Furoshiki

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Furoshiki

Furoshiki (???, furoshiki) are a type of traditional Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
ese wrapping cloth

Gift wrapping

Gift wrapping refers to the act of enclosing a gift in some sort of material. Wrapping paper is a kind of paper designed for gift wrapping....
that were frequently used to transport clothes, gifts, or other goods. Although possibly dating back as far as the Nara period

Nara period

The of the history of Japan covers the years from AD 710 to 794. Empress Gemmei established the capital of Heijo-kyo . Except for 5 years , when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capital of Japanese civilization until Emperor Kammu established a new capital, Nagaoka-kyo, in 784 before moving to Heian-kyo , or Kyoto, a decade lat...
, the name, meaning "bath spread", derives from the Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of History of Japan running from 1603 to 1868. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu....
practice of using them to bundle clothes while at the sento

Sento

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Furoshiki (???, furoshiki) are a type of traditional Japan

Japan

Gift wrapping

Nara period

Edo period

Sento

is a type of Japanese communal Public bathing where customers pay for entrance. Traditionally these bath houses have been quite utilitarian, with one large room separating the sexes by a tall barrier, and on both sides, usually a minimum of lined up faucets and a single large bath for the already washed bathers to sit in among others....
(public baths;public furo). Before becoming associated with public baths, furoshiki was known as hirazutsumi, or flat folded bundle. Eventually, the furoshiki's usage extended to serve as a means for merchants to transport their wares or to protect and decorate a gift.

Modern furoshiki can be made of a variety of cloths, including silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from Pupa#Cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity ....
, chirimen, cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa....
, rayon

Rayon

Rayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulose fiber. Because it is produced from naturally occurring polymers, it is neither a truly synthetic fiber nor a natural fiber; it is a semi-synthetic fiber ....
, and nylon

Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides and first produced on February 28, 1935 by Wallace Carothers at DuPont....
. Furoshiki are often decorated with traditional designs or by shibori

Shibori

File:Sunlight filters through tied-and-indigo-dyed fabric.jpg is a Japanese language term for several methods of dyeing cloth with a pattern by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, or compressing it....
. There is no one set size for furoshiki, they can range from hand sized to larger than bed-sheets. The most common sizes are 45cm (17.7 inch) and 68-72cm (26.7-28.3 inch).

Although there are still furoshiki users in Japan, their numbers declined in the post-war

Post-war

A post-war period is the interval immediately following the beginning of a war and enduring as long as war does not resume. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date ....
period, in large part due to the proliferation of the plastic shopping bag

Plastic shopping bag

Plastic shopping bags, or carrier bags or plastic grocery bags, are a common type of shopping bag in several countries. Most often these bags are intended for a single use to carry items from a store to a home: reuse for storage or trash is common....
. In recent years, it has seen a renewed interest as environmental protection

Environmental movement

The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation movement and green movement movements, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....
became a concern. Furoshiki are, however, commonly used to wrap and transport lunch boxes (bento

Bento

is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickling or cooking vegetables as a side dish....
) and often double as a table mat for the lunch.

On March 6, 2006, the Japanese Minister of the Environment, Yuriko Koike, created a furoshiki cloth to promote its use in the modern world.

Furoshiki

See also

External links