A part finished Japanese Senninbari (thousand stitch belt), ...

Estimate

£60 - £100

A part finished Japanese Senninbari (thousand stitch belt), together with a silk Imonbukuro (giftbag) & a cooking fuel tin. Senninbari were decorated with 1000 knots or stitches, and each stitch was normally made by a different woman, and they were believed to confer courage, good luck and immunity from injury (especially bullets) to their wearers. The custom of producing Senninbari originated during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. Senninbari could be made by a soldier's mother, sister or wife, who would stand near their local temple, train station or department store and ask any female passerby to sew in a stitch or knot. During the height of WWII, women's organisations would gather to produce them en masse in order to meet demand. These were then placed in imonbukuro, or comfort bags, and were sent overseas to soldiers.