J009657 BELT OF A THOUSAND STITCHES. "Senninbari," literally "thousand-person-stitches," but more commonly translated as a "thousand-stitch-belt," were made by the women of Japanese soldiers as a charm to protect their men in combat. These belts had one thousand red knots stitched into them, each one having been gathered from a passerby, with every one of these knots representing a bullet that the wearer would be spared from. This example is made of what appears to be triple-ply linen, approximately 42 1/2" long and 6 1/8" wide, with 15" long tie tapes, of the same material, sewn to either of its pointed ends. Along its loosely woven, exposed interior are neatly sewn red knots, arranged in a grid pattern (whose pencil demarcations are still visible near one end), with each of them being encircled in red, indicating where they were to be sewn. When the plain and tightly woven exterior is held up to the light, two columns of kanji characters may be seen, handwritten in black, to the enclosed, middle ply, the rightmost being the patriotic slogan, "we pray for eternal good fortune in war." The belt exhibits light age and usage soiling throughout, but it is otherwise intact and undamaged.

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