In the mid-Edo era (1650s-1750s) cotton fabrics became common in Japan.\u00a0 For folks who lived in isolated areas, these fabrics were still not accessible.\u00a0 After being worn out, fallen pieces of these fabrics were brought to other areas of Japan.\u00a0 Poor people who couldn\u2019t buy bolts of fabric would sew small, worn-out fabric pieces together and make smocks, gowns or workwear!\u00a0 Once those were worn out and came apart, pieces were repaired again and again.<\/p>\n
In the 21st<\/sup> Century, we wonder: how can we sustain our \u201cstandard of living,\u201d our \u201cpride,\u201d our \u201cindividuality\u201d in a constantly changing, threatening and threatened world?<\/p>\n My poem comes courtesy of those spirits who have taught us<\/p>\n \u201cto strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Toshio Kojima – Courtesy of the \u201cKojima Art Gallery\u201d in Nishi-Kokubunji, Tokyo, Japan<\/p><\/div>\n *********************<\/p>\n The Japanese \u201cBoro\u201d Man\u2019s Ghost Considers\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n By Gary Corseri<\/p>\n Now you\u2019re all astonished by my rag-tag self!<\/p>\n \u201cHow could anyone\u2026?\u201d one wonders, \u201cThey must have all been beggars!\u201d \u201cWorse than beggars!\u201d asserts a louder fool\u2026. And they all laughed at that!<\/p>\n And I wiped away \u201cI must do all of this for you! Now I wander, ghostly, \u201cWhy do we learn so little from the past? Toshio Kojima, owner of the \u201cKojima Art Gallery\u201d in a suburb of Tokyo, has been teaching me about the importance of Boro Art! \u201cBoro-boro\u201d is an expression meaning \u201cworn-out.\u201d\u00a0 (Spending too much time watching US politics play out on TV, one might say, \u201cI\u2019m feeling boro-boro now!\u201d)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":151695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213],"tags":[1012],"class_list":["post-301299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-for-thought","tag-food-for-thought-editorial-cartoon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301301,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301299\/revisions\/301301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Toshio-Kojima.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\u201cwear such clothes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nanother one declares.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWith all those holes in their outer-wear
\nit was easy to see their skin and bones,
\nand know what sex they were\u2026
\nbut who could give a damn?!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nan errant tear from long ago
\nwhen I held my child and thought:<\/p>\n
\nPiece together what I can
\nto venture into a sordid world
\nwhere wars obliterate
\nand those who win
\nlost all compassion long ago\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nup and down the corridors
\nof \u201cModern Times,\u201d
\nEchoing, like Charlie Chaplin:<\/p>\n
\nWhy can we not
\npiece together
\nthe siren-songs of long ago
\nwith those today and those to come
\nand heed the warnings deep within our souls?\u201d
\n________________________________________<\/p>\n<\/a> Gary Steven Corseri\u00a0is a member of the\u00a0<\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment.<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 He is the grandson of Ukrainian-Jewish and Sicilian-Catholic immigrants.\u00a0 Gary has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and his dramas have been produced on\u00a0<\/em>PBS-Atlanta and in universities, high schools and Little Theaters.\u00a0 He has published 2 novels, 1 full collection and 1 prize-winning chapbook of poems.\u00a0 His poems, articles, fiction and dramas have appeared in hundreds of global publications & websites, including:\u00a0 <\/em>Countercurrents, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine, The Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>Transcend Media Service<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 He has taught at universities in the U.S. and Japan, and in US prisons and public schools.\u00a0 He has worked as a grape-picker in Australia, a gas-station attendant, and an editor. Contact:\u00a0<\/em>garyscorseri@gmail.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"