Okinawan Basketry

75 years ago today, my father earned his Purple Heart during the Battle of Okinawa in WWII. He was an Army Signal Corps Combat Photographer.  In November 2019, I was able to do some research at the National Archives, Still Photographs Division.  While I was looking for photos of him (there were three, but that's another story), I was also finding photos that he took.  And while I was looking, I found baskets.  Hopefully, I will be able to return to do more research in coming years.

Caption:  "A pretty native woman carries a basket of sweet potatoes, that she has just harvested upon her head at the Okinawa Agricultural Experimental Station. 12 Aug 1945. Signal Corps Photo #CPA-45-14118 (Roberts)."  SC 370927
Roberts is the photographer.

One plant identified as used in basketry in Okinawa is Flagellaria Indica "Whip Vine," an Okinawan native plant.  Wikipedia says it is: "A strong climber, it grows often up to 15 m tall, with thick cane-like stems exceeding 15 mm in diameter." 

Below: detail of baskets on the ground. They look as if they could be made of thick cane-like stems of whip vine.

Also known as False Rattan, Flagellaria Indica "is often gathered from the wild for local use, mainly as a source of material for making baskets etc, but also as a food and medicine."
http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Flagellaria+indica

Joseph Barabas, Signal Corps Cameraman, holds onto his  camera while being evacuated for medical treatment. Okinawa, 6/20/1945,  3233 Signal Corps  Photo, photographer unknown. SC 209740

Otis Mason and More Blogging

While obeying "shelter in place" orders for COVID-19, I thought I'd get a lot of blog entries written. That didn't happen, but I did make a list of basket subjects to write about. I am eking some out.

My problem is not getting an idea, but writing up my story and then hunting for references to legitimize what I've said. Working with baskets for decades leads to what seems like intrinsic knowledge, but if I'm going to put something on my blog, it should be supported, and not be there just because I said so.

For me, conducting internet research is time consuming, as there are so many rabbit holes that need to be explored, and tangents occur; thus, I haven't written many blog entries lately.  For instance, eking. I thought it might be eeking, Spellchecker said no. Merriam-Webster says eking, and it is archaic. Eeking relates to leg hairs in the Urban Dictionary. I didn't need to know that for this blog, but that's why my blogging is educational for me yet labor intensive.  When I consult my physical basketry library instead of the internet, I am met with a similar fate - I pull a few books and get lost in them, and generate more ideas for blog posts....


Someone asked me about good books to have if you are interested in basketry.

This is Mason, an early and excellent resource for any basketry scholar.

"Aboriginal American Basketry: Studies in a Textile Art Without Machinery" by Otis Tufton Mason. Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for the Year Ending June 30, 1902. Report of the U.S. National Museum. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904. Mason was a Curator, Division of Ethnology.

 My copy is a "Rio Grande Classic" printed in 1970 by The Rio Grande Press.  I found it in a used bookstore in 1987, and it continues to be well-used and well-appreciated.


Thank you for your patience as I eke out my blog posts, and take care as we weather the COVID-19 storm.