Studio: international art (51.1911)

Japanese Art and Artists of To-day.—III. Textiles and Embroidery

at by a series of stencil plates and
resists.

Another variety of silk crape is
called “Yamamai,” and comes
chiefly from the island of Hachijo.
It is made from the silk spun by the
wild silk-worm, the cocoons being
collected from the actual trees in
which the silk-worm lived. The
manufacture of Yamamai is the
occupation of prisoners banished
to this island, and the fabric is of
unusual strength ; the wearing of it
is said by some to be a cure for
rheumatism.

Reference must also be made to
a variety of silk made in Japan
called “Habutai.” This has been
for some time well known in
Europe, and in its finer qualities
rivals the finest productions of the
Lyons looms. From the stand-
point of design, however, it is not
generally so interesting as some of
the other textile manufactures, but
it must be borne in mind that as

DESIGN FOR “YUZEN” FABRIC

DESIGN FOR “YUZEN” OR SILK CRAPE
BY TAKAHASHI SHOTARO

a general rule the more restrained and sober the colour-
ing the better the quality and the higher the rank of
the person by whom a material is intended to be worn,
just as the smaller the copy of the family monogram
or crest which ornaments the dress of a lady or
gentleman, the more distinguished the wearer. It is
customary in Japan for a young mother to select a
motive for the design of the clothing of her daughter,
a motive that is generally retained in some of its varied
forms during the lifetime of the daughter, who, how-
ever, always uses the brightest colours as a decoration
for the sash or Obi worn round her waist.

The probable reason why these beautiful fabrics have
not before this become better known in the West is
that owing to their narrow width they were not so easy
to use as the fabrics of greater breadth manufactured
in the West. To this fact Thunberg, one of the former
Dutch Governors of Decima, drew attention in the
middle of the eighteenth century. Japanese silk fabrics
were exhibited at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873, and
were praised in the highest possible terms, but their
narrow width apparently still prevented their finding
favour with European buyers. Shortly after the Vienna
Exhibition, a fashion sprang up in Japan for cheap
Manchester printed calicoes and velvets, and the

BY SAWADA SEI-ICHINO

49