Temari once were a mother’s gift to a daughter. Today, they are given as gifts and used in home décor.
TOKYO — For centuries temari, spheres embroidered with elaborate or simple patterns, have been crafted in Japan.
Traditionally they were toys that mothers created, something pretty to give their daughters for playtime. Now however, temari — in Japanese, “te” means hand and “mari” means ball — are often presented as gifts, used for interior decoration and even considered good luck charms.
“There is an anecdote about a monk named Ryokan (1758-1831) who used to make temari to play with children,” Eiko Araki, a temari craftswoman, wrote in an email. “So it seems that it was not necessarily limited to women throughout history.”
The craft is particularly popular these days in Kagawa prefecture, where Ms. Araki lives, on the southern Japanese island of Shikoku. There the balls are called Sanuki kagari temari: Sanuki is the old name of Kagawa and kagari means embroidered.
Ms. Araki, who has a background as a jewelry designer, first encountered temari about 35 years ago when she visited a folk art museum run by her father-in-law, Kazuo Araki. “I was moved by the sight of my mother-in-law, Yaeko, surrounded by colorful threads, making temari,” she wrote. “I felt the beauty and warmth that only human hands can create, and I was also drawn to the simplicity and beauty of natural colors, a beauty that was different from anything I had ever experienced before.”
She said she learned the basics of making temari by helping her mother-in-law, and gradually began to create her own. She now is a certified temari craftswoman, a designation awarded by the prefecture’s government.
To make temari in the Kagawa region, rice hulls are wrapped in thin paper and then cotton thread is wound around and around the lumpy package until a perfect sphere is formed. (The region is known historically for its cotton, as well as sugar and salt, Ms. Araki said.)
She said the embroidery was done with cotton yarn that had been dyed by hand, using natural materials such as indigo, pomegranate, walnut and loquat, to create about 120 color variations. Depending on the size and complexity of the pattern, it can take from a few hours to as long as three months to complete a ball.
Each of the patterns and colors used in temari embroidery have meaning, Ms. Araki said. For example, the chrysanthemum pattern, the most common, represents longevity; the hemp leaf, the growth of a child; and the shippo pattern (a series of connected circles), happiness and good fortune.
Temari were introduced at the imperial court during the Heian period (794-1184), but they did not become generally popular until the mid-1700s, when cotton and cotton thread became more accessible, Ms. Araki wrote. Yet as time passed, temari fell out of favor and the craft nearly disappeared.
In 1952, she said, her in-laws began studying temari crafting in their area and in 1983 they established the Sanuki Kagari Temari Preservation Association, which Ms. Araki now heads. The association’s eight staff members and about 120 artisans who work on commission all promote the craft, with the staff members and some craftspeople offering lessons for hobbyists and professionals.
The artisans make temari in sizes from less than 1 inch to nearly 6 inches in diameter, with prices of 2,200 yen to 70,000 yen ($19 to $620), depending on the size and complexity of the pattern. New forms have been developed, such as temari made with scented wood chips in the core so it can be used to scent closets and drawers.
The association’s artisans, Ms. Araki wrote, “create new ideas and expressions that show that temari is not an old thing, but still fresh and attractive nowadays.”
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