The Denim Mending I (Atsushi) introduce on this account is not the traditional S

The Denim Mending I (Atsushi) introduce on this account is not the traditional Sashiko. I hated the path my family created for me to be the Sashiko artisan, and after so many detours in life, the Denim Mending became a point where I realized how precious it is. The point that “the hated path” became the privilege and my fate.
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I have so many stories to share. I was raised surrounded by numbers of Sashiko practitioners “chit-chatting” what they liked (& disliked, of course). The conversations were merely noise once, but now it is the wisdom that I can share.
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So, when I talk about Mending (or Boro, for that matter), there is a concept I need to explain thoroughly about Japanese – “Shame”. It will be my life-long journey to explain this mindset we have, and Sashiko is a good vehicle to explain, I believe.
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Once, Mending represented the poverty level in their life. It was so shameful to show the patches and they try to hide it. In a small village in Japan, they even bury the Boro under the ground to hide their past. People told me their feeling of shame that “they had to show the ‘ugliness’.” Then I asked, “Would the poverty the shame?” They denied. Regardless of their words, “ugly”, they couldn’t explain what the shame they had. ☆
They weren’t wealthy. They had no choice but mending. However, they were so beautiful. The accumulation of words from them left me one saying to me. ☆
“Wealth (Money) can be a good measure of what the person can do, but it never measure who she/he is.”
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We live in a different society in comparison to the Japanese who traditionally practiced Sashiko. The culture alter over time in a process of adjusting the current society. I change that, and therefore I say my Mending isn’t traditional. However, it is also another important mission to “share” the original version of what we implement today. I even feel that I came to the US to accomplish this goal (I came to the US to evacuate from my family initially).
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I will be on Youtube Live at 9pm on Wed to answer the questions regarding “Sashiko story”.
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英語で書き出したらめちゃくちゃ長くなった……のですが、実は先日の配信で話したことです。アーカイブをご覧下さい。
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2019-03-27 20:45:04

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