DOI Heft:
Nr. 211 (October 1910)
DOI Artikel:Crewdson, Wilson: Japanese art and artists of to-day, [3]: Textiles and embroidery
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20971#0062
Japanese Art and Artists of To-day.—III.
WOVEN SILK FABRIC (“NISHIKl”) DESIGNED BV S. KOANA
ye-nishiki ”—“When you return home, wear bro-
cade ”; that is, when you go on a journey appear
successful when you return home.
The loom on which the most elaborate of the
brocades now made are woven, is practically the
same as that found in the illustrations of Moronobu
and other artists, and has been in use in
Japan for some hundreds of years. This
loom necessitates the employment of a
draw-boy, who, perched up aloft, alters the
warp threads at the instruction of the
weaver. It is surprising how excellent is
the result obtained by the skilful Japanese
weaver from what we might be apt to con-
sider as a very primitive machine. This
method of weaving is somewhat similar to
that used in the manufacture of ancient
French tapestry. The Jacquard loom is as
a rule only used for the less expensive silks,
and especially for fabrics in which cotton
is mixed with silk, a considerable variety
of which were invented after the loom was
introduced into Japanese workshops some
twenty-five years ago. These mixed fabrics,
however, had come into general use half-
a-century earlier, in consequence of the
issue of a decree enjoining the people to
refrain from the use of silken garments.
One of the most important as well as
one of the most ancient methods of repro-
ducing a pattern in silk brocade is called
in Japan “Tsuzure-no-Nishiki.” The word
Tsuzure means “placing together”—in the
same sense as letters are placed together
to form words—and Nishiki, “brocade.”
Textiles and Embroidery
Hence the whole means
placing together of bro-
cade : the weft threads,
after the colour has been
selected, being woven by
the help of the draw-boy
on the proper warp
threads, so as to make
pieces of the exact size,
shape and colour required
by the pattern. “Tsuzure-
no-Nishiki” is by no
means common in Japan,
and is exceedingly expen-
sive. Some of the more
elaborate pieces made on
the looms of Messrs.
Kawashima at Nishijin
occupy as much as five
or six years in the making, the most skilful
weavers and their assistants working diligently on
them all this time.
In the brocades of the West, gold and silver
threads, sometimes of metal and sometimes of
leather, have been used. In Japan, however, gold
DESIGN FOR BROCADE OR “YUZEN” BY Y. TAKAYAMA
41
WOVEN SILK FABRIC (“NISHIKl”) DESIGNED BV S. KOANA
ye-nishiki ”—“When you return home, wear bro-
cade ”; that is, when you go on a journey appear
successful when you return home.
The loom on which the most elaborate of the
brocades now made are woven, is practically the
same as that found in the illustrations of Moronobu
and other artists, and has been in use in
Japan for some hundreds of years. This
loom necessitates the employment of a
draw-boy, who, perched up aloft, alters the
warp threads at the instruction of the
weaver. It is surprising how excellent is
the result obtained by the skilful Japanese
weaver from what we might be apt to con-
sider as a very primitive machine. This
method of weaving is somewhat similar to
that used in the manufacture of ancient
French tapestry. The Jacquard loom is as
a rule only used for the less expensive silks,
and especially for fabrics in which cotton
is mixed with silk, a considerable variety
of which were invented after the loom was
introduced into Japanese workshops some
twenty-five years ago. These mixed fabrics,
however, had come into general use half-
a-century earlier, in consequence of the
issue of a decree enjoining the people to
refrain from the use of silken garments.
One of the most important as well as
one of the most ancient methods of repro-
ducing a pattern in silk brocade is called
in Japan “Tsuzure-no-Nishiki.” The word
Tsuzure means “placing together”—in the
same sense as letters are placed together
to form words—and Nishiki, “brocade.”
Textiles and Embroidery
Hence the whole means
placing together of bro-
cade : the weft threads,
after the colour has been
selected, being woven by
the help of the draw-boy
on the proper warp
threads, so as to make
pieces of the exact size,
shape and colour required
by the pattern. “Tsuzure-
no-Nishiki” is by no
means common in Japan,
and is exceedingly expen-
sive. Some of the more
elaborate pieces made on
the looms of Messrs.
Kawashima at Nishijin
occupy as much as five
or six years in the making, the most skilful
weavers and their assistants working diligently on
them all this time.
In the brocades of the West, gold and silver
threads, sometimes of metal and sometimes of
leather, have been used. In Japan, however, gold
DESIGN FOR BROCADE OR “YUZEN” BY Y. TAKAYAMA
41