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Nishijin Weaving

In the tranquil heart
There is no scattering of
Blossoms once gathered.

―Satomura Jōha, master of linked verse

The shining fabrics of nobility
Demand the planning of a pattern first.
The weaver trusts to instinct in design,
And looks ahead to twenty tedious tasks,
Each specialized. There is humility
In knowing all and delegating some.
His heedful heart performs no scattering
Of blossoms. They are woven in. A star
Tripartite clasps a plum chrysanthemum
Of full-blown petals, curling line by line.

Fine pigment measured from a box or jar
The dyer mixes with a smattering
Of dark to render just the shade he asks,
As he assembles twists of pallid hair.
Divinely vivid hues of yarn immersed
In heated vats emerge. The coloring
Prepares original material
For artisans to serve a taste imperial,
Though anyone may rent a robe to wear,
Or buy brocade squares for the Way of Tea.

See the master readying his loom!
He regulates the strict complexity
Of winding spools dispensing silk dispersed
Around the centered seat at the machine
With cards punched for jacquard, a modern style
Compared to handwork tapestry, where room
For energetic motion to resume
Exactly in a metrical routine
Must be assured, with warp thread straightened while
The air and area breathe calm and clean.

The scene begins to hum and fabricate
A span of cloth with brisk agility.
The weaver slips small shuttles each between
The warp, as his composure venturesome
Directs converging weft to make it bloom.
The tensile strength and florid tints compile
Spun gold into kaleidoscopic sheen.
Treadle and bar and frame reverberate.
The workman handles force with velvety
Control, producing plaited lengths ornate.

Sedately he proceeds to separate
And tie the trailing fibers with a smile.
Skilled finishing will lend a splendid flair,
Displaying lustrous equilibrium.
In obi or kimono flattering,
In hangings for a temple or a shrine,
In flags flown as parade routes are traversed,
In borders for a painting or a screen,
In cherished little things of woven ware
Shines tangible desirability.

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Margaret Coats lives in California.  She holds a Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University.  She has retired from a career of teaching literature, languages, and writing that included considerable work in homeschooling for her own family and others.

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26 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Margaret, this came across to me as an amazingly beautiful fabric of scattered rhyme like weaving silk into poetry with a unique design. You have that wonderful way of providing vivid details that allow me to comprehend that which is entrancingly new to me while maintaining my interest and engendering my admiration.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Roy, thanks for that description of the rhyming in this poem as “scattered rhyme.” And for your compliments about the poem! As you noticed, every line end-rhymes with at least one other, but not in a symmetric rhyme scheme. This is a way of imitating weavers who create lovely textiles in original designs that are natural, and thus regular only in part. As you also say, weaving resembles creation of poetry. The Japanese poet who wrote the haiku epigraph to my poem has one kind of Nishijin weaving named for him (Shouha, another way to spell his name, Joha). He was a devotee of the tea ceremony, who used and treasured the gold brocade variety of Nishijin weaving.

      Reply
  2. Paul A. Freeman

    I watched the video first. The workrooms are like living museums, the equipment old, but so well made and maintained it probably functions like when it was new. It was heartening to see that although those involved in the initial steps of weaving were old men (I should speak!), a generation of younger women were engaged in the weaving – and of course the modelling.

    I often watch the NHK World Japan channel for its fantastic documentaries and items like this on Japanese culture.

    To the poem, ‘Nishijin Weaving’. I’ve read it once and liked how each stanza describes part of the weaving process – pattern designing, pigment preparation, readying the loom, weaving the fabric, finishing and displaying the final product. I’ll be reading again, later.

    Thanks for the read, Margaret.

    Reply
    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Paul, my wife and I also watch (and enjoy) that NHK World Japan channel. It amazes us with its documentaries of all the ancient crafts and techniques that are still carefully nurtured in Japan. Sometimes modern technology is brought in as an aid (as in the case here with Nishijin weaving), but the prime emphasis is still on meticulous craft that produces dazzling artifacts. There is still a living and breathing cultural tradition in Japan, unspoiled by commercial coarseness and stupidity.

      Reply
      • Margaret Coats

        NHK World (and counterparts within Japan) are outstanding at fostering cultural awareness. You may have noticed, Joe, one significant aspect of the programs on traditional crafts. Innovation is as important as preservation. Interviewed artists often express a feeling of responsibility to move their craft into the present and prepare for the future with products adapted to contemporary life. The common attitude is that innovation should come from within tradition, and be guided by it. This sounds something like the ideals of classical poets.

    • Margaret Coats

      Paul, thanks for the comment. The younger generation of women in the video says something about the difficulty of attracting “successors” to traditional craftsmen. Ages ago, the successors were children who grew up with the family craft. But these days, children who wish to follow in the painstaking work of weaving (or other traditional crafts) are increasingly hard to find. Craft guilds have made a major effort to solve the problem by encouraging any interested high school students to try the work for a while. More young women than young men have a sustained interest in weaving. But there is also the matter of specialization. No weaver does everything. Dyeing and finishing are specialized, as is the use of different types of loom and different techniques. You saw one woman simply winding different colored weft threads onto spools to be placed in shuttles. The young woman who worked with the design developed by an old man in the opening part of the video did “fingernail weaving.” Instead of using a “reed” mechanically moved by a treadle to press each weft thread into the fell of cloth, she tightened weft into warp by the pressure of her specially filed index fingernail. As you can imagine, this process is extremely time consuming and requires a consistent innate “feel” on the weaver’s part. Thanks for your interest in process and poem!

      Reply
  3. Yael

    Thank you for this beautiful poem highlighting beautiful Japanese arts and crafts Margaret. It’s most pleasurable to read and see such beauty.

