Discover Boro mending

What is Boro?

Boro or more accurately “Boro boro” means “Rags and tatters” in Japan and is the collective term for all of the clothing and bedding made from scraps of fabric by the poorest farming people in Japan.

Pieces would be mended through several generations of a family and could contain beautiful and valuable pieces of Katagami and Kasuri )hand woven, similar to Ikat) fabrics as well as very ordinary scraps that would never normally be sewn together.

The makers and menders of Boro did not have the luxury of buying new fabric, clothing or bedding so had to make their own and could not afford to make a distinction between a lovely piece of fabric and a very ordinary one.

Having to make and mend fabric and clothing was seen as deeply shameful in Japan as it emphasised the extreme poverty of those who had no choice but to do this. This shame was so great that, when times improved, much of the fabric was buried in the ground to hide the fact it was ever made. This makes larger and more beautiful examples very hard to come by and have a very high price tag attached to them.

Items that received a lot of wear would be stitched heavily using “Nami nui” (running stitch) which made for a more robust fabric and added warmth through the density of the stitching.

The side of the fabric that would be seen would have very small stitches and be kept as uniform a colour as possible. The back of the fabric, however, would show the history of its making with multiple scrappy patches in indigo blues, stripes, checks and the occasional other piece of fabric, such as a katagami stencilled piece or a kasuri woven piece.