Two weeks in Japan! Two weeks of SAORI inspiration! Two weeks with my friend Laura (of SAORI Studio LA)! What a wonderful time I had.
I have been trying for 4 years to get back to Japan and I finally made it. So much fun, so much SAORI – but I wish I could have stayed longer!
Imagine – an anniversary party for SAORI no Mori with over 100 people attending – all wearing SAORI. Wow.
Seeing Misao Jo again – now at 101 years old and many of the Jo families – generations of SAORI weavers. Also meeting other weavers and staff at the studio – all such wonderful, warm and fun people!
Learning more about SAORI, weaving, a clothing design class with the master clothing designer Masako and more.
I’ve been posting lots of photos on Instagram and Facebook and have neglected the blog. Apologies!
The Blossom Banner created at the Blossom Festival and finished at the studio has headed off to Hiroshima for SAORI Peace Weave 2014.
I’m now back at home, at my studio and looking forward to a SAORI Kai, SAORI workshops, classes and retreats including the Loom Dancer Weaving Odyssey retreat here in July with 10 people!
I’ll be writing more often – see you soon.
Happy Weaving,
Terri
PS – you can also read my newsletters linked on the right column of this blog or subscribe to them to get them in your eMailbox
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I am currently in Japan for 2 weeks of SAORI inspiration. I will post photos when I’m home, but in the meantime you can see some images on my Facebook page – www.Facebook.com/saorisaltspring. (Note: you don’t have to sign in or be part of FB to see the images.)
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Yesterday was the Blossom Festival on Salt Spring Island and a picnic in the Japanese Garden.
Blossoms!
Japanese Garden at the Peace Park, Salt Spring Island
I prepared my loom with a “blossom warp” using the colours of cherry blossoms and some spring green.
Blossom Warp
At the event there were many Japanese things to see, do and listen to – calligraphy, haiku, music, aikido demonstrations, bento boxes, beautiful plants for sale and of course SAORI weaving!
Raffi and others sing “Haru ga Kita”
Okinawan Karate Dance
calligraphy
I had a lot of people come by to learn more about SAORI weaving and to try it out by adding to the Blossom Banner.
Weaving the blossom banner
Weaving the blossom banner
It was so great to be out again and sharing the joy of weaving with others!
The SAORI and Calligraphy tent
Here is what has been done so far. I’m hoping to take the loom back out to the Earth Day festival and have more people weaving.
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Back in April at the Blossom Festival on Salt Spring Island, I invited people to weave a “Blossom Banner” to send to the people of Japan as a message of hope for their recovery from the earthquake and tsunami.
When I went to Hawaii later in April, I met with Kenzo and Naoto Jo of SAORI No Mori and presented the Blossom Banner to them to take back to Japan. Sendai was the place that we kept hearing about in the news from Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. I also had a connection to Sendai as I had sent a Peace Banner there in the past for SAORI Peace Weave 2008.
When the banner arrived in Japan, Akiko Jo asked me if it would be alright if the banner went to some other SAORI studios before finally going to Sendai. She told me about one of the SAORI studios in a smaller centre, Ishinomaki (see note below), that had been devastated by the tsunami.
Of course, it would be totally fine with me – and all those who wove it too I’m sure. The intention in the weaving of the banner was to bring hope and good wishes for recovery to the people in Japan – so wherever that may be needed was certainly a good thing and I felt very honoured.
Akiko translated the posts about the banner from my blog into Japanese and Kenzo took the banner to the grand re-opening of the studio.
The owner of the studio had a very difficult time during the tsunami, but really wanted to re-open her studio. From Akiko’s email:
The owner of the studio is Ms. Emiko Oikawa.
The name of her studio is SAORI Weaving Studio “Yokisha”.
“Yokisha” is made of three Kanji (Chinese) characters, and each character means “give”, “joy” and “building”.
So they mean that “the studio gives joy to the visitors”.
Ms. Oikawa is so energetic to re-open her studio only 3 months after the disaster. As you can see on some of the photos, the streets of her neighborhood are still filled with the remaining wreckage, including some boats. The wreckage carried around by the Tsunami reached the height of the traffic lights, and damaged them.
Photos from the opening….
Akiko also says in her note:
Everyone who attended the reception looked at them and were impressed by
the kind thoughts brought with the banner all the way from Canada.
This is a weaving done by Kenzo Jo and his colleagues at Saori no Mori in Osaka, Japan also for the opening. They did double-cloth weaving on both looms, so the width of this tapestry is 240cm (four times 60cm).
We wish Ms. Oikawa and all of the visitors to the studio much hope and joy.”
Now the banner will travel to other studios before going to Sendai.
Thank you to all the weavers who participated in weaving the Blossom Banner – it now continues on it’s relay through Japan!
