Most of the braiding I do is either for practice or for making medallion cords. People are always asking me at SCA events what historical Japanese used kumihimo for. Here is a list of things I know about, but I am sure there are more:
- Armor construction and attachments
- Sageo and suspension cords for swords
- Suspension and fastening cords for banners and scrolls
- Garment embellishments such as:
- kotsuyu (little knots) on hitatare
- sodetsyu (sleeve cords) on hitatare, suikan, or kariginu
- tasuke cords for tying sleeves back
- munahimo (chest ties) on hitatare
- hirao sash on sokutai sugata [early hirao were wide karakumi]
- Fastening cords for hats such as kanmuri and tate eboshi
- Cords for manmaku (indoor curtains)
- Cords for boxes small {bako} and large {karabitsu}
- Cords for marking pottery before firing [the grandparent]
I should probably write up that outline as a research paper with pictures. Let’s see how long that takes me. Probably at least ten years.
