#meibutsugire

Meibutsugire

Kyoto Shoin Art Library of Japanese Textiles n.19

Ken Kirihata

Kyoto Shoin Int, Kyoto 1994, 96 pages, 15x22cm., Japanese-English text, ISBN 978-4763670540

euro 35,00

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Celebrated fabrics. Cloth chosen and admired by tea adepts and other elites from the 14c to 17c. Most are *kinran 金襴 (gold brocade), *donsu 緞子 (damask), *kantou 間道 (striped textile), and *nishiki 錦 (Japanese brocade), but meibutsugire also include some sarasa 更紗 (printed cotton). Reportedly there were 400 kinds of meibutsugire, named after the people who collected them, for the places where they were made, for the potters, after the famous objects they housed, or after some historical anecdote. Originally they were called jidaigire 時代裂 (fabrics from ancient times). When they were used for famous tea containers, meibutsu chaire 名物茶入, the fabrics were called meibutsugire. They were also used for the mountings of hanging scrolls and small crepe wrappers *fukusa 袱紗. The famous tea master Kobori Enshuu 小堀遠州 (1579-1647) was particularly fond of them and introduced many of these exotic fabrics into the tea ceremony. They were also used for garments of the ruling military class and for noh costumes *noushouzoku 能装束. Meibutsugire influenced Japanese dyeing and weaving patterns in textiles.

31/05/21

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Rainbow galore for this pastel outfit, featuring a seigaiha (stylised waves) kimono, paired with a tate nishiki (brocade with warp made from different colored threads) obi depicting meibutsugire (old patterns) in kiredori (style mimicing torn and patched paper/fabric pieces).

Meibutsugire or jidaigire are auspicious patterns (originally from China) which were popular during Muromachi period and mostly used for ceremonial items (for ex. to wrap tea ustentils). Those motifs included:

arisugawa (geometrical pattern with stylized deers/animals)

shokkō (cloisonné pattern)

sasazurumon (blooming bamboo, often in arabesque)

araiso (wave-beaten shore​ with jumping carps)

hana usagi (rabbit among flowers pattern)

taishi kantō (ikat pattern representing sitting Buddha figures)