Tenugui -- Part 2

Well, a bit more than 2 years ago when I wondered if I should take up blogging (and then soon quickly forgot about my blog) I wrote my second post on tenugui. Somehow that post actually did generate some traffic on my 2 post blog. So, I thought I'd pick up the topic again and show something of the combined collection of my mother-in-law and myself.

This morning when I was pulling out her old tenugui to snap some current photos, it hit me that we will be marking 20 years since her death this summer. I suppose I could say that she's my idol when it comes to a favorite word of the Japanese: "gaman" (self control perseverance). During the WWII and the aftermath, she suffered severely and lost everything she owned, including one of her newborn twins. But, she never moaned about how hard her life was, she just kept on with the daily struggles of life providing for her children, without her husband. She would have had every right to begrudge me, born in enemy territory and with limited language and life skills in Japanese, when I joined the family but instead I deeply felt a mother's love within her. Well, I'm getting a bit choked up so will move on to what I wanted to show today and tell about.

I started off mentioning my mother-in-law in part because I wanted to note that by the time she passed on in 1993 she still had few possessions. We only have a few paltry boxes containing her life's belongings. After her death, one of my brother's-in-law sorted through her things stored at our house and put many of them in the trash. Sadly, I was shocked that he threw out her kimonos but felt that I shouldn't intervene as she wasn't my mother and I didn't want to cross any boundaries. But, I'm glad that he did keep her collection of tenugui! Maybe he realized that they held sentimental value for her...

I am a collector by nature. I like things that bring nostalgic feelings in a hazy glow that improves upon what was a mundane reality. Mother-in-law's old tenugui do just that. They are historical everyday life documents of the Showa Era in Japan.

What are tenugui? They are traditional, thin, cotton, Japanese towels that served a variety of purpose. They have a fairly standardized size. Mother-in-law's older ones measure 32 X 85 cm. Ones created these days are slightly larger at at 35 X 90 cms. They are generally hand-dyed and hand-stenciled. The ones in my mother-in-law's collection weren't purchased but rather passed out as advertising or as a commemorative of a special event, such as a new town hall or the like. How were and are they used in everyday life? Well, most people no longer wear geta but back in the day if the toe string broke you could rip off a section of a tenugui and repair your footwear! I live in green tea country. Even today you can find women working in the tea fields who cover their heads with one and then maybe put a big Sunbonnet Sue type hat over that for good measure. You might also see them rolled and tied around the head of a fish monger, a carpenter, or any other variety of manual laborer to keep sweat from their brow. You'll see them tied around heads during festivals too. Studying hard for that big exam? How about one around the head to remind you that you'll pass? But, they were and probably still are a standard kitchen towel in many homes. Need a cover for a cooling pot of rice? It will do just dandy. My husband has told me that it was the sort of towel he used as a child when he went off to the public bath each evening. To this day, after more than 30 years of marriage, we still bicker about the best sort of bath towel. He uses what replaced the tenugui -- a very thin terry cloth towel that is a freebie when you stay at a Japanese inn or given out as advertising and I prefer the big thick American-style bath towel that takes forever to dry during humid and cloudy weather. A tenugui's thinness definitely has the advantage over either of them as it dries very quickly!

Ok, enough blab, here are some selected photos from our combined collection:

Can you see the stylized rice plants on this one?

Wow! What artwork! The little town that this one came from was swallowed up in a conglomeration in 2005.

I can't recall how long ago I received this one from "Nodan Kenpo" as advertising. Maybe 10 or 15 years ago? In Japan, cool English usually includes "Let's"....

Well, this one is easy to identify the age of -- 30 years this month! Build a new town hall and pass out a tenugui!

Here's another commemorating a new building.

I love when they are dated! This one is 50 years old! It's obviously celebrating a Sports Day event.

Advertising from a futon shop suggesting you'll have good sleep with their products. I love that old style of writing a phone number!

Here's one for a dry cleaner suggesting the god of good fortune will take care of the job! It's another with a classic style of writing a telephone number that you wouldn't see with today's more complex numbers.

I thought it was a bit hysterical that this one has seen the most of age related spotting. My kanji reading ability isn't that great but I know the ones for "sewage" when I see them! Ah, harks back to our life before moving away to better and newer housing when the "vacuum car" made a bi-weekly run and I was assigned to pay him!


Well, these shown above give a general idea of design possibilities.



Now, here are a couple that I think would have been greatly improved if they'd left out the English and just kept the classic artwork:

In my original tenugui post, I said that I was thinking of using them where my classic scroll had hung before it suffered it's final blow in the March 11 disaster of 2011. So, I'll show some of the ways I've changed the look for the season with modern tenugui:

                             June, when my deep blue hydrangea is at its best.

July and August during Obon season

 

 

 

 

Halloween

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas

 

My collection is ever growing and expanding when I spot another that catches my fancy. The ones shown here are by no means all that I own. Some recent ones that I purchased cost over 1,000 yen (about US $10). Ouch!

Tenugui

My Japanese mother-in-law collected tenugui. In her day, they were often given out as free advertising when a new company opened or to celebrate a landmark. She kept few possessions so the tenugui she collected over the years serve as memories of her and events in her life over the course of many years. I pull them out from time to time just to look at the craftsmanship that went in to the production of them. They are only about 90 cms in length and 30 cms in width, made of 100% cotton, and hand-dyed. With time, I collected my own  in a variety of colors and designs. In the past year or so, I've even purchased some that would scandalize my dear old mother-in-law if she knew what I spent for them!

The world knows of the triple disaster events that happened on March 11, 2011 in Japan. That was exactly 2 months ago today. The M 9 earthquake was felt in every part of Japan. I am fortunate enough not to live close to the epicenter of the quake or tsunami stricken area but that day my home suffered one small rather insignificant bit of damage. The kakejuku (hanging scroll) that had been hanging in our tokunoma (alcove), in our Japanese-style tatami room, swung back and forth so hard that the silk bottom of the scroll ripped apart from the weighted bottom, and was left hanging by a thread. It was an early purchase of mine in Japan in the very early 1980s when I had little money. I was sad to take it down as the design of 2 men traveling down a mountain stream always gave me a peaceful feeling to look at.

For now, I have hung one of my tenugui (Japanese cotton towels) in the place where the far more expensive hanging scroll once was on display. It gives a new look to the space.

I chose a summery patterned one from my collection but I may start hanging others from my mother-in-law's collection from time to time as the mood and season strike me because I like this new look.