    Reply
  4. Joseph S. Salemi

    Margaret, this is a beautiful poem that matches the exquisite labor that it describes. I think the poem’s length, and the complex enjambment used, are perfectly parallel with the subject matter — both your words and the intricate, meticulous weaving go hand in hand. These Japanese weavers are not rushing, and they are making sure that every little fiber and filament is in the right place.

    Reply
  5. Cynthia Erlandson

    A beautiful description of the complicated process of this craft. The video is mesmerizing. The form of linked verse, with poets collaborating, sounds fascinating.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thanks, Cynthia! I have done a little rhyme-linking in this poem, which is very different from the process of a pair or small school of poets responding to one another to create linked verse. For them, the master poet begins, followed by one or more others taking up his topic and style. In English, we have a famous example in Edmund Spenser’s “Shepherd’s Calendar” (August) with Colin (who represents Spenser himself) followed by the talented beginner Cuddie. This was all written by Spenser, but he provides a good account showing how challenging the genre could be to the follower poet.

      My linkage is between stanzas. It’s a simple matter of using the last rhyme sound in each stanza to begin the first line of the next. Not nearly as complicated as Nishijin weaving, but an appropriate tying together of threads here.

      Reply
  6. Warren Bonham

    Of course you’re an expert in Nishijin weaving. The “scattered rhymes” (to steal Roy’s phrase) perfectly matched the subject. I’m going to switch things up this morning and have a thoughtfully brewed cup of tea (instead of hastily prepared coffee) while I reread this poem.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you, Warren. Tea is another art in itself–or speaking of the Japanese tea ceremony, a place where many arts meet. Cups, utensils, clothing, behavior, and the architecture of the tea room itself go into making up the experience. And there’s often a poem in fine calligraphy displayed on a hanging scroll!

      Reply
  7. Margaret Brinton

    Just lovely, Ms. Coats. If only this world focused more on beauty such as this.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you so much for letting me know the poem helps a reader to focus on beauty. Grateful for your appreciation!

      Reply
  8. Cheryl A Corey

    After a first reading, I went back and watched the video. It gave me a greater appreciation for the complexity and skill involved in the creation of the fabric (designs so intricate!); but also enhanced my understanding as I read your poem a second time. I notice that you incorporate a portion of the epigraph in the first stanza.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Cheryl, thanks for your reading and watching and response! The textile creation process, which I try to render with some clarity, nonetheless is so complex that seeing it certainly helps. And because of that complexity, it takes the “tranquil heart” of the epigraph haiku to remain mindful of the many steps the weaver must perform in an orderly manner. I’ve pointed to that with the words “calm,” “sedately,” and “equilibrium” as well. The “no scattering” in the first stanza quotes the haiku to imply that the weaver will forget nothing, but weave all of his blossoms into the fabric. Or as the poet probably intended to say, to remember and process his experiences, and continue living with serenity. This calm attitude is very much an aim of the tea ceremony to which Satomura Joha was devoted. And it seems to me to reflect the way artists can put themselves entirely into their art.

      Reply
  9. Paul A. Freeman

    I did notice the dark-reddish flower in the picture. Is that the ‘plum chrysanthemum’?

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      The picture is a remarkably good one for the poem–many thanks to Evan. Above all, it features gold thread considered a characteristic of Nishijin fabric, though not always present.
      But, Paul, my description of a design in the first stanza is imaginary (and maybe difficult to imagine!). The dark red flower and the others with outlined petals are stylized chrysanthemums, so it qualifies as a plum chrysanthemum. For “full-blown petals,” you need the double ring of petals, most obvious in the white blossom outlined in blue. Again, a stylized representation that may not look much like a full-blown chrysanthemum to us. But in the upper left I’m glad to see oval leaves of hagi (bush clover), a symbol of poetry, along with small sprays of its much smaller flowers. This suits the association of poetry with weaving lurking behind my words, including the description of weaving actions as occurring “exactly in metrical routine.”

      Reply
  10. Laura Deagon

    Margaret, paired with the video, this poem brings to life a craft that is so beautiful and dignified. It is beyond my understanding, the complexity of the craft which then leads me to consider the complexity of your craft in poetry. Beautiful.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you, Laura. The beauty of this kind of weaving has attracted me for a long while. It was quite a challenge to try to put it into poetry.

      Reply
  11. Michael Pendragon

    This is a wonderful poem — weaving alliteration and internal rhyme into a beautiful poetic tapestry.

    I’d love to have you join our Facebook poetry group as well, so that we can include your poetry in out publications. As noted in my “thank you,” we publish a monthly ezine and an annual paperback “year’s best” anthology.

    Please drop by at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/184972343500393

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you for the comment, Michael, and for the invitation! I did take a look at your group, and I’m impressed by how many members there are. I have a few poems “published on social media,” rather than elsewhere. These were composed for special occasions, and posted by persons in attendance at the event. I’ll re-visit you for familiarity with how things proceed. Best wishes–as I know you must put great effort into the publications you describe.

      Reply
  12. Daniel Howard

    One has to admire the quantity and quality of your poetry, Margaret. Even your comments often make for insightful reading. The diversity of your stanza forms from poem to poem is particularly impressive.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Thank you, Daniel! I like to make a suitable form for each topic if I can think of one. My poems on Japanese subjects, like the one above, tend to feature the auspicious number five. Thus there are five stanzas here, each of ten lines because the weaving process is lengthy, and a rhyme scheme that Roy Peterson describes above as “scattered” because it’s irregular, but finally does tie up all the loose ends. I very much appreciate your compliment on my poetry in general, since it implies you have been looking up my works. Thank you again, and I can assure you my next appearance will be in sonnets, but not so polished as those of which you are master.

      Reply

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