[Floral pattern zori straps, Waialua, Hawaii]

Description

1 pair of zori straps : fabric, cotton, twine ; each 6 x 1.5 (circumference) in.

Yellow straps for goza zori with pattern of rosy pink flowers, green leaves, and purple outlined ribbon bows stuffed with layers of fabric, paper, & cotton batting and twine; matching fabric toe loops to anchor to front of zori. Twine extends out from straps for anchoring to sides of zori. Two pieces: right (A) and left (B) side.

History
Made for everyday zori with goza matting. Issei women utilized every little scrap of fabric, also "strings" used to tie grocery bags at the plantation store in the 1920-1930's. Nothing was wasted. Otherwise, they couldn't have survived on such meager wages.

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Hirasaki National Resource Center at the Japanese American National Museum (hnrc@janm.org).