Festive backpack pad (iwai-bandori) made in Yamagata Prefecture, late 19th-early 20th century
Unknown Japaneseexpand_more
Rice straw, cotton; indigo dyeexpand_more
The John R. Van Derlip Fund and the Mary Griggs Burke Endowment Fund established by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation; purchase from the Thomas Murray Collectionexpand_more 2019.20.43
Not on Viewexpand_more
Like the straw cape nearby, this garment is a more artful version of a simple tool. Backpack pads were utilitarian equipment made for both protection from the weather and to provide a soft layer between a person’s body and a heavy load. Finely woven examples like this one, which uses cotton thread to bind rice straw in flat, decorative patterns, were made to mark a new marriage, specifically the moment when a bride’s dowry is carried to her new husband’s home. The indigo-dyed cotton designs reinforce this association: the slanted diamond-shaped pattern, called “arrow” (yabane) because it resembles the feathered fletching on an arrow, communicates the idea of the bride’s irreversible movement from her parents’ house to her in-laws’.
Details
- Title
- Festive backpack pad (iwai-bandori) made in Yamagata Prefecture
- Role
- Maker
- Accession Number
- 2019.20.43
- Catalogue Raisonne
- Murray et al. 2018, pl. 37
- Curator Approved
This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.
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