The Shishu Ladies of Hilo : : Japanese Embroidery in Hawai`i / / Sara Nunes-Atabaki, Shiho S. Nunes.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Hawaii Press Archive eBook-Package Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Nunes, Shiho S.,; Nunes-Atabaki, Sara,
• Place / Publishing House: Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [1999]; ©1999
• Year of Publication: 1999
• Language: English
• Series: Extraordinary Lives: The Experience of Hawaii Nisei
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (156 p.)

A carefully documented and illustrated account of the stitching community on the Big Island of Hawai'i from the mid 1930s to the late 1960s. This award-winning book traces the teaching of shishu (Japanese embroidery) in Hawai'i and describes in detail the modifications made to traditional motifs and materials.In the 1930s Ima Shinoda began teaching groups of predominantly nisei women in and around Hilo the centuries-old art of Japanese embroidery known as shishu. Trained in Japan, she combined her talents for teaching and stitchery to inspire and instruct a new generation in the demanding art form. Together with her husband, Yoshio, who created the distinctive, eye-catching designs used by hers students, Ima Shimoda was responsible for not only furthering the practice of shishu in Hawai'i but ensuring its existence as a vital link for many nisei to their cultural past and its traditions.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Conventions -- Part I. The Hilo Shishü -- 1. Gathering the Threads -- 2. The Hilo Shishü Community -- 3. Old Ways Done Differently -- Part II. Threads from the Past -- 4. An Enduring Partnership -- 5. Life Was Hard! -- 6. “Great Were the Ladies of Meiji!” -- Part III. From Design to Stitched Art -- 7. Design for Needle and Thread -- 8. Thread into Art -- 9. The Shishü Experience -- Appendix A. A Short History of Shishü in Japan -- Appendix B. Roster of the Shishu Ladies -- Appendix C. Notes -- Bibliography