Kokontozai: KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts / [SASHIKO-ORI]

Sashiko-ori, a traditional craft of the northern Tohoku region of Japan, is made on specialized machinery. Kenichi Ohazama is currently Japan’s sole artisan making it, and our shopkeeper, KASHIYUKA, is fascinated by the spectacle of thousands of strands attached to the machines in his workshop. “It feels like being inside a grand piano,” she says.

Purchase No. 7 [SASHIKO-ORI] 　Modern textile from a vintage loom, a wrapping cloth of sashiko-ori.

Depicting cherry blossoms, following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. This is in the image of the Miharutaki Sakura in Fukushima – one of Japan’s most famous cherry trees, it’s said to be over 1000 years old.

The regular sounds and movements make for a pleasing ambience.