Handmade gifts carry cachet. Imbued with the oomph of creativity, they sail beyond the transactional minimalism of a gift card. Knitters pick yarn to match a child’s eyes. Girls embroider tea towels with their grandmother’s favorite flowers. Many handmade presents are also useful — coffee cups for uncles, hats for best friends, quilts for the newly-wed.
Temari balls go a step beyond hand knit socks. To create a temari ball, a person must be patient — with sharp eyes, nimble fingers, and steady hands. The end result, however, has no true duty except to carry a message of friendship or love. Any utilitarian function for these thread-covered balls faded centuries ago.
The Japanese word temari means handball. In the seventh century, a kickball game crossed over from China to Japan. It was known as kemari and played by the upper classes. Any American camper who has lobbed a hacky sack will recognize the theme. A deer hide ball was kicked with the side of the foot. The goal: keep it airborne. Players developed over sixty different kicks. Unlike American hacky sack, to win was not as important as to follow proper game etiquette.
From kemari evolved a handball game for girls. In this game, players tossed about a tightly wrapped ball. Sometimes sea sponge was stuffed in the ball to make it bounce. Chants, similar to American jump rope rhymes, accompanied the game. In 1223 A.D., Japanese literature documented a New Year’s demonstration game played by girls.
Early temari balls were made from old silk kimonos. Women wadded up scraps of the fabric, then wrapped the wads with threads pulled from the kimonos. They used silk thread to stitch the balls together. The temari were traditional gifts from mothers to their children at New Year’s.
Once cotton became available, it offered a less expensive material for temari. The handballs then moved from the wealthy nobility into the general population. Regional stylistic differences arose. This short video shows how one area still uses homemade natural dyes to produce stunning pastel-hued temari. Finally, when the historic era known as the Edo period (1603 – 1867) brought peace, economic stability, and a flowering of the arts, temari morphed from a toy into an art object.
A temari transforms simple materials into spheres of complex, often mathematically-based, designs. Geometric figures — from hexagons to parallelograms — interlock with great variety. Nature-based motifs such as wave patterns and pine needles are popular. Cranes, samurai warriors, Christmas themes of holly and candy canes all appear. A rattle or bell may be tucked in the center, harking back to the ball’s origin as a plaything.
There are three main steps to making a temari ball: laying the foundation, dividing the surface, and making the design. The foundation can be a traditional wad of rice husks wrapped in cloth or a plastic or Styrofoam ball. This core is wrapped evenly with cream or white yarn. Then a thin thread is wrapped as a covering base layer.
The critical next step is to divide the ball into divisions. Dressmaker pins are pushed in to section the ball, the same way a globe is divided into the equator, longitude lines, and latitude lines. The number of divisions vary with the pattern. Guide threads are wrapped around the pins. As a last step, thread is wrapped, stitched, threaded, and embroidered following the guide threads. This final layer uses cotton or silk or metallic thread. A very fine needle is used. The needle is introduced into the ball at specific angles to make the design.
Most temari are handball-sized, three to five inches in diameter. Small temari are made and used as Christmas tree balls, key chains, jewelry, or décor. Large ones are made as decorative accents. All sizes are displayed as décor, singly and in groupings.
Today temari balls retain their feminine and New Year’s Day connections. Primarily made by women for women or girls, they are given friend to friend, mother to daughter, grandmother to granddaughter. Life events such as weddings and the birth of a child are celebrated with a temari. A lucky little girl may wake up on the first day of the year to the sight of a gleaming temari on her pillow. The multiple threads and bright colors express her mother’s desire for her to have a full and joyful life. Her mother may have even have inserted a secret written wish for her daughter in the center of the ball as she made it.
Temari also show up as popular motifs in fabric. Each November 15, seven- and three-year-old girls and five-year-old boys take part in a coming-of-age ceremony. Shichi-Go-San (“seven-five-three”) celebrates the survival of children. It comes with a change in how the children are dressed. They leave behind babyish outfits. The girls at the Shichi-Go-San rite-of-passage are often decked out in temari-patterned kimonos. Similarly, brides may be given the traditional gift of a temari-patterned kimono. This underlies the association of temari with wishes for good fortune.
The Japan Temari Association is the flagship organization for the craft. It does not have an English language version, so American crafters depend on books written in English, videos, patterns, kits and classes to learn about temari.
For those who dive deeper into temari, the Japan Temari Association oversees a certification program. Similar to the certifications for martial arts, students’ progress through the levels over a period of years. It has been written that, in the past, to become a master temari maker, an apprentice would observe the master for forty years. Then, if the master was satisfied, the apprentice could begin to make temari. If they did well, they would become a master upon the death of their mentor.
Several years ago graphic artist NanaAkua shared photographs of some of the nearly five hundred temari balls made by her 88-year-old grandmother. Her grandmother Fusako Aizawa did not begin making temari until she was sixty. They are gorgeous.
Retired American history and civics teacher Trish Harris of Ashburn, Virginia fell in love with temari thirty years ago. A weaver, she came across one of the first books written in English about temari. She is still entranced.
“Love this. I am a meditator. I try to live life very mindfully. This is a very mindful practice. Learn a different way to see things…very relaxing.” Trish spends time daily on temari, wrapping, stitching, figuring out patterns and keeping her materials in apple-pie order.
Trish starts with a Styrofoam ball, wraps it with acrylic baby-weight yarn, then finishes it with pearl cotton. The pearl cotton is a finer thread than embroidery thread, has an attractive sheen, and is available at her local fabric store. With years of experience, she enjoys complex, advanced designs. Which means, at times, spending an hour deciphering a two-dimensional printed pattern for a three-dimensional finished product. Printed in Japanese. Trish doesn’t read or speak Japanese, but she manages.
“This is math on a curve.”
Trish has exhibited her creations, taught classes, and demonstrated the folk craft. She recommends interested folks start at their public library. Check out books on temari, such as Temari Treasures: Japanese Thread Balls and More by Diana Vandervoort or Japanese Temari: A Colorful Spin on an Ancient Craft by Barbara B. Suess. She also recommends the online site Temari Challenge which can be joined at no cost.
You can see temari balls occasionally at exhibitions in the United States. The Japan Temari Association has a small shop and displays in Tokyo. Temari instructional videos, kits, books, fabric, and supplies are readily available on the web and at craft and fabric supply shops.
Trish Harris says, “Everybody is creative, and everybody can find something creative to do, especially with their hands…for me, this — temari — was it.”