Senninbari

A Senninbari (千人針 thousand-person-stitches^?) or Thousand stitch belt is a strip of cloth, approximately one metre in length, decorated with 1000 stitches each made by a different woman,^[1] given as an amulet by women to soldiers on their way to war as a part of the Shinto culture of Imperial Japan.

Senninbari were most commonly made from white cloth, but yellow, red, green, and blue were also used. Stitches were usually red, but again a range of other colours were sometimes used. The stitches were usually arranged in multiple rows but might also be placed in patterns creating images of flags, patriotic slogans and tigers. The most common slogan was bu-un cho-kyu for "eternal good luck in war". Tigers were popular as they were known to be able to roam far away from home and then return safely.

The custom of producing senninbari originated during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. As stated earlier, the red colour of the stitches was considered a “lucky” colour, and the belts were believed to confer courage, good luck and immunity from injury (especially bullets) upon their wearers. Some Japanese soldiers rejected the belief that the senninbari could protect them from harm. Instead, they felt that this good luck item would simply allow them to be in the position to inflict the greatest damage upon the enemy before offering their life up in battle. Others in the military wore the senninbari as a devotional to the women back home.