An Early 20th Century Komebukuro: Unusual Kagasuri Pieces

This lovely, small drawstring bag is hand sewn from about 20 pieces of Japanese cottons arranged on the bias. The cotton drawstring may not be original to the bag.

This kind of piece-constructed, drawstring bag is often referred to as a komebukuro. 

Komebukuro are bags that were used to bring token offerings of uncooked rice or beans to a temple or shrine festival, the piecing and patching often being thought-out and planned for festive effect.   

A marvelous bag, it is one that shows a really lovely and good range of old cottons–not to mention three very nice patches of unusual kagusuri, or mosquito kasuri, one of which is shown in detail as the last image accompanying this post.