I appreciate all of the reactions to the “a big stone” I dropped on 7/10. This may be another big stone to drop. I have been thinking about the word “inspired”. I say: [Please do not use the word “Inspired” as an excuse to not to learn]. The Japanese doesn’t have the exact translation of “inspired”: We can explain it, or have similar words… but not exactly the same meaning/nuance. I sometimes use the word “inspired” as well. So, I keep wondering what the word “inspired” really affects in a process of “respecting the Culture”, or even “Cultural Appropriation”.
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This is the big stone. I wonder if… the word “inspired” implies that they say: “We don’t learn it further anymore” or worse: “We don’t care further since I like it”. When one says “It is Sashiko Inspired”, it once made me think that they show their respect to Sashiko. I wonder again, “what are they inspired by?” Is it just a design? Simplicity? Zen (which isn’t really Sashiko)? If they keep learning Sashiko, let’s say You here who keep reading my stories, I want you to call your stitching “Sashiko” – If one keeps learning, they don’t need to use the word “inspired”. It is (will be) Sashiko.
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I believe “Inspired” requires additional explanation like “what are they inspired ”. Well, when they explain that, they don’t need to use the word “inspired” because they share their understanding of Sashiko. This may be true only in Sashiko/Boro, but I would like to ask if “inspired” can really change appropriation to appreciation. Umm. As of now, when I see the word “inspired”, I feel as if the person has no time/space (or even willing) to learn the new stories. (I know it is an extreme story, therefore I said it is a big stone). English is difficult.
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“Inspired”という日本語になかなか訳せない単語があります。「インスパイアされた」とGoogleが訳すほどの単語で、「影響を受けた」「鼓舞する」等の意味も間違いではありませんが、しっくりはきません。今の英語圏で使われている用法としては、「○○っぽい（刺し子っぽい針仕事）」という感じかなと思います。とはいえ実際の意味用法は「影響を受けた」というものなので、正直な感想として、「この人は刺し子の何に影響受けてるんだ？」と思うものがあります。真似なら真似って言えば良いと思うし、別に「これが刺し子だ！」という方がいても良いと思うのですが、「刺し子に影響を受けた刺し子っぽい針仕事です」という逃げ道を作理、その上で新しい情報を拒否しているように思えてきたんですよね。こちら、また配信で話しますが、「Inspire」って言ってりゃなんでも良いみたいな感じが、なんか気持ち悪いんです。
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2022-07-21 11:39:02
I have been thinking about this myself the last few days as I sometimes say my work is ‘boro inspired’. What I want to convey by this term is a respect for the culture and history from which I have learned. Not so much the techniques, or that the piece I have made ‘looks’ a bit like boro, but more the ethos of mending old cloths, of using every scrap and giving value even to the smallest, most worn and faded piece of cloth. And through the process of stitching, holding all these pieces together to form a ‘new’ cloth that can be useful or beautiful. I feel it is respectful to acknowledge where my influences come from, whether that is boro or kantha or pojagi, or from my ‘own’ culture of English patchwork and quilting. I have tried to learn about this global cloth heritage and be respectful and not guilty of cultural appropriation. So in summary of my long winded comment 😉 my use of the term ‘boro inspired’ is intended to give acknowledgement and respect. I can’t call it simply ‘boro’ because it isn’t. But I am open to bring educated and corrected by someone whose culture it is. ❤️
one last thought.. I love your definition of culture as ‘shared stories’.. to me this seems a more open hearted description, after all, stories are made to be told and shared. Whereas when we say ‘my culture’, it sometimes can sound possessive. ❤️
Wooooowwwww!
You have a good point. For me personally at this point in time saying ‘I sashiko inspired mended my jeans’ is an acknowledgment that I’ve only touched a little tip of what sashiko looks like on the outside. A perfect solution to prolong the life of a pair of nearly discarded jeans, which as far a sashiko goes, is very superficial. I would like to know more about sashiko in it’s cultural context so I am informing myself. That’s the ongoing proces. No idea how far and deep that is going to go. In the proces I am also considering how people of sowhat similar social status in my own culture treated their textiles 🙂
Thank you. I have called my stitching “Sashiko inspired” because I felt I had no right to call it “Sashiko” because I have not been taught by someone to whose culture Shashiko belongs. I have read up on it, and have a basic understanding of its history and development, and want to learn more (and I believe learning is incredibly important). I find your posts very informative and helpful, and I welcome your “big stones”. Lastly, English IS difficult, and that’s from someone whose first language it is 🙂
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Personally I love that you’re mending something you love and making it more beautiful.. seeing your work made me want to pick my needle up (after a long time) and repair my clothes in a way that makes them more interesting than before. I love the designs of sashiko. I first tried it learning patchwork and quilting with my mum, but love the idea that I’m using the stitches to mend something treasured in a beautiful way..
This is a really important ‘big stone’ and a huge call out that feels really apt to me, to question where ‘inspired by’ might be a sign of a lack of desire to learn those shared stories that a behind a visual impression. Thank you for this ongoing discussion.
Difficult conversations are important to have, we can learn so much from them. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about what “inspired” might mean, that it could indicate a decision to avoid the work of further educating oneself. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but I believe that sometimes, for some people, this is true. For me, like some others have already said, I have used “inspired” to mean that, while I am still trying to learn technique, history and context, I do not feel that I am skilled or knowledgeable enough to be able to claim that my work is truly sashiko. Or when I am using the technique in a way that seems different from examples I have seen, so I don’t know if it is still sashiko or not. I will continue to think more intentionally about this.
I have used the phrase Sashiko inspired several times. I say it for 2 reasons. 1, I am US American of European decent and while I’ve been reading and learning about Sashiko, I don’t feel like it’s fair to say I understand it within it’s cultural context. The second reason is that I do not execute the stitching properly. I do the running stitch the way I learned to do it for quilting, with my thimble on the tip of my finger, not at the base. It seems wrong to me to claim that I’m doing Sashiko when I’m not executing it properly. What inspires me about Sashiko are the patterns and the beauty of the math behind them. Stitching them makes me feel like I understand them better. I’m also using repurposed blue jeans for my fabric, which I feel gives me a connection to the USA’s traditional indigo dyed worker fabric. Sashiko has inspired me to think more deeply about the materials I use, which has been eye opening and given me a lot to think about on how I consume things. It’s actually inspired me to learn more and be more thoughtful about how I spend my time and money.
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I don’t feel as though I belong to any culture. When I learn a skill (ie, related to cooking, fabric, growing food) I try to go to the source method native to the culture or environment. The native knowledge holds a lot of keys on how to combine flavours or grow food in their climate, for instance. I ADD the knowledge. I ingest Atsushi’s stories, they mix with my stories. The result is unique. The thing is, I’m not trying to label it.
Big stones are important because one cannot learn new things from a comfortable place.
From OxfordLanguages and Google.
Middle English enspire, from Old French inspirer, from Latin inspirare ‘breathe or blow into’ from in- ‘into’ + spirare ‘breathe’. The word was originally used of a divine or supernatural being, in the sense ‘impart a truth or idea to someone’.