Ebook: The Shishu Ladies of Hilo: Japanese Embroidery in Hawai`i

A carefully documented and illustrated account of the stitching community on the Big Island of Hawai'i from the mid 1930s to the late 1960s. This award-winning book traces the teaching of shishu (Japanese embroidery) in Hawai'i and describes in detail the modifications made to traditional motifs and materials.

In the 1930s Ima Shinoda began teaching groups of predominantly nisei women in and around Hilo the centuries-old art of Japanese embroidery known as shishu. Trained in Japan, she combined her talents for teaching and stitchery to inspire and instruct a new generation in the demanding art form. Together with her husband, Yoshio, who created the distinctive, eye-catching designs used by hers students, Ima Shimoda was responsible for not only furthering the practice of shishu in Hawai'i but ensuring its existence as a vital link for many nisei to their cultural past and its traditions.