Thursday, March 02, 2006


My body dressed with the robe of the field of happiness
Calmly, I possess the Universe
I stay or leave as it wishes
a pure breeze blows the white clouds
Daichi Zenji

3 Comments:

Blogger NickM said...

This is wonderful, Pierre...Thankyou!

6:52 AM  
Blogger Taigu said...

Dear Nickm,

Thank you for your patience and appreciation. I hope that you get all the information you need to start sewing your own kesa. Please, don't be afraid of making mistakes...

8:09 AM  
Blogger Taigu said...

Dear Bubbha,

In Shobogenzo Kesa-Kudoku (book 1, p.139-140, Cross-Nishijima translation) , Dogen writes:

" There is the robe of separate stripes (katsu-setsu-e), the robe of added stripes (zeccho-e), the robe of pleated stripes (shoyo-e) and the single -sheet robe (man-e)(...)".

The first one (katsu-setsu-e) is the one we are now looking at, it means : "divided and cut robe". You take the same fabric, cut it into different segments and pieces, sew them back together according to a precise pattern. And eventually, add borders and ties.

The one on the picture is a Funzoe (a robe of dirty rags) made of segments of different fabric, with a single backing and yo (stripes) applied on them following the pattern of the first robe. It is a more "advanced" robe for it requires a lot of time and skill. We are now looking at the fundamentals of kesa sewing. later on, I shall explain how to sew a seven stripes robe and a funzo-e kesa.

Thank you so much for your question Bubbha.

Buddha bless Bubbha

Pierre

8:26 AM  

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