Sanuki Kagari Temari

In the northern part of Kagawa prefecture, the Sanuki plain spreads out facing the Seto Inland Sea. With a landscape dotted with mountains and a warm dry climate, the area flourished in the Edo period (1615–1868). The most famous local products were wasanbon sugar, salt, and cotton, which collectively were known as the three Sanuki whites. Sanuki kagari (embroidered) temari ("hand balls") are local toys that use cotton, one of the three whites. In 1987, the balls were designated as a Traditional Craft of Kagawa Prefecture. Currently, over 150 members of an association for the preservation of Sanuki kagari temari, led by Araki Eiko, is preserving techniques and striving to make the temari more widely known.

Kagari temari, in which silk and cotton are embroidered in multicolored geometric patterns, developed with great individuality in each region nationwide. However, as the Meiji period (1868–1912) began, the arrival of functional rubber balls led to a decline in temari, including those from the Seisan region of Kagawa prefecture. In the 1960s, the Kagawa craftsman Araki Keiyū, when investigating local folk handicraft and local toys, learned about the survival of traditional temaki in the city of Kan’onji and strove to revive and spread the relevant techniques. In 1983, with his wife Yaeko, he set up the Sanuki Kagari Temari Preservation Association in Kan’onji.

A typical temari pattern. Beautiful tones  are produced by cotton yarn dyed with vegetable dyes. If the yarn is dyed gently, natural soft tones emerge.

A pattern based on the iconic actor's costume in the Kabuki Juhachiban play “Shibaraku.” Expressed on a sphere, this representation becomes especially unusual and interesting.

Traditional Japanese temari were made with cores of cotton wool, sawdust, rice husks, fern husks, or old cloth. Sanuki kagari temari have, and always have had, a core made from rice husks wrapped in thin paper. This takes time and creates a characteristic crisp sound as the needle passes through. Unlike the past, it is nowadays hard to obtain rice husks, but the necessary volume is being secured thanks to the cooperation of local farmers.

The base ball is divided evenly into sections with dyed yarn, which become guidelines for the embroidery of the pattern. Imagining the temari to be a globe, the North and South Poles and the Equator are determined, and base lines are embroidered. Depending on the pattern, the “globe” may be divided into perhaps four, six, eight or 10 sections. Guided by these lines, the pattern is embroidered with a needle.