By Kaitlyn Munro
As some of you readers might recall from a previous blog (How to wash your Kimono 101,) my parents have been living in Tokyo, Japan for the last few years. My mother, a big textile lover, has had many unique adventures. One day, she stumbled upon the Hashirimizu Shrine celebrating a unique ceremony that happens to be relevant to my work.
“…so these tools
may be thanked for their
service and honored…”
Hari-Kuyō, the Festival of Broken Needles, is a special holiday for seamstresses, who bring bent and broken needles and pins to their local temple so these tools may be thanked for their service and honored. Finally, they are laid to rest in a soft cake of tofu or konnyaku (soft jelly cakes). Needles are piled high on the alters and small kimono and other garments hang nearby as offerings. Many seamstresses also pray for good luck in their sewing endeavors for the year. My mother first attended empty handed but made sure she remembered to bring her own needles and pins the following year.
This festival is celebrated on February 8 in the Kanto region, this year coinciding with the Lunar NewYear.
So today at Caring for Textiles, we too honor and thank our broken and bent needles and pins,
and wish you a very happy new year of the earth pig.
enshrined broken needles
my grandmother and me
a memory of my mind
Etsuko Yanagibori
Very nice! Thank you. I’m a member of a Zen Buddhist community here in the US and will share this with the sewing teachers in the community (they are the ones who help new priests sew their “okasa,” the traditional Japanese Zen priest’s robe).
A wonderful story!
A lovely tribute to a meaningful tradition. Thanks for sharing.
Oh to think I threw several away the past month. Went through a few working on tapestries. I love this. This needs to go to the AIC TSG site!
Wonderful anf thoughtful ceremony to show gratitude to small thing that really matter to one profession ! Thank you for sharing this. Happy Lunar New Year to you too.
Never knew about the tradition. Thanks for sharing.
What I love about this ceremony and Festival goes beyond the tribute to the tools of the work of the seamstresses. It highlights the value of the work of the seamstresses themselves as they give pause for thought that others can appreciate. Thank you for sharing this story.
Thank you for posting this! It is such a familiar annual ceremony to me that I didn’t think it special. In my home town Osaka the annual ceremony is usually held on 8 December. But you can always take your broken needles and pins to the shrine throughout the year and thank them. I recall my mother used to make these visits but I don’t anymore – this is a good reminder, thank you!
Japanese culture has the most wonderful way of showing gratitude for the simplest things. I’m sparking a lot of joy right now! Thank you for highlighting this wonderful tradition in celebrating Lunar New Year.
Can you tell me what happens to the cake of tofu full of needles?
I will be kinder and more thoughtful disposing of my sewing machine needles from now on. Usually one is so angry because the needle is not preforming. Now I will forgive it and retire it with love for its service! Loved this story.
How lovely! Thanks for sharing this tradition. I used to see a lot, but haven’t in over three decades. This brought tears to my eyes. I miss not seeing and want to do something about it.