Robe of elm bark fibre with cotton cloth appliqué and cotton thread embroidery, Hokkaido, mid 19th century

Ainu robe made of elm bark fibre with cotton cloth appliqué and cotton thread embroidery. Kimono type garment made of four straight pieces of cloth joined together with a seam at back and sides and an opening all the way down the front. Two straight pieces are joined on at the sides to form sleeves. A straight collar of black material stiffened with paper and fastenings of black knotted cords attached to two quadrants of blue material just below. Other similar fastenings attached to circles of blue cloth down the front and under the right arm.

The garment is made of coarsely woven brown material made from fibres taken from the bark of the Ohyõ tauro (Ulmus Laciniata) or Shina-no ki (Tilia Iaponica) trees which grow in Hokkaido. The top of the garment at the back and front, the sleeves borders and the lower part of the skirt decorated with appliqué of dark blue cloth in the nuno-oki method i.e. stitching ribbon-like bands of cloth onto the ground following a previously contrived design. This is further embellished by couched thick white threads, a technique known as oki nui. The blue cloth is stitched down with a blue thread and the stitches are prolonged at the corners of the design to give a thorn-like effect.

Given by Bernard Leach, CBE

This robe would have been made by an Ainu woman in Hokkaidô, the northernmost island of Japan. The Ainu are an Aboriginal people who live primarily by hunting and gathering. Their belief in the presence of animal spirits affects all aspects of their lives and is reflected in the clothes they wear. This garment, of a type known as an ‘attush’, is woven from fibres taken from the inner bark of the elm tree. The thorn-like motifs that decorate it serve a symbolic function, that of protecting the wearer against evil spirits. The robe would have been worn by a man conducting one of the many religious rituals that form part of Ainu culture.

T.99-1963