A Thousand Stitches of Hope [the dove]

Senninbari belt embroidered horizontally with red flowers and two white doves in flight.

A Thousand Stitches of Hope was a collaborative art project involving hundreds of Australian and Japanese women in stitching 75 commemmorative senninbari belts. In a series of sewing workshops, the artist Michelle Belgiorno invited Japanese and Australian women of all ages to add their stitches and war stories whilst discussing reconciliation and Australian-Japanese history. Nine of the embroidered belts are represented in the Australian War Memorial’s collection. The artist noted that: “the communal act of stitching and talking, acknowledging past deeds and expelling anger, sorrow and shame was incredibly moving for many participants.”

The senninbari belt was traditionally a good luck amulet given to soldiers before their departure from Japan. Made of white cotton, the belts were decorated with 1000 knotted stitches which were sewn by women from the family and local community as an act of devotion and hope for a safe return. It was believed that the love of all the people who stitched the belt would protect the wearer from harm. As WWII progressed and Japan sent more and more men to fight, the senninbari became a state tool of nationalism and patriotism. Women were pressed to stitch belts for all soldiers, not just for their loved ones. School children, patriotic women’s groups and individuals stitched the belts to be given to soldiers as good luck charms. A senninbari belt belonging to Lieutenant Keiu Matsuo, was found amongst the remains of the midget submarine which was destroyed in Taylor’s Bay Mosman, near the artist’s studio. After the war, the Australian Government returned Matsuo’s senninbari belt to his mother as an act of reconciliation.

The threads of these new belts, made in a spirit of reflection and collaboration, became a metaphor for the interwoven stories, lives and connections between the two countries, and these objects once associated with war and shame, became expressions of hope for a peaceful future. Following a talk the artist gave in Tokyo, this senninbari was designed and stitched by a Japanese woman who claimed not to be a good embroiderer. She insisted on taking a belt home, and she then posted the finished work to the artist weeks later.