Temari: From Toy to Artwork

Temari is Japanese thread balls with beautiful patterns and embroideries. The bright colors and delicate motifs represent the giver's best wishes to the recipient. From Japan to America, the enchanting needlework attracts artists worldwide. Their creativity and innovation inject the ancient technique with new vitality.

History of Temari

Temari was first introduced to Japan from China in the Heian period (794-1193 CE). Literally, at that time, Temari should be called “Kemari”. In Japanese, “mari” means “ball”, “Ke” means foot, and “Te” means hand. Kemari is a leather-made football played by nobility. Japanese craftsmen began to design a new approach to producing Kemari with new methods and materials. Therefore, the silk-made Temari appeared. Temari was softer than Kemari and normally played by girls. It’s a non-competitive sport - players use their hands and elbows to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible. It was also in the Heian period that Temari balls became a New Year’s gift for young Japanese girls. From then on, Temari upgraded from a toy to an artwork.

In Edo Period (1603-1867CE), it was popular among noble women to make Temari balls. They improved the technique of making Temari balls. They put bells, sands, or husks in the Temari for joyful sound and added stitching patterns and embroidery designs on the surface of the balls. The little bouncy toy was not exclusive to the nobility. As kapok cultivation became popular and silk cotton thread became more accessible, Temari began to be widely made among ordinary citizens. Therefore, the Temari had its heyday in Japan.

Types of Temari

With the development of the Temari-making technique, the patterns of Temari become more and more intricate and delicate. The patterns are similar to the images in a kaleidoscope, which are geometric and symmetric. Some patterns will remind you of forms of nature, such as circular petals, flowers, stars, waves, rainbows, and so forth. Just as other Japanese craft-made artworks, the patterns, and colors of Temari also have special symbolic meanings, such as Sakura for summer, tortoise-shell patterns for protection from evil, and red-gold for good luck and prosperity.

However, Temari is not confined to tradition. With modernization and globalization, many interesting new patterns and colors appear, such as the Pokemon pattern, Detective Conan pattern, and Christmas pattern. Furthermore, Temari is made in different sizes and is applied to make jewelry ornaments, keychains, and phone straps.

How to make Temari

Temari is an artwork of recycling - at first, they were made of the remnants of old kimonos. Even today, the raw materials of Temari are also cheap and easy to get. Though the magnificent and complicated Temari requires superb techniques that a craft master has to hone for decades, the original Temari once was only a homemade craft that normal people can make. Therefore, untrained people can have a try!

1. Materials: yarn (you can replace it with styrofoam balls or plastic balls), a needle, colorful thread, pins, flexible tape, scissors
2. A core ball: Roll a tight ball of yarn. The size is your option. (You can omit this process if you prepare a styrofoam ball of a plastic ball.)
3. Wrap the core ball: Wrap the core ball with gray or white thread until you get a smooth ball with the desired size.
4. Make marks: As we said before, the Temari patterns are geometric. Therefore, we should divide the ball evenly. Common divisions are any even numbers from 4 to 16, such as 4, 6, and 8. If you are a beginner, the small the number is, the easy the technique is. Mark the sections with your pins on the top, bottom, and the equator.
5. Make Guidance: Wrap the colorful guide threads from pin to pin. Wrap it and do not sew it!
6. Stitch Patterns: Stitch colored thread for the patterns with the help of the pins and guide threads. If you are new to this handwork, diamond, and star patterns are a good start!

Voila! Here is your handmade Temari. With all the efforts and time, no wonder Temari is a precious gift with the blessing to give to the ones you love!