​​Ethnic Textile Art

Kogin is a uniquely Japanese needlework technique that was born of a practical desire for warmth, and the need to strengthen a fabric used in everyday life.  Kogin is recognized by its characteristic geometric designs, which are embroidered with thick threads on a base fabric.  The origins of this technique can be traced to the peasants in the Tsugaru Peninsula at the northwestern tip of Honshu - Japan's main island – in the 1600's.  During the reign of Ieysu Tokugawa, feudal lords were taxed so heavily that the purchase of goods from other fiefdoms was severely limited.  Thus, the clothing of the peasants had to be woven from the fibers people could grow themselves, including flax and hemp.  Sometimes fibers from vines or tree barks were used. In an attempt to try to lengthen the useful life of the weak and brittle fibers, peasants would darn the garments made from this cloth by using limited amounts of white, string-like thread.  The darning also served to minimize the cold of the harsh northern climate.  As time progressed the designs were changed and adapted until Kogin became recognized as a unique - and distinctly Japanese - form of stitching.  
 
During the 1700's, laws were changed so that the poor could use cotton thread.  As a result, the stitching on garments became more decorative.  In addition to the plain vertical stripes, diamond-shaped patterns and all-over designs began to be seen. The characteristic blue and white designs were given names for things common to everyday life (soybean, cat's eye, running waters, etc.)  Naming the patterns for items surrounding a stitcher helped to recall the patterns from memory, since formal graphs or charts had yet to be developed.  Over a period of time, the diamond shaped patterns were modified into simple or intricate designs, depending on the stitchers skill and local custom. Eventually, over three hundred patterns grew from the diamond shape, with certain designs associated with specific families.   

 

Three distinct terms were used to refer this form of needlework during its history.  The first term - Sashiko - is one that is known to contemporary quilters, but is simply translated as "to stitch."  Those designs stitched over an even number of threads are called Nambu Hishi Zashi  ("diamond-shaped stitchery") and come from Aomori's southern area.  In contrast, those designs stitched over an odd number of threads were identified as Kogin, and originated from northwestern Aomori.  The first written reference to this form of needlework appeared in 1788 in "The Illustrated Book of the Life of the People of Aomori."  In this book both techniques (odd and even-counts) were grouped together as Kogin, the term by which we know this form of needlework today.  
 
Interest in Kogin decreased in its native Japan in the early 1900's, with the coming of machine-made clothing.  Around this same time, the tradition of making a Kogin trousseau fell into disfavor, which also lessened its importance.  It was only after World War II that efforts were made to preserve this folk technique.  In the 1960's, there was a flush of American interest in Kogin, culminating in a Traveling Exhibition in the U.S.A. in 1963.  During this same time period, Beatrice Fulton Keeber, the Counted Thread Society, a publication titled “Hands On”, and DMC introduced this technique to the western world.  In Japan, pattern books were published, which featured some of the traditional designs in charted form.  Unfortunately, after this brief period of time, Kogin once again disappeared from the contemporary stitchers vocabulary.