Kitsune Sashiko Pattern

Fox Sashiko Border by AWV

The kitsune sashiko embroidery design is not common and only found in a few locations.

What Is Sashiko?

A running stitch embroidery used in traditional designs and for practical repairs. Typically the thread is white on a dark indigo dyed fabric. The stitched designs (or designs hidden in places like collars) may be used as talismans with protective qualities.¹ The word in Japanese means little stabs.

Where Is the Kitsune Design Used?

This design is typically sewn into the collar of clothing (such as a jacket) to protect the wearer from possession and to give them the blessing of Inari Ookami.
It has also been used in old style firemen's jackets (made of heavy fabrics that were wet down before a fireman would fight a fire or enter a burning building) and kotatsu heated table covers.

Who Uses It Today?

The pattern is rare and only has been found in the Nonogawa River Valley and Kyoto. Nakamura Hisako taught it to residents who keep the pattern alive for their traditional crafts for the local festivals.

Related Patterns

Wind Blowing Grass on Dunes - Nowaki Sashiko Pattern by Amy Winters-voss

In the Nonogawa River Valley, the kitsune pattern is often a paired with the Nowaki (wind blowing grass/rice) pattern to symbolize the area's dependence on the god Inari Ookami for the area's rice harvest. On occasion the kitsune design is paired with a dragon or tanuki. But the reason for this may have been lost to history.

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Item type

Magical

Design Type

ornamentation, talismans, repairs

Craft

sashiko embroidery

Locations found

Nonogawa River Valley and Kyoto