ABSTRACT
Many peoples have appropriated textiles and clothing as identity markers. Items made of cloth thus come to transcend their primary protective and decorative functions. Investigation of an unassuming sash from what is now Japan’s southernmost periphery shows why and how new ethnic and regional identities are created. This single object embodies newly invented traditions and the quest for authenticity. According to local legend, for 300 years the women of Yaeyama have woven
indigo-dyed, narrow cotton sashes, known as minsaa, incorporating in their warp-ikat design a combination of motifs read as a rebus, meaning “Yours forever more” (Figure 8.1). Each woman gave a sash to her prospective husband as a love token, either as a proposal of marriage or in response to such a proposal (Uesedo 1976: 122).