The city was among the most seriously affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.] A tsunami about 10 meters high traveled 600 meters inland and destroyed around 80% of the 700 houses in the coastal whaling port of Ayukawa and district of Kadonowaki. Approximately 46% of the city was inundated by the tsunami. One elementary school, Okawa Elementary, was completely destroyed, killing 74 of 108 students and 10 of 13 teachers and staff. As of 17 June 2011 a total of 3,097 deaths had been confirmed in Ishinomaki due to the tsunami, with 2,770 unaccounted for. The earthquake shifted the city southeast and downward, lowering it by as much as 1.2 m in some areas and causing it to flood twice daily at high tide.
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So, this week I had a group of girls from Kobe, Japan visiting my studio. Each year, the International Education program brings students from Kobe to visit Salt Spring Island. Part of their visit is to have a hands-on art experience at one of the local artist studios.
So, I think this is the 4th year now that some of the students have come to my studio for the afternoon. It’s always fun to show the Japanese students SAORI weaving – which comes from Japan!
Last year when I was in Kobe, I went to the SAORI studio there and got some brochures so that I could let the girls know that they can continue Saori weaving when they get home.
They all wove a piece to take with them – this year they were loving the stripes – and lots of pink and blue!!
A new article about Saori weaving has just been e-published in the premiere issue of a new fibre magazine – Entangled Magazine. The contents of this first issue can be found here.
The article has two parts – the first part “Saori Weaving – no rules, no mistakes” is written by Akiko Jo of Saori no Mori in Japan. It is very interesting to read about the history of Saori weaving and about the family and how Saori is going global. The second part was written by me – “Weaving a Life with Saori” – and I talk about how I discovered Saori weaving and where it has taken me.
I’m excited about this new fibre magazine – the photos throughout are gorgeous and there are lots of interesting articles in this first issue.
Congratulations to Genny who has pulled this all together. I will definitely stay tuned.
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Here is the Blossom Banner woven at the Salt Spring Island Blossom Festival. (See my previous post of the weaving of the banner here.)
I had planned to sew the cloth blossoms onto the banner, but after putting a few on, it just didn’t seem right. So, change of plan and I threaded the blossoms onto some string and hung them from the edges of the banner. I like how it turned out…
Here are the close-ups of the blossoms on the banner…
So many people sending their thoughts and prayers with this banner to Sendai, Japan. It heads out tomorrow – going to the Sendai Saori Studio. Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible and to everyone who contributed through their weaving, their help, their blossoms and their blessings.
And here’s our blossoms today with the leaves coming out…
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What a fabulous weekend! We went to the Blossom Festival picnic in the Japanese Garden Peace Park on Saturday. The weather was great and many people attended.
We were entertained by a Japanese flute player (Takeo Yamashiro), Haiku Readings by elehna de sousa, Raffi singing with a Japanese back-up group, origami, food, an art installation by Shannon Wardroper and other entertainment (Jean-Paul Maurice, son of my friends Jim & Chris from Rawsome Living Foods and others). There were many tents with people selling things – the proceeds all to a fund for Tsunami relief for Japan. There are more details on the program on my previous post.
Photos from Saturday…
Then today was an indoor festival with an Ikebana flower arranger, a Japanese landscape architect, a Taste of Salt Spring (many local chefs and yummy food) and of course, Saori weaving!
I set up my Saori loom with blossom colours and people came to weave on the banner…
People were watching and waiting in line for their turn…my friend Laura assisting…
These girls were surprised to see the Saori brochure in Japanese and see that there are Saori studios near where they live in Japan…
More weaving…another friend, Jane, was also assisting…
The finished banner will be sent to the Saori Studio in Sendai, Japan from the people of Salt Spring Island…
I also had people write or draw on some cloth blossoms that I will be attaching to the banner before I send it. I will make sure to get some photos of the completed banner.
What a beautiful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Thanks to the organizers of the Festival, to Laura & Jane for assisting with the Saori weaving and to everyone for stopping by and adding some threads and thoughts to the banner (and for those that wanted to but couldn’t – your thoughts and prayers are included in the banner too).
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We had a wonderful opportunity while in Kyoto to visit the home and studio of Mr. Yamamoto – a kimono artist.
We were invited in for tea and to see some of his amazing work. Here, a kimono painted with trees of the 4 seasons…
After tea and treats and visiting, Mr. Yamamoto asked if I’d like to try on one of his kimonos! I was so surprised and honoured but at first said “Oh no – they are works of art!”, but he really wanted us to try them on and so we did. Here are just a few of the beautiful kimonos…
Even the one that was displayed on the wall…
He then took us out to his studio to see where he works and then outdoors to demonstrate another type of work that he does…
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After all our studio visits and weaving in Osaka and Kobe, we headed off to Kyoto for a ‘girls weekend’.
It started off with a day at the Vegan Earth Day Festival.
It was great! It was strange! It felt like being on Salt Spring Island in the middle of Kyoto – fair trade products, vegan and organic food, music, tents, all held in a park. It was just that everyone spoke Japanese!! We loved it – and it was a beautiful day.
Then, we spent some time walking around enjoying the sights and looking at many of the shops along the streets…
We found these great silk rings and so we all bought (at least) one…
We also found a great place for tea…
Then our tour guides helped us sort out how to get back to the hotel…
We had such a great time! Can’t wait to get together with everyone again 🙂
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