wisteria yarn, recycled ledger paper (washi and sumi), indigo dyed cotton

This hanten was discovered in the Yamagata prefecture.  To find a garment of undyed otsuzure, especially this type – where the wrapped paper reinforcement (which is twisted around the wisteria yarn core) is made of repurposed ledger paper and shows blips of handwriting in sumi – is extremely rare.  Small red marks are evident along the sumi blips. These are traces of the cinnabar stamps which were affixed to the ledger paper before the paper was transformed into yarn.  The otsuzure cloth was originally made in Niigata and would have been transported to Shonai, Yamagata for sale.