Aka-tombo (red dragonfly)

When fall approaches, my childhood memory of harvesting rice always makes me want to go back to the time when we did much more with nature. As my parents work on the field, my brother and I were running around, try to catch dragonflies. There were literally hundreds of them flying in the sky and that was just natural view to us in fall.

Some people might say Japanese are the world’s most ardent fans of insect. The ones we like best are butterfly, dragonfly and firefly. Dragonflies live in water in larval stage and Japan has more than enough water in rice fields, rivers and creaks for them to develop. It is amazing to know that there are almost 190 species of dragonflies in Japan and the number of dragonflies you can see is amazing, especially in late summer to fall when it is time for field crop to be harvested. As history shows, we have enjoyed having dragonflies part of our life. The history goes all the way back to Yayoi Period (300 BC to 300 AD) that the ceremonial bells made from bronze have decorated with primitive drawings of dragonflies.
Dragonflies were considered as Kachi-mushi (Victory insects), which brings good luck. Warrior’s helmets, family crests and many other items were decorated with this lucky insects design.

wallpaper design. Image credit: www.kabegami.tank.com

Sashiko Sampler SC-0041

Dragonfly design also appears in pottery, dishes, wall paper, fabric and off course Sashiko and quilt designs. There is a Sashiko Sampler with dragonfly SC-0041 in Mustard and Navy color.

There are many folk songs passed down since 12th century have dragonfly in theme. One of the most famous song is called Aka-tombo (Red dragonfly), which was composed in 1921. Japanese children have been catching them for so many centuries that children observe the insects carefully, discover their natural behavior and come up with ways to capture them.

We don’t see many dragonflies anymore because of environmental degradation. We don’t see many children chasing after dragonflies anymore either due to decrease of the number of the insect and the change of children’s life style. But the insect still remain as one of the most loved motifs in many area of our culture.

Talking about the traditional use of Sashiko

The Lowell Quilt Festival was held from August 12 to August 14. All the people helping the show has been busy, especially the day before the show started. There was more than 300 quilt to hang and I took a privilege to help hanging the quilts for a few hours so I could touch and see them so close by. There were amazing quilts that the makers must have put 100s of hours to hand-stitch.

There was a lot of great vendors this year that I really enjoyed exploring and shopping after giving demos. I got a teddy bear made from old patchworked fabric. The demo of making your own flip-flop at Red Barn Sewing Center was fun to watch.

Looking at samples

Showing running stitches

I was so exited to give Sashiko demo for all 3 days of the show. There were 20 – 30 people came to my demo. It was fun to interact with people, answering questions and introducing Japan that are something new to them. Many of them already heard of or sew Sashiko, or have done Sashiko. What was most new to the audience was “How to transfer your own design onto the fabric”. They are excited to know the method and tools such as waxed carbon paper, serrated tracing wheel and Tracer pen.
We use 2 types of thimbles in Japan; one goes on the middle finger between first and second knuckles, and the other one goes onto the palm. Many of them wanted to try the one goes on the palm after the demo.

Very busy one hour everyday, but the most enjoyable demo I had!