Historical/Cultural Context

There are differing origin stories for Temari. Many claim that this art form had its start amongst the Chinese aristocracy of the Heian period. In Japan, village elders would handwash kimonos and remove the worn threads, rolling them into balls that were repurposed as toys. Over time these balls became highly desirable decorative objects. Pieces of silk were wadded together into a ball and then wrapped with strips of fabric and thread in repeated geometrical patterns.

Traditional Temari make precise use of symmetry, negative space, and design elements based on or symbolic of the natural world. While no longer primarily used as toys, many Japanese mothers will craft Temari for their children as gifts, each thread color carefully chosen to communicate a message of joy or good luck, sometimes with a small jingle bell or handwritten wish hidden inside. The learning process for traditional art forms in Japan is still heavily modeled on the ancient master-apprentice system; official certification for Temari artists can take over ten years. 

Despite the recent resurgence of interest in Temari ball making by fiber artists and contemporary crafters the world over, Temari remains first and foremost a dynamic display of Japanese culture, aesthetics, and history, and many of these newer practitioners lack direct experience with the context from which this art form emerged.