の題材になるかな。
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2023-01-20 01:11:58
I love your stories and philosophy. I am stitching a piece of black linen as I sit in the evening. It has hand drawn designs I envision as I go. People keep asking me what is it going to be? And my answer is “I don’t know. I’m just doing it to learn and I enjoy it “. That is its purpose for now.
Seems to me a lot of what people call sashiko is what I think of as boro. Can you explain difference please. I would not call what o do sashiko because I am a not so neat handstitcher that uses plain running stitch to repair my clothing. You use beautiful traditional patterns that look a world away from what I do. I do love to use japanese fabrics and sashiko thread though. Thank you
I love this!
I’m planning to make a jacket kimono covered with sashiko it will be my way to wear my love for Japanese ( I know it is a simplification) philosophy, great part of my life.. I mean part of my Aikido and part of buddist story.. I’m just taking the time to decide and start this road.
I appreciate your description of the differences between ”inward” vs ”toward” intention behind actions. In Japanese culture, happiness and contentment are experienced by servibg others (”toward” actions), unlike te Western concept of happiness which sees the self at the center (”inward”). I too protest against the use of our Japanese cultural heritage being mistakeningly applied to Western contexts for so-called ”healing” or ”meditation”. I enjoy and learn a lot from yor posts. Thank you.
My jeans all like this and waiting for mending art.