Coat decorated with protective patterns. Ainu, Hokkaido, Japan, late 18th or early 19th c. Elm bast fibers, thread, cotton appliqué. Loaned to the Baltimore Museum of Art [3000×4000] [OC]

    by oldspice75

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    1. [display description, Baltimore Museum of Art loan](https://i.ibb.co/mHGwBPT/20231229-131817.jpg)

      [Unidentified Ainu Artists

      Coat Decorated with Protective Patterns

      late 18th–early 19th century

      Hokkaido, Japan

      Elm bast fibers, thread, cotton appliqué

      Private collection, R.18859

      The historic beliefs of Ainu people are partially expressed through the distinctive bold embroidered appliqué patterns that were intended to please the spirits and protect the wearer. Passed down from mother to daughter, Ainu designs and embroidery stitches nearly vanished when Japan’s government enforced assimilation beginning in the late 1890s. Interest in the culture revived in the 1980s and 1990s, when a group of Ainu women, including the poet Shizue Ukaji (born 1933), sought out old photographs, museum collections, and elderly women in an effort to recover traditional designs and stitches. Through books, classes and exhibitions, the women vigorously promoced Ainu textile art.]

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