Threads of Thought

A “Furoshiki” is a traditional Japanese cloth used to wrap gifts, clothes, and other goods.

In 1982 while traveling in Japan, my most extravagant purchase was a beautiful kimono.  The shop keeper folded it and placed it into a box then took a simple dark green and white floral printed scarf and wrapped the box such that it had handles for me to carry it.  Although I have had a love affair with fabric all my life, that was the beginning of a new appreciation for a simple square of cloth.  

My appreciation continues.  My favorite clothing accessory is the scarf.  My favorite baby gift is a large piece of hemmed flannel.  My favorite piece of pool and beach wear is the sarong. And finally one of my few key pieces of camping and hiking equipment is the bandana.  Recently used the bandana to wrap my daughter’s sprained ankle to finish a hike around the lake.

As I continue to seek simple ways to be more environmentally considerate. I have frequently thought of my Japanese fabric wrapped package, however it wasn’t until recently that I learned that it had a name, Furoshiki.

This practice has been revived in Japan. The appeal of this form of wrapping is that the cloth is reused for other purposes, and it is an eco-effective technique in this regard. Furoshiki means “bath spread” and it derives from the practice of bundling clothes at public baths in the Edo Period (1603-1867). Over time, Furoshikis were used to protect goods when transporting and decorating goods for presents.  

In 2006, Japan’s Minister of the Environment, Yuriko Koike, pointed out, that this seems like a pretty good time to bring wrap back on a global scale. It’s reusable, durable and versatile–and it makes wrapping and carrying stuff a heck of a lot more stylish than your typical sack of polyethylene.  And how wonderful it would be to use the furoshiki (or any big, durable and pretty cloth) this holiday as both wrapping and present. In Japan, Furoshiki are still commonly used to wrap and transport lunch boxes (bento) and often double as a table mat for the lunch.

Modern furoshiki can be made of a variety of cloths, including silk, cotton, rayon, polyester and nylon.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).

The following are the names of many of the types of wrapping that can be done.

basic wrap (otsukai tsutsumi)

four tie wrap (yotsu musubi)

watermelon wrap (suika tsutsumi)

shoulder wrap (katakake fukuro)

two books wrap (hon tsutsumi) roll wrap (maki tsutsumi)

one bottle wrap (ippon bin tsutsumi)

two bottle wrap (nihon bin tsutsumi)

I have recently been using a variety of Furoshiki in my daily life and they had proved to be beautiful, helpful and environmentally sound.  In fact, at a recent party where several people asked me about my Furoshiki’s a woman excitedly told me that she and her sister have been exchanging birthday gifts in the same piece of birthday cake fabric for 30 years. In one weekend I’ve saved our worlds landfill 6 plastic bags on one gift of wrapping paper.

Thank you to the following for descriptions and images.

www.furoshiki.com 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furoshiki