Until 2013, I didn’t find “a Light” in living. “Joy” and “Happiness” were something “fabricated” as I didn’t know if they existed. The reason for this pessimistic view comes from my childhood & unique environment I had spent until I went to college in the US… at the same time, my mindset of “pursuing something I don’t have” and “trying to be someone else” defined by so-called “success” was a great part of the difficult time. In short, my life was all about “What For”. Once I shifted “What For” to “For Whom”, my life drastically changed. Well, not much change in “Condition”, but what I saw became completely different.
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Sashiko’s principal is, as you can imagine by now, “For Whom”. Therefore, I feel strange to see Sashiko describe as the vehicle to achieve “What For”. There is nothing wrong with achieving something by doing Sashiko – but without the concept of “For Whom”, Sashiko loses its value. In Sashiko particularly, the primitive Sashiko & most authentic way to appreciate Sashiko is to stitch for “someone you care”.
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Today, Sashiko is taught in many languages focused on “technique”, “design” or “Style”. Every single day, I come across someone defining Sashiko the way someone has “limited”. Technique & Designs are an important part of Sashiko – but something very important – here “spirit” – is missing in their teaching, yet they say they know the “answer” for Sashiko. Stitching for someone is in any stitching culture, not only Sashiko. Yet, when the word “Sashiko” is used for “What For”, then it gets simplified. Stop asking for the answer, and start stitching for someone you care about – then you will get the answer for “what Sashiko is”.
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英語圏の刺し子に違和感…というか嫌悪感を抱く様になってもう相当の月日が経って、これまで様々な角度で、思考回路で、「なぜこういう気持ちになるのか」を言語化しようとしてきました。おそらく感覚的なもので完結するものなのでしょうが、どうしても論理に落とし込まないと納得ができない面倒な性格なもので。（だから恵子さんには憧れるのですが）。
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壁にぶち当たった時は「私が好きな刺し子」と向き合う様にしています。沢山の日本在住の刺し子好きな方と運針会を通して繋がれていて、その方々の刺し子は大好きなので、向き合うだけで心は落ち着くし、また考えも形を持ち出します。共通点もあるんです。私はきっと「誰かの為に」作られた刺し子が、本当に本当に好きなんだろうと思います。芸術として、自己表現の方法として刺し子が紹介されている英語圏では「私の刺し子。刺し子は技術よ。私は凄いでしょ。」と自己主張が強い刺し子多く、またその完成品としての結果を何よりも優先するのが嫌なのかもしれません。
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「なぜそれにわざわざ”刺し子”と名付けるの？」という質問。英語に訳すと爆弾になりますが、また聞いてみる必要があるのかもしれません。
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2023-12-21 07:05:07
I can not claim to understand sashiko, but I try to at least help people understand that they do either, and encourage them to want to discover. One example I give is to say that my husband has italian ancestry, and a sunday tradition used to be for the entire family to come together and make fresh pasta on sundays. That entire process, and the meal, doesn’t have one name, but if it did then pointing at a picture, or eating a pastadish at a restaurant, or even a frozen meal or whatever and saying that that is ______(insert word for the entire tradition of making fresh pasta as a family on sundays) is similar to pointing to an asanoha print and calling it sashiko, or a finished mass produced product in a store, or even something we’ve made as a random hobby project because we like the look of it. I’m not saying it’s an equivalent, that those are comparable examples, but that it is a way to understand how what we see or think we understand, and the context and meaning it comes from can be very different and we will enjoy it more if we try to learn more.
I’ll gladly change what I say, but from my understanding I think it is a good way to make people understand they don’t understand, and maybe make them want to try to practice it in a way that lets them feel more of what it is.
I’d love to hear more about how you made that shift and what it is, very well said.
I absolutely love, admire, and yearn to learn more about this shift. ❤️❤️
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This is right on the mark! “For whom” makes so much more sense that “for what”. Stitching takes a lot of time, so it needs to be for someone, and that someone should be someone special. Thank you for deepening my knowledge and giving me something else to really consider.
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I got to give some of my sashiko to the people I made it for recently and that was when it felt really finished. A strange question maybe, but is it still within the spirit of “for whom” if you make some things as kindnesses to yourself as well? Though I suppose we think about others even if we are making an item for our own use?
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