20th April – 卯月
風呂敷 (Furoshiki) is the cloths to wrap things and carry. In the old time it was used for wrapping precious things, and as the time passed it became a bag for daily usage.
Nowadays in Japan, we do not really see people who use 風呂敷 (Furoshiki), this is because bags became a mainstream for a daily use. However, some shops still sell Furoshiki and those are even more trendy with various color / patterns so it can be very fashionable if you use it.
The name Furoshiki started to be called in Muromachi era around 900 years ago. At that time, when people took steam bath, they used a cloths on the ground in order not to get burnt. As bath is 風呂 (Furo) and spreading out is 敷く (Shiku) in Japanese, so the name came from this cloths they used in the bath. From then, people use the Furoshiki in the normal bath too. People used to wrap their clothes in Furoshiki in the public bath so that they will not take the other people’s clothes by mistake.
After Muromachi period, Japanese still keep using Furoshiki to wrap things to carry – Huge Furoshiki was used to wrap bedding and cushion when ladies got married and move in to the husbands’ house. When people travel, they used to use Furoshiki as a carry bag.
However, once the shops started to use the paper bags and plastic bags, the tradition of Furoshiki gradually disappeared, even Furoshiki is very eco-friendly…
Nowadays, Furoshiki is not commonly used as a wrapping for daily use, but if you look closely, still people sometimes use it for lunch box wrapping, gift wrapping and so on.
If you search ‘Furoshiki how to wrap’, you can find various website and videos showing the basic way or cool way to wrap things (One example).
If you visit Japan, why don’t you get one and use it for everyday life!:)
Little Japan Dictionary 