I wonder when/how people started referring to Sashiko as the “Beauty (Perfect) in Imperfection”. I don’t know Japanese Sashiko artisans who are(were) proud of their imperfection. Yes, Sashiko is after all the beauty (perfect) in imperfection. They are all hand-stitched. No series of stitches will be perfect like a machine does. However, I believe, the Japanese artisans didn’t say the phrase “beauty in imperfection” from their mouth. At least, I wouldn’t say, and I won’t be proud of imperfect stitches.
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I understand that many associate Sashiko to the concept of “Wabi-Sabi”. It is dangerous to define “Wabi-Sabi” as the “beauty in imperfection” and stop learning (it is not wrong, but Wabi Sabi is more than that). To be honest, I do not see Wabi-Sabi in Sashiko much. I am okay with celebrating the “perfect in imperfect”. We never become “perfect” for that matter. However, I strongly hope that the phrase will not be used as an excuse to not to improve the skill/knowledge of Sashiko. Anyone can get better when they learn the appropriate posture & the core.
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ここ数年、刺し子に英語で関わっていると、「Perfect in Imperfection // 不完全という美（完全）」という言葉を目にします。完璧じゃないからこそ美しい（完璧だ）という言葉だと理解しているのですが、これを刺し手が堂々と自慢して言うのは日本的じゃないなぁと思うのです。どれだけ上手な人でも、「私なんか」と謙遜するのが（良くも悪くも）日本人。「針目揃ってないから美しい」と、揃っていない針目でアートを誇る文化も素晴らしいとは思いますが、日本的ではないよなと思ってしまうのです。
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手仕事である以上、完璧にはなり得ません。襤褸を作った人々のように、環境に制限があれば尚更。常に不完全に終わり、きっと満足することなんてなかったはずです。でもね、やっぱり（というかだからこそ）、針目を揃える練習は少しはして欲しい訳です。運針は誰でもできるんだから、尚更です。「侘び寂び」という概念に、「不完全の美しさ」は含まれるのですが、まず刺し子と侘び寂びは同意義ではないし、刺し子は針目を揃えて綺麗にしようとした人々の努力の上に成り立っていると思うから、それを「アート」という言葉で蔑ろにはしてほしくないのです。
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2020-09-30 10:26:01
ななさんのだー
Love your last sentence. My perfectionist tendencies do get in my way sometimes, but I see too much (not all) “beauty in imperfection” that just looks sloppy and/or lazy.
手縫いだと完璧に同じ針目は不可能に近いと思うけど、不揃いだから美しいのでは無く、不揃いだけど少しでも揃えようのするところ(その結果)や、その背景にある家族への想いなどに美しさがあるような気がします。
Gracias 👏👏👏 por defender tu cultura ♥️💙💜💚💚💛🧡
❤️❤️🙏🙏😊👏👏👏🙏❤️
“Beauty in imperfection “as a statement is utter nonsense.. it implies that the object in question is imperfect..? It also implies the speaker has some secret knowledge of beauty only he can access… it’s an arrogant statement….Who’s to say what perfect is or not…who’s to say what a standard of beauty is ?….as ever a statement of any sort only ever reflects on the person saying it… I doubt they have ever held a needle … stay sovereign sashi 🙏
Through studying cultures with respect to my personal indigenous upbringing, this phrase or concept of, “ there is beauty in the imperfection” puzzled me. I am only writing my learnings of cultural concepts that were presented to help me understand the thought process. If one believes in a divine source of all creation- there is the sacred, perfection that one try’s to achieve. The view is, though the effort is steadfast, the imperfection is a reminder that the divine exists, and to keep striving towards achievement. My understanding is that this builds self love, which strengthens working toward the greater good. The opposite is self destruction. All things can be taken out of context, but sometimes if we try to openly, objectively understand cultures, we have a
I pushed the post button by mistake! All I wanted to add in continuation- is that if we try and understand what makes a certain people have a thought, value, or phrase, whatever it may be, we can at least be understanding of their way- and then be in an educated position to agree or disagree.
I wonder if it’s from the mending of broken pottery with gold. I can’t remember what that’s called. But, when I first heard of sashiko, I thought it was the fabric version of the same concept. I realize now this is probably a mistake. In an art history course, they described the Japanese repair of broken pottery as finding “beauty in the broken”. The misconception for me came from drawing a parallel of the pottery technique to fabric mending. Because they are both Japanese, I just thought the concepts were linked.
There is something about skilled handstitching that is so much more alive than anything a machine can do.
😲😲👌👌😍😍😍
Word love💙