SAORI Weaving Program from Japan

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SAORI Weaving Program
Creative weaving from Japan

The SA of SAORI is the first syllable of the word SAI. SAI is found in Zen vocabulary. It means everything has its own individual dignity. And the ORI of SAORI means weaving.

SAORI is a contemporary hand weaving program founded by Misao Jo (1913- , Japan) in 1969. She started weaving when she was 57 years old and created her own loom and style, free from the traditional concept and rules of weaving. She named her weaving style 'SAORI' which everyone can express oneself freely regardless of age, gender, disability or intellectual aptitude. In SAORI, people can enjoy hand weaving as an art form not only as a hand craft.

Since SAORI has been introduced all over Japan, there are more than 50,000 SAORI weavers in the country. SAORI has been introduced also in overseas, more than 40 countries. SAORI is practiced across Japan, other countries in Asia, Middle East, North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Australia and Africa at nearly one thousand institutions including special education schools, sheltered workshops, high schools, adult education centers, and rehabilitation centers for people with disabilities.
Misao Jo was commended by Japanese government twice for her public contribution made through SAORI weaving program. In 1990, she was honored by Minister of Health and Welfare of Japan, and in 1992 again by Prime Minister of Japan.

Hand weaving is one of the most popular hand crafts you can find almost anywhere in the world. However, SAORI is unique and totally different from other traditional style of hand weaving. In traditional hand weaving, weavers highly value the regularity and cleanness of the woven cloths: if there is an irregular pattern or thread, it is valued as a “mistake” or “flaw”. In SAORI, on the other hand, we put more importance on free expression, because hand weaving is different from machine weaving.

Out of these 4 slogans, most important one is the first one, Consider the differences between people and machines. In SAORI, we try not to imitate machine-made product, and we always try to do what only human beings can do. No two weavings are alike, and it is very natural that every single cloth freely woven by people with different personality is beautiful in a different way. The irregular selvage and accidental skip of thread add the unprogrammed beauty to the SAORI cloths; and we admire this irregularity as "the beauty with lack of intentions" created by our natural creativity. It is the traditional view point of Japanese who admire the “beauty with lack of intentions” in nature and zen style art works, that has developed the unique philosophy of SAORI. Misao calls SAORI weaving the creation of sensibility. The way people weave together is the best way to inspire each other by showing - revealing - their true inner creativity. If you become a SAORI weaver, your possibilities are limitless!

SAORI is also known as VSA Arts Japan. VSA Arts is an international non-profit organization that creates learning opportunities through the arts for people with disabilities.
It was founded by Jean Kennedy Smith as an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. As an affiliate of VSA Arts, VSA Arts Japan provides worldwide support for the artistic activities of people with disabilities.

All flowers are beautiful,
even though each individual flower is
different in form and color.
Because of this difference, “all are good”.
Because everything has the same life,
life cannot be measured by a yardstick.
It is thisindividuality that makes
everything meaningful
and the uniqueness of each thread
that creates the tapestry of life.

Misao Jo