The cords that once held samurai armor together, bound the sashes of court robes, and decorated Buddhist scriptures are, at their heart, a matter of gathered threads. Kumihimo, the Japanese word for the craft, literally means "gathered threads," and on the evening of October 5, 2026, the WingHaven branch of the St. Charles City-County Library will hand visitors a chance to gather a few of their own.
The program, "Craft & Culture: Kumihimo - The Art of Japanese Braided Cords," runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at 7435 Village Center Drive in O'Fallon. It is free, and the library asks that each person attending register individually, regardless of age. Over the course of ninety minutes, participants will hear the history of the craft and then learn the techniques to make a braided cord bracelet or key chain to take home.
That history stretches back well over a thousand years. According to the Japanese craft organization KOGEI JAPAN, the techniques of cord braiding were first introduced to Japan from China alongside Buddhism, which is why the earliest cords were used for the robes of Buddhist priests and for decorating scriptures. After the capital moved to Heian-kyo, present-day Kyoto, in the late eighth century, braided cords became essential accessories for the formal court dress of the aristocracy. Sashes made with braided cords have been prized ever since for their artistic quality.
During the Kamakura period, which ran from 1192 to 1333, braided cords took on a martial purpose, used to adorn samurai weapons and armor. In the Muromachi period that followed, from 1336 to 1573, they became popular as decorative cords for tea ceremony utensils and were admired across Japan. The World of Kumihimo, a site devoted to the craft, notes that samurai once used kumihimo as laces for their armor, and that the traditional belt of the kimono, the obi, was bound by a cord of kumihimo called an obijime. Wikipedia's entry on the subject adds that kumihimo is also associated with Shinto rituals and religious services, and that the cords are made by interlacing reels of yarn, commonly silk, on specialized looms.
Those looms are part of what makes the craft distinctive. The two traditional stands are the marudai, a round stand whose name means "round stand," and the takadai, a rectangular or square frame also known as a kodai. The World of Kumihimo explains that the earliest kumihimo was made entirely by hand, without the help of any tool, and that these first cords were generally monochromatic or at least very limited in color. Only later did weavers develop tools capable of more complicated patterns, which allowed makers to work in many colors. The first looms were large and fairly stationary. Modern braiders, and presumably the library's workshop participants, often work on smaller foam disks that make the same interlocking movements portable.
There are a number of different kumihimo styles, producing cords that range from very flat to almost entirely rounded. The craft has regional traditions as well. Iga Kumihimo, made in Mie prefecture, is known for rich silk threads dyed in a vibrant range of colors, often combined with gold and silver threads, and for the especially prized work that is braided entirely by hand. KOGEI JAPAN notes that production areas now hold workshops where visitors can make key chains, bracelets, and other everyday items, promoting the craft as something familiar rather than remote. The library's program follows that same instinct, scaling a courtly and martial tradition down to a bracelet or a key chain.
Kumihimo is not a museum piece in Japan. The World of Kumihimo points out that the cords are still used to decorate religious artifacts and kimonos, and that necklaces, bracelets, and even wall art have joined the repertoire. Kumihimo works have become popular as tourist souvenirs, presenting a traditional technique in a fashionable modern style, and in recent years more people have taken up the craft simply to make their own pieces, from friendship bracelets to bags.
The setting for the workshop has its own story of transformation. WingHaven, the master-planned community in O'Fallon where the branch sits, takes its name from its past as a chicken farm, according to the local site Living St. Louis. Before the development around it, the area was mostly rural and agricultural land. Mastercard was the first major company to bring business to this part of O'Fallon, and its WingHaven office serves as the company's operations center; its presence helped spur the growth that brought people and other companies to St. Charles County. Today the community centers on a country club and golf course, with neighborhoods and shopping centers around it.
The library hosting the event has a similar arc of growth. The St. Charles City-County Library District was formed on August 1, 1973, when the Wentzville and O'Fallon branches merged with the St. Charles City's Kathryn Linnemann Library. The Kathryn Linnemann name honored the women who started the first public library in St. Charles; the building at 572 Jefferson Street had carried that name since 1964, the same year the Wentzville branch opened. The O'Fallon Plaza Branch followed in 1973, the year of the merger. What began as three branches has grown to 11 branches and the Library to You Bookmobile, lending more than 2 million items a year.
That institutional history matters for a program like this one. The district's own anniversary retrospective notes that adults still use library resources to learn new skills and connect with others, and that storytimes and teen clubs still serve younger patrons. A free weeknight class in an imported craft fits squarely in that tradition, the same impulse that once put vinyl records and cassette tapes on the shelves and now puts a marudai-style braid in a visitor's hands.
For anyone who has never braided before, the appeal is partly that kumihimo is unusually forgiving. The movements are rhythmic and repetitive, closer to a meditative exercise than a precise needlework discipline, and the interlocking of threads produces patterns that look far more complicated than the motions that create them. A beginner can walk out with something finished in a single sitting, which is exactly what the workshop promises: a bracelet or a key chain, made by hand, in the space of an evening.
Registration is required, and the library asks attendees to sign up each person who will be present. Anyone needing accommodations is encouraged to contact the library as early as possible. The program is free and open to the public, and it takes place at the WingHaven branch at 7435 Village Center Drive in O'Fallon, Missouri, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, October 5, 2026.