Fabric Shopping in Tokyo

        Well, this is my last posting from Japan and I would be remise not to say anything about where to shop for fabric in Tokyo for those of you who are thinking of a trip here.

During the five years I lived in Tokyo, I can’t believe I never went to the Fabric Town (Nippori Sen-i-gai) located in the north-east part of the city. During that time, I mainly quilted with the fabrics I found at antique markets and a store, Kinkado, which was near the school. It is now closed.

Nippori Sen-i-gai is easily accessible by the JR Yamanote line. If your stay is short in Tokyo and you only have a day for fabric shopping, this is the place to go. If you go to this website, you will find an English map.

http://www.netlaputa.ne.jp/~nippori/map/emap.pdf

The following are three of my favourite places I found in Nippori Sen-i-gai.

Tsukiyosu Hiroshi Shouten is #35 on the map. This store has on display a large selection of Japanese theme panels for about $10.00. It also has a large selection of smaller cuts of traditional Japanese prints, some 50 x 53 cm, for only about $1.60.

Mihama Cloth is #45 and 46 on the map. This shop sells precut cloth at discount prices (2 m for about $12.50 Canadian). You can’t open the packages and the sale is final but the selection is amazing if you are into traditional Japanese prints.

The last shop I really enjoyed was Tomato, #49 on the map. It carries a large selection of everything – indigo blues, traditional prints and modern, current Japanese fabric designers. Tomato also carries a large selection of Japanese themed panels.

Echino and Kayo Horaguchi Fabrics

Here you can also find shops selling used Kimonos, hoari (kimono jackets), obis and vintage fabrics pieces. I found the prices comparable to what you would pay at the antique markets.

The hoari

Shibori dyeing method

If you still have time to shop, head back down on the JR Yamanote Line to Shinkuku Station, the largest station in the world. It is well-signed in both Japanese and English so follow the signs for the East Exit. Stay to the left as you walk out of the exit and you will come to a crossing. Go down one block on the street you are facing and turn left at the pink store, “attagirl”.  On your right you will see Okadaya, a fabric store. On the first floor, there is an area with a large selection of Japanese fabrics including many indigo blue prints.

My four weeks here have flown by and I have very much enjoyed spending time with my sister, Micheline, and my friends. I have revisited many of my favourite places and explored some new places. It is sad to leave but I also look forward to being home again.

Textile Heaven

I realize that November is actually a good time to visit Japan if you are a quilter. Not only can you take in the quilt show but you can enjoy the wonderful colours. I especially love the reds.

My quilting friends have heard me go on about the wonderful shrine antique fairs in Japan where you can find a treasure-trove of wonderful textiles. I have been able to take in three during my visit this time but my all time favourite continues to be in Kawagoe at the Narita-san Betsu-in (Shrine). This was always where I made my most interesting finds and found so many of my indigo blue fabrics. It only occurs once a month on the 28^th and no matter what day it falls on, by noon it is packed. After a 6:30 a.m. wake-up call and a quick breakfast, I was off to catch the express train on the Tobo-Toju line which gets you into Kawagoe in half an hour, just long enough for a refreshing nap if you follow the Japanese custom of sleeping seating up.

Getting to the shrine early is great because you can take a leisurely stroll and see all the offerings but if you see a great fabric grab it up. Here is a stall with some wonderful vintage indigo blues. I always ask if I can take pictures and one of the things I like is that at this market I always get permission. That is not always the case at other markets but it is polite to ask.

The cost of this quilt is about $300.

This jacket was about $350.00. It may be old and tattered but it is highly valued.

As I noted before, something nice always happens to me when shopping for textiles. I found a little booth tucked into a corner at the bottom of a set of stairs of the shrine. There a woman was wearing a wonderful jacket made up of indigo blues with sashiko sewing and appliqué.

 She was selling printed squares in red with imprints of cats and blue squares with jackets with family crests (kamon). She also had these 2 inch squares of all different kamon.

Well, I could picture a couple of quilts and went through them all for a variety. I was very excited and through gestures and a picture on my camera, she understood what I was going to do with them. I choose 16 of each of the larger squares and 10 of the Kamon squares. This wonderful lady went into her stash and pulled out a full set of 20 of the red squares and offered them for the same price as the 16. Then she discounted the total again. When we had settled our transaction, she then gestured for me to wait and went back into her stash to present me with a full set of the kamon squares. “Gifto”, she said. I was walking on air. Such kindness does that!

