Senninbari could be made from any color of cloth, but white was the most common. Yellow, red, green, and blue seem to have been the next most popular cloth colors chosen. Different colored stitches were also placed on the senninbari with red stitches being the most common, yellow/gold and blue being the second and third most popular. Senninbari made to be worn around the waist could also be called senninbari-haramaki.

PropertyValue
dbpedia-owl:thumbnail
dbpprop:abstract
  • Senninbari could be made from any color of cloth, but white was the most common. Yellow, red, green, and blue seem to have been the next most popular cloth colors chosen. Different colored stitches were also placed on the senninbari with red stitches being the most common, yellow/gold and blue being the second and third most popular. Senninbari made to be worn around the waist could also be called senninbari-haramaki. Haramaki, or abdomen belts are still worn sometimes in Japan for purposes of maintaining good health and/or protection. Senninbari belts generally measure about 6 inches high by 31-36 inches long+/-. The combination of a white cloth belt and 1000 red stitches or knots was seen as the most auspicious or lucky color combination. Only women were allowed to place the knots on the senninbari, which were worn as an amulet given to soldiers on their way to war as a part of the Shinto culture of Imperial Japan. The custom of producing senninbari originated during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. As stated earlier, the red color of the stitches was considered a “lucky” color, and the belts were believed to confer courage, good luck and immunity from injury (especially bullets) upon their wearers. Some Japanese soldiers rejected the belief that the senninbari could protect them from harm. Instead, they felt that this good luck item would simply allow them to be in the position to inflict the greatest damage upon the enemy before offering their life up in battle. Others in the military wore the senninbari as a devotional to the women back home. A senninbari could be made by a man's mother, sister, or wife if married, who would stand near their local temple, train station, or department store and ask any female passerby to sew in a French knot stitch. During the most hectic days of the War in order to meet demand, women's patriotic organizations would gather to make senninbari en masse. These were then placed in imonbukuro or comfort bags and sent overseas to the soldiers. According to the custom, any woman born in the "year of the tiger" could sew either 12 stitches or a number of stitches that added up to her age. Some belts were lined with the woman/women's hair as an added form of protection. The custom of placing hair in bags or pouches as a good luck charm, dates to early folk belief found on the island of Okinawa. Additionally, coins could be sewn into the belt as an amulet as well. The stitches were usually arranged in multiple rows but might also be placed in patterns creating images of flags, patriotic slogans and tigers. The most common slogan was bu-un cho-kyu for "eternal good luck in war". Tigers were popular as they were known to be able to roam far away from home and then return safely. Some of these belts were called "tiger belts", if embroidered in the image of a tiger. The senninbari were usually made as a sash were worn under the uniforms of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, but could also be made as hachimaki (headbands), belts, vests, and caps. Senninbari, more commonly known in the west as the "Thousand Stitch Belt", were featured in the 2006 movie Letters from Iwo Jima.
  • 千人針（せんにんばり）は、第二次世界大戦まで日本でさかんに行われた合力祈願（ごうりききがん、多数の人の祈願によって目的を達成させる）のひとつ。出征する人、あるいは出征して前線にいる人の武運長久を祈って作られた。　 1メートルほどの白布に、赤い糸で千人の人に一人一針ずつ縫って結び目をつくってもらう。兵士はこれを銃弾よけの護符として腹に巻いたり、帽子に縫いつけたりした。寅年の人は自分の年齢だけ結び目を作る事が出来る。これは虎が「千里を行き、千里を帰る」と言われている事に由来している。その他にも、穴の開いていない五銭硬貨や十銭硬貨を縫いこむことも行われた。これは「五銭」は「死線」を越え、「十銭」は「苦戦」を越えるという事に由来している。 また1938年、千人針を題材に日本最初のカラー映画『千人針』が生まれた。この映画は空襲などでフィルムのほとんどが焼失し、戦後その存在は忘れられていたが、ソビエト連邦崩壊後にソ連軍が満州で接収したものが発見され、日本でも知られるようになった。
dbpprop:hasPhotoCollection
dbpprop:nihongoProperty
  • Senninbari
  • Thousand-person-stitches
  • 千人針
dbpprop:reference
dbpprop:wikiPageUsesTemplate
rdfs:comment
  • Senninbari could be made from any color of cloth, but white was the most common. Yellow, red, green, and blue seem to have been the next most popular cloth colors chosen. Different colored stitches were also placed on the senninbari with red stitches being the most common, yellow/gold and blue being the second and third most popular. Senninbari made to be worn around the waist could also be called senninbari-haramaki.
rdfs:label
  • Senninbari
  • 千人針
owl:sameAs
skos:subject
foaf:depiction
foaf:page
is dbpprop:redirect of