Kogin

Kogin-zashi, or kogin, is a counted-thread embroidery from the Tsugaru district of Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan. Farmers darned geometric patterns in white thread across indigo cloth, and the style is usually classed as a kind of sashiko.

What is kogin?

The name means "small cloth" plus "stitches." Kogin was developed by farmers in Tsugaru, on a ground of coarse hemp that was later replaced by ramie. Instead of drawing a design on the cloth, the stitcher counts the threads of the weave and works short horizontal stitches over them. Hayes and Seaton note that kogin patterns use an odd number of threads, where the related Nambu hishi-zashi uses an even number.

The Textile Research Centre in Leiden describes three areas with different pattern arrangements, divided by the Iwaki River: nishi (west), higashi (east) and mishima (the river delta). Patterns were sometimes shared between villages through marriage.

Why did kogin almost disappear?

White cotton thread reached Tsugaru in the late eighteenth century. In 1894 a railway reached Hirosaki, soft and strong cotton cloth became widely available, and kogin declined, nearly dying out by the early twentieth century. The Leiden record credits the folk-craft theorist Soetsu Yanagi with drawing attention to it in 1932, after which local people revived the craft; a kogin institute was founded in 1962. Where sashiko in general reinforced cloth, kogin shows how the same running-stitch tradition became a regional art of pattern.

Sources

1. Kogin Zashi; Nambu Hishi Zashi; Shonai Sashiko; Sashiko. Textile Research Centre, Leiden (TRC Needles)
2. A two-dimensional introduction to sashiko (Bridges workshop paper). Carol Hayes and Katherine A. Seaton, via arXiv
3. What is Sashiko? 8 Things to Know About Japanese Embroidery. Japan Objects

See also

• Sashiko
• Indigo

Read more

• Sashiko vs. Boro: One Is a Stitch, One Is a Cloth

Last updated October 17, 2026 · Markdown