After finishing at the market, I walked to the old town which takes you back to the Edo period when these wonderful black roof tiled buildings were built as storehouses away from Tokyo which at the time was plagued with fires. They now form several interesting shopping streets where you can enjoy their famous sweet potato sweets and icecream.

On the way there, I came across a shop specializing in sashiko. The shop is owned by Akie Ginza who has written the book below. As you can see from the cover she makes wonderful large sashiko quilts of her own design. In the shop you can find everything you need for this technique including bolts and smaller squares of fabrics in indigo blue and white printed materials and types of cotton threads used in different colours.

Is it any wonder why Kawagoe remains one of my favourite textile shopping places in Japan?

Quilting Inspirations

In one of my earliest blogs, I mentioned how quilters look to their gardens for inspiration. Well, the wonderful, ancient gardens of Japan are inspirational to me. While in Yokohama, I was able to visit Sankeien Garden. It is interesting that the garden was created by Sankei Hara who built his fortune through the silk trade. The garden is now over a hundred years old and contains many ancient structures that have been moved there over time. One of the oldest is the three-story Pagoda which was moved there from Kyoto. It dates back to 1457.

My friend Pat and I 

As we wandered through the garden, we came across a model in full kimono attire posing for calendar pictures and a wedding party in which the bride wore a wedding kimono.

Each season is highlighted in some way in every garden. For autumn, Sankeien Garden features the wild chrysanthemum and had a special display of show winning chrysanthemums. I didn’t know that there were such intriguing varieties of this flower.

After seeing this display, I saved this beautiful quilt from the Yokohama International Quilt Show to show here as I am pretty sure that it was inspired by the chrysanthemum.

SINCERITY by Mayumi Yonenaga

Quilting Inspirations

In one of my earliest blogs, I mentioned how quilters look to their gardens for inspiration. Well, the wonderful, ancient gardens of Japan are inspirational to me. While in Yokohama, I was able to visit Sankeien Garden. It is interesting that the garden was created by Sankei Hara who built his fortune through the silk trade. The garden is now over a hundred years old and contains many ancient structures that have been moved there over time. One of the oldest is the three-story Pagoda which was moved there from Kyoto. It dates back to 1457.

Yokohama International Quilt Show 2013

Already a week has gone by since arriving in Japan. One of the highlights of my first week was attending the Yokohama International Quilt Show, 2013 held in the ultra modern Pacifico Square.

I was quite prepared not to be able to take pictures but to my delight the quilts were separated into groupings where permission was granted and permission wasn’t given. As a result I am able to share some wonderful quilts from this show. Some of the quilt titles are missing as they were only written in Japanese but I was able to identify all the creators of the quilts.

Yuko Koshikawa

Fusae Kamijo

CHASING BUBBLES  by Hiroko & Masanobu Miyamo

Kiyoko Saito

Masuko Masukura

BEYOND ART DECO GLASS by Patricia Reid, Australia

Fusae Kamijo

ZONE by Mitsuko Kinoshita

Masako Nishimura

Atsuko Fujii

Of course, I had a great wander among all the store fronts where new and vintage fabrics were abundant. Among my favourites are always the indigo blues.

 

 

There is always something special that happens when I attend these events or go in search of these wonderful fabrics. While having lunch, a group of ladies joined the table where I was seating. One of the ladies was Yume Usagi.

My ears perked up when I heard her saying something about sashiko and she was showing the ladies at the table samples. She is also wearing samples of her own work. She caught my interest and handed me the samples to examine. Yume Asagi works in the antique method of sashiko which is tiny crisscross stitches. She wanted to know where I was from and was delighted to hear Canada. She dug into her purse and came out with a change purse, emptied it and indicated I should accept it.

I had a picture on my camera of the Sashiko sampler quilt I made so I showed it to her and it got passed around the table. Back into her purse she goes and this time comes out with a notebook with a cover in indigo blue fabric which again she insisted I take.

Yume Usagi then took me to the store front where her work was being sold and showed me this wonderful little pillow done in the antique method of sashiko.

As always, I am overwhelmed with the grace and generosity of the Japanese women who share my love and interest in these vintage fabrics and antique methods of preserving and reusing their treasured fabrics.