Chinese Knotting: The Chinese Button Knot
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This is my favourite knot because it is both functionally useful
and truly decorative. Also, there are a number of ways to finish
tightening the knot making it quite flexible as well. It is
called by a plethora of different names, but the one I am using is
"The Chinese Button Knot" or sometimes just "The Button Knot".
There has been some confusion over which knot is actually the
Chinese Button Knot, but most of my Chinese language knot books
describe this one. The other one that many English language knot
books describe as the Chinese button knot I will designate "The
Pyjama Button Knot". The Button Knot can be extended in length
with a simple formula, but I have never seen instructions for more
than the Double Button. While tying some of the higher order
versions of the Button Knot you will begin to understand why some
people make no distinction between braiding and knotting.
Once tied, the knot can be stitched
by the cord ends to a garment to begin life as a button
(with a matching loop of cord to serve as the button loop).
Simple and austere, this is how it works for most martial arts
uniforms. What you do with the cord ends can range from
simple
knots to elaborate wired, couched, coiled and
tasseled
designs.
A computer readable model
of the Chinese Button Knot (in Stereolithography (STL,
.stl) format) has been made available by Carlo
H. Séquin. Who has sculpted a few versions in metal
and plastic.
Chen 1: Chinese Button Knot (紐扣, 纽扣) [niǔkòu] (1)
Ruri-Ishikawa:
玉結び (たま むすび) [tama musubi] (1)
Korean:
Lotus Bud
Knot
(연봉매듭) [yeonbong] (1)
Ashley: #599 Chinese Button Knot,
#787 sailor's knife lanyard knot, marlingspike lanyard knot,
single strand diamond knot, two strand diamond knot, bosun's
whistle knot
Jack Keene
Boy Scout's Friendship Knot
Lydia Chen, whom we usually use as
the official word on Chinese knotting names the Chinese button
knot (鈕扣, niǔ kòu, 钮扣) which machine translates
to English as "Buttons" versus the machine translation
from English of "button" (按鈕). Interestingly, the
knot is also called 紐扣 (niǔkòu, 纽扣) by Classical Chinese Knotting and
others. A quick non-exhaustive survey of my Chinese books puts
it at about 50/50 using 鈕扣 vs 紐扣. It's not a simplified
versus traditional issue. The interesting part is that both
machine translate as "button" and both are pronounced exactly
alike. Asking my dad (the mathematician) he says the radical
for 鈕 is "gold" (金) and the radical
for 紐 is silk (糸), so the
implication is that while both mean "button" the buttons are of
different materials, one hard, the other fabric.
The Japanese
（玉結び: 玉(タマ)(たま)(tama)
結び(ムスビ)(むすび)(musubi)) is interesting in as much in
Chinese 玉 pretty much means "jade", but Google Translate has a massive
list of translation options including "jade", "ball", "coin" and
"bullet".
The Korean (연봉매듭, yeonbong) official translation is "lotus
bud knot" although it machine translates as "salary knot".
1. 
1sl.
1nl. 
1f. 
1m2.
1m3.
1x2.
2.
3.
4.
- pick a method you like. There are almost
as many methods to tying this knot as there are names. Until
I found the one that worked for me, it always seemed to look
not quite right. I plan to present 3 methods, the
first of which extends logically, the
second can be tied with just one
working end (very useful when you are adding one knot to a
large assemblage in progress), and the
third is only a slight variation but
useful when you are running low on string.
The unadorned single button knot is all that most books teach and
all that most people will need, but what would be the fun in
stopping there? This first tying method is easily extended and
the logical starting point for detailed
instructions. This one knot can be tighten into a variety
of configurations: the knot with a big
loop, the knot with a small loop,
the knot with no top loop, and flat.
Occasionally, in the midst of a compound knot design, the need may
arise for a button knot in a single cord after some other knots
have already been tied. At that point, instead of 2 working ends,
consider yourself to have 1 working end and one fixed end. With
some experimentation I have generated these detailed instructions.
Occasionally, in the midst of a compound knot design, you'll find
yourself running short of working length. In that case, I would
use this method.
Not as obviously flexible and useful as the basic (single) Chinese
Button Knot, instructions for the Double Button
Knot are a much rarer find in literature, but if you've learned the first method for tying the basic Chinese Button
Knot then the double version should be easy...
As you progress from the button through to
the 4 button, the pattern of how to make a knot as large
as one has the patience for should become clear.
CLW
Creation Date: Fri Apr 26 23:41:16 PDT 2002
Last Modified: Sunday, 20-Jun-2010 00:40:46 UTC
Page accessed at local time: Thursday, 25-Apr-2024 11:26:42 UTC
Generalities
The unadorned single button knot is all that most books teach and
all that most people will need, but what would be the fun in
stopping there? This first tying method is easily extended and
the logical starting point for detailed
instructions. This one knot can be tighten into a variety
of configurations: the knot with a big
loop, the knot with a small loop,
the knot with no top loop, and flat.
