三心寺糞掃衣プロジェクト  Sanshinji Funzo-e Project

Traditionally, many Buddhist temples have a robe (okesa) which has been handed down to the clergy through the generations.  At Sanshin, members of the local and remote sangha are working together to make a 15-jo funzo-e as a temple okesa.  The word funzo originated in the ancient tradition from Buddha’s time, when monks picked up discarded rags (funzo), dyed them with natural substances such as plants or tree bark, then stitched them together to make a robe.

Kimono silk fabric from used kimono was dyed with black walnuts that grew at Sanshin to make the colors slightly darker, more appropriate for traditional Kesa colors.

Kimono silk fabric from used kimono was dyed with black walnut from Sanshinji ground to make the colors slightly darker, more appropriate for traditional Kesa colors.

Calculation to decide the size of short and long pieces.

Diagram to distribute the pieces to different people.

Pattern made with cardboard for mountain shapes. The edges of mountains are folded but later we decided to use different method and stitched around the edge.

After the mountains are stitched mark the lines for running stitch ( also called Sashiko stitch).

Finished with Sashiko stitch