Looking out over the city of Seto, Ochinyama is the site of a monument modeled after an artillery shell that memorializes those who fell in the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War and a memorial tower for those who died in the Pacific War, as well as the building known as Mufuuan, the former workshop of Fujii Tatsukichi (1881 – 1964), an artist/craftsman from Aichi Prefecture who taught ceramic artists in Seto.
Suspended from the ceiling of Mufuuan hangs a mass of red fabric formed into a spiral through embroidery from which thread stretches in all directions. Connected to that thread are close to one hundred thousand needles, which were collected by calling for donations, and which stick out from clay that covers the floor. It brings to mind the Buddhist and Shinto practice of hari kuyo, a memorial service held for broken, rusted, or unused needles that involves placing the needles in tofu. It also conjures up the “thousand-stitch belts” that were made for Japanese soldiers going to the front as protective charms against being shot, that were held together with a thousand red stitches, each sewn by a different woman.
Oki Junko began embroidery by teaching herself using sewing materials left behind by her late mother. Finding herself attracted to the tattered textiles and old fabric that changed form as they were handed down in daily life, Oki stitched by improvising, as if she were holding a conversation with these items. She says that a core inspiration for her work comes from the schoolgirl’s sailor uniform that her grandmother made for her daughter—Oki’s mother—who was entering a girls’ high school when goods were in short supply during the Pacific War, by patching together undergarments and her grandfather’s pants, and producing the white lines at the collar and sleeves by stitching up and down in white thread.
Fujii Tatsukichi, who advocated kogei craftwork as a highly distinctive artistic expression, worked to advance household kogei craftwork (handicrafts) through events and magazines targeting women. Oki’s art is founded on the enormous accumulation of needlework created by these women.