1 / 12Japanese traditional craft Sanuki Kagari Temari has been passed down for over 1,000 years on the southwestern island of Shikoku. Each of the hand crafted ball is known as temari, a work of art, with colorful geometric patterns carrying poetic names like 'firefly flowers' and 'layered stars'. A temari ball takes weeks or even months to complete. Some cost hundreds of dollars although others are much cheaper. These kaleidoscopic balls aren’t for throwing or kicking around. They’re destined to be heirlooms, carrying prayers for health and goodness. They are treasured like paintings or sculpture in a Western home. (Shutterstock/With AP inputs)
2 / 12The concept behind temari is an elegant otherworldliness, an impractical beauty that is also very labor-intensive to create. (Shutterstock/With AP inputs)
3 / 12The region where temari originated was good for growing cotton, warm with little rainfall, and the spherical creations continued to be made out of the humble material. (Shutterstock/With AP inputs)
4 / 12Eiko Araki, a Temari artist is serving this art form to treasure it for the future generation. (Shutterstock)
5 / 12“Out of nothing, something this beautiful is born, bringing joy," says Araki. "I want it to be remembered there are beautiful things in this world that can only be made by hand.” (Shutterstock/With AP inputs)
6 / 12At Araki's studio, which also serves as the head office for Temari's preservation society, there are 140 hues of cotton thread, including delicate pinks and blues, as well as more vivid colors and all the subtle gradations in between. (Shutterstock/With AP inputs)
7 / 12The women dye them by hand, using plants, flowers and other natural ingredients, including cochineal, a bug living in cacti that produces a red dye. The deeper shade of indigo is dyed again and again to turn just about black. Yellow and blue are combined to form gorgeous greens. Soy juice is added to deepen the tints, a dash of organic protein. (Shutterstock/With AP inputs)
8 / 12The arduous process starts with making the basic ball mold on which the stitching is done. Rice husks that are cooked and then dried are placed in a piece of cotton, then wound with thread, over and over, until, almost magically, a ball appears in your hands. (Shutterstock/With AP inputs)
9 / 12The balls are surprisingly hard, so each stitch requires a concentrated, almost painful, push. The motifs must be precise and even. (Shutterstock/With AP inputs)
10 / 12Each ball has lines to guide the stitching — one that goes around it like the equator, and others that zigzag to the top and bottom. (Shutterstock/With AP inputs)
11 / 12These days, temari is getting some new recognition, among Japanese and foreigners as well. Caroline Kennedy took lessons in ball-making when she was the United States ambassador to Japan a decade ago. (Shutterstock/With AP inputs)
12 / 12They were stoic people, rarely bestowing praise and instead always scolding her, she remembers. It’s a tough-love approach that’s common in the handing down of many Japanese traditional arts, from Kabuki acting to hogaku music, that demand lifetimes of selfless devotion. Today, only several dozen people, all women, can make the temari balls to traditional standards.(Shutterstock/With AP inputs)
