This Ainu chikarkarpe robe is made from a recycled yukata of brown-and-blue checked cotton, with appliques of indigo cotton bands in geometric patterns, the bands embroidered in light blue oho (chain stitch) in variations of aiushi (thorn-like), siki (diamond), moreu (spiral) motifs, and heart-shaped forms.

Roughly translated from Japanese as “the things we embroider,” chikarkarpe like this one exemplify the Ainu people’s new interactions with merchants on the main island of Honshu in the 19th century. While other Ainu bast-fiber outerwear is constructed in the more typical indigenous mode and closes symmetrically down center front, chikarkarpe robes recycle premade cotton kimonos, with overlapping tomo-eri (lapels) and okumi (front gores). The striped or checked cotton ground fabrics were imported to Hokkaido as finished robes and were then tailored and embellished by women; all textile labor, from the gathering of fibers to the finishing of garments, was traditionally done by the women in an Ainu family. 

See a chikarkarpe robe with very similar embroidered heart-shaped motifs in the Minneapolis Institute of Art (2019.20.16, Thomas Murray collection); published in Murray, ed., Textiles of Japan (2019), pp. 84-85. Another similar example is in the Seattle Art Museum.

Very good condition overall. Some discoloration and wear to brown checked cotton. Wear at the waist where a belt would have been. Tiny uniform holes throughout the checked cotton suggest that it might have been refashioned from a more lavishly appliqued kaparamip into the present chikarkarpe robe.