Tsugi Hagi I

Tsugi hagi—meaning patchwork or piecing together—names the traditional practice of joining disparate fabric or paper scraps into a unified whole, a technique with deep roots in Japanese textile and repair culture. In this first work of the series, Kimura makes the collage process itself the explicit subject: fragments of [washi](/glossary/washi), each with its own fiber content, color, and surface history, are assembled across the print surface and integrated with etched marks. The seams and overlaps between collage elements are left visible rather than concealed, reflecting the wabi-sabi principle that repair and accumulation carry aesthetic value. The etching beneath unifies the composition without erasing the individuality of each paper piece. As an inaugural work in a series, Tsugi Hagi I establishes the formal vocabulary—visible joinery, material heterogeneity—that subsequent works in the sequence develop.