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Folk Yarn: Japanese Textiles

Much can be learned about the everyday lives of the humble classes of Japan during the 19th and early 20th centuries by studying their textiles. Common folk wore cottons rather than silks, but their clothing had a great variety of beautiful designs, using different production techniques, like Southeast Asia- influenced batik (resist-dye) method. Peasant wear, which usually saw dark and light indigo colours dyed on white, was often dyed in the home using a paste-resist method with a glutinous rice mixture. The Gallery’s large collection of stunning folk textiles is due greatly to a large donation of 230 textile swatches by the late Bunzo Nakanishi of Kyoto, Japan.