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- Wrapping Culture: Furoshiki and Wrapping Cloths of the World
Wrapping Culture: Furoshiki and Wrapping Cloths of the World
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- Heart and Goods Wrapped in a Cloth -
This special exhibition presents approximately 428 pieces of wrapping cloths while showing daily and special usages of wrapping cloths used by peoples across 25 countries throughout the world. We hope this exhibition provides us with opportunities to reflect on our mass-consumption life style and reevaluate the beauty of a wrapping cloth and its role as a convenient tool.
Many people may think that a furoshiki, or ‘wrapping cloth’ is unique to Japanese culture. Such a culture, however, exists throughout the world. Although a wrapping cloth is nothing but a single piece of cloth, its usages, cutting methods, and functions greatly vary according to regions where the cloth is used. In Japan, for instance, a wrapping cloth not only functions as a convenient carrying tool but also provides certain meaning to a thing wrapped in the cloth on certain occasions. Wrapping and covering cloths used for a Japanese wedding is a good example of a cloth delivering a certain message. To examine such role of a cloth, articles displayed in this exhibition are not limited to wrapping cloths but include covering cloths such as fukusa, or a small Japanese silk cloth as well.
The fabric used as a wrapping cloth reflects the aesthetic sense of culture of each ethnic group and has high value. A wrapping cloth is therefore worth displaying as ethnic art and folkcraft too. Meanwhile the present mass-consumption life style discharges a great volume of wasted packing materials. This exhibition leads us to evaluate the culture of wrapping cloths again from the viewpoint of environmental protection.
Exhibition Structure
[First Floor]
Left Side: Wrapping cloths around the globe, displayed according to regions.
Center: Pray and Celebration
Right Side: “Japan's Furoshiki: From Festive Use to Daily Use” and Records on Korea
Left Side: Wrapping cloths around the globe, displayed according to regions.
Center: Pray and Celebration
Right Side: “Japan's Furoshiki: From Festive Use to Daily Use” and Records on Korea
[Stair Landing]
“Miyo Mandala”, a 3.5 m by 3.5 m cloth woven by a handicapped woman by using a 50-cm-wide loom. She lives in Osaka and has problems in vision, hearing, and speech.
“Miyo Mandala”, a 3.5 m by 3.5 m cloth woven by a handicapped woman by using a 50-cm-wide loom. She lives in Osaka and has problems in vision, hearing, and speech.
[Source of Articles on Display]
- 1) Collection of National Museum of Ethnology (100 articles including the sample collection of year 2002)
- 2) Articles borrowed within Japan (Mainly from the collection of Miyai Co., Ltd., consisting of 300 overseas articles)
- 3) Articles borrowed abroad (Mainly from the collection of Chojun Textile & Quilt Art Museum in Korea, consisting of 24 overseas articles)
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4) Others (56 commemorative wrapping cloths)
*Articles from 25 nations, including Japan, Turkey, Pakistan, Korea, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran, Morocco, Peru, Guatemala, and Bolivia.
[Hosts]
National Museum of Ethnology, Senri Foundation
National Museum of Ethnology, Senri Foundation
[Cooperators]
Sponsors:
Osaka Prefectural Board of Education, NHK Osaka TV Station
Sponsors:
Osaka Prefectural Board of Education, NHK Osaka TV Station
Special Cooperation From:
Miyai Co., Ltd.
Cooperation From:
Suita City, Japan Expo Memorial Association, Hayashibara Museum of Art, Chojun Textile & Quilt Art Museum, NPO Saori-Hiroba, Jurgen Lehl Co., Ltd., West Japan Railway Company, and Hankyu Bus Co., Ltd.
Exhibit Cooperation From:
Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture at Kanagawa University, Kyoritsu Women's University, Enshu Sado Soke (the Enshu tea ceremony school), Masa Kubo, Kodaijin, Kiyoko Sanpei, and Shin-ichi Hanaoka