The Shishu Ladies of Hilo: Japanese Embroidery in Hawai’i

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 her 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. This book is in part a loving tribute to Ima and Yoshio Shinoda, written by their daughter, Shiho Shinoda Nunes, and granddaughter Sara Nunes-Atabaki. But what began as a family history and catalogue of Yoshio Shinoda's "shishu" designs evolved into a carefully illustrated account of the stitching community created by the Shinodas and their pupils on the Big Island from the mid 1930s to the late 1960s. This book traces the teachings of "shishu" in Hawai'i and describes in detail the modifications made to traditional motifs and materials.