Nature/Natural
This small kimono with long swinging sleeves is a little girl’s furisode (formal kimono) with intricate designs of chrysanthemums, waves, and butterflies among wells and rice field motifs. Japanese children wear embellished furisode such as this on special occasion, including shichi-go-san (seven-five-three) on November 15— a day of prayer for the healthy growth of boys and girls aged three, boys aged five, and girls aged seven.
The little girl’s furisode was made in the Ōmi district of present-day Shiga Prefecture, a district famous for its fine ramie cloth and complex kasuri (thread-resist textile) patterning. Kasuri textiles are patterned by selectively resisting sections of the warp and weft yarns from the dye before they are set on the loom. A carefully planned and meticulously executed patterning of this furisode suggests that this textile was designed and woven specifically for a child, unlike other kusuri patterned children's garments made of cloth recycled from adult clothing.
This small kimono with long swinging sleeves is a little girl’s furisode (formal kimono) with intricate designs of chrysanthemums, waves, and butterflies among wells and rice field motifs. Japanese children wear embellished furisode such as this on special occasion, including shichi-go-san (seven-five-three) on November 15- a day of prayer for the healthy growth of boys and girls aged three, boys aged five, and girls aged seven.
The little girl’s furisode was made in the Omi district of present-day Shiga Prefecture, a district famous for its fine ramie cloth and complex kasuri (thread-resist textile) patterning. Kasuri textiles are patterned by selectively resisting sections of the warp and weft yarns from the dye before they are set on the loom. A carefully planned and meticulously executed patterning of this furisode suggests that this textile was designed and woven specifically for a child, unlike other kusuri patterned children's garments made of cloth recycled from adult clothing.
Exhibition Label:
"Nature/Natural," Jan-2014, Kris Ercums
This small kimono with long swinging sleeves is a little girl’s furisode (formal kimono) with intricate designs of chrysanthemums, waves, and butterflies among wells and rice field motifs. Japanese children wear embellished furisode such as this on special occasion, including shichi-go-san (seven-five-three) on November 15— a day of prayer for the healthy growth of boys and girls aged three, boys aged five, and girls aged seven.
The little girl’s furisode was made in the Ōmi district of present-day Shiga Prefecture, a district famous for its fine ramie cloth and complex kasuri (thread-resist textile) patterning. Kasuri textiles are patterned by selectively resisting sections of the warp and weft yarns from the dye before they are set on the loom. A carefully planned and meticulously executed patterning of this furisode suggests that this textile was designed and woven specifically for a child, unlike other kusuri patterned children's garments made of cloth recycled from adult clothing.
Exhibition Label:
“Flowers, Dragons and Pine Trees: Asian Textiles in the Spencer Museum of Art,” Nov-2005, Mary Dusenbury
Meticulously rendered chrysanthemums, waves, and butterflies appear layered among motifs of wells and rice fields. Although many children’s garments were made of cloth recycled from adults’ clothing, the small scale and fine proportions of the patterns on this little girl’s furisode (swinging sleeves) suggest that this one was designed and woven specifically for a child.
Archive Label 2003:
This little girl's formal kimono was made in the Omi district of Shiga Prefecture on the other side of Lake Biwa from Kyoto, a district famous for its fine ramie cloth and complex kasuri patterning. (Ramie is a bast fiber similar to hemp and linen). Kasuri textiles were made by tying or binding selected sections of threads to reserve them from the dye. When woven, the resisted sections of the dyed threads formed a predetermined pattern in the finished cloth. The intricate designs of chrysanthemums, waves, and butterflies among well and rice field motifs on this small kimono were created by a carefully planned and meticulously executed combination of warp and weft patterning.
Kasuri garments were very much the fashion among wealthy merchants' wives in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, as can be seen from contemporary woodblock prints such as those of Hokusai Katsushika (1760-1849). Although no longer considered high fashion among their elders, fine kasuri furisode such as this indicate that kasuri garments were still worn on formal occasions by children in the early twentieth century. Many kasuri patterned children's garments were made of cloth recycled from adult clothing. The small scale and fine proportions of this patterning of this furisode, however, suggest that this textile was designed and woven specifically for a child.
