Page 404 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

216 217 218
Surihakií nô robe with dew and Atsuita no robe with poems Nuihaku no robe with pine tree, checkered
snoiu-couered grass pattern, and diagonal stripes
Seventeenth century
Eighteenth century Gold metallic thread supplementary Eighteenth century
Gold and silver leaf on silk satin weft on silk twill Embroidery, gold and silver leaf, and
152.5x145 (60X5778) 143 x 132.8 (5674 x 5274) tie-dyeing on silk satin
Tokyo National Museum Tokyo National Museum 151 x 136 (5972 x 5372)
Hayashibara Museum of Art, Okayama
Illustrated page 375
• Surihaku, literally "rubbing" and
"metallic leaf," is a technique of deco- • The term nuihakti, literally "stitching"
• The term atsuita (thick board) origi-
rating cloth in which rice paste is nally referred to imported heavy sup- and "metallic leaf," can refer either
applied to fabric through a stencil plementary weft-patterned fabric to a method of decorating a robe with
and, while the paste is still wet, metal- embroidery and metallic leaf or to 403
lic foil is pressed onto the stenciled- wrapped around thick wooden boards a no costume decorated with these
to protect them in transit. Atsuita no
paste pattern. When the paste dries, robes, primarily worn as inner robes techniques. Nuihaku no robes are
excess foil is brushed away. The often worn as an inner robe by actors
by actors playing male roles, are made
term surihaku also refers to no robes of cloth that has a design worked into playing women's roles, but they can
decorated by this method. occasionally be worn for men's roles
a twill-weave ground of unglossed
Surihaku no robes are worn as inner silk. Both the pattern weft threads as emperors, courtiers, or children.
garments by actors playing female and gold threads are secured by the In a painterly manner the skillful
roles and are usually only barely visi- ground warp. embroidery (shishü) on this nuihaku
ble at the collar. At times, the upper no robe depicts a stylized pine (a
half of the surihaku is exposed when The fabric of this robe is woven in the symbol of longevity) resembling the
gold that create
blocks of red and
the outer robe, secured at the waist grand pine tree that is painted on
effect of a split-body composition
with an obi, is draped off the upper known as katamigawari. This split- the rear wall of the no stage— the
body in a style called waist wrap body construction is seen in the early Yogó Pine at the Kasuga Shrine
(koshimaki). Surihaku designs are fourteenth-century picture scroll in Nara. Such standing tree motifs
therefore often limited to the upper Shrine (tachiki), rising from the hem of a
half of the garment. Occasionally, Miracles of the Deities ofKasuga garment, with branches extending
however, designs continue to the (Kasuga gongen reiki), which depicts a to the sleeves, were often seen on
male servant wearing a katamigawari
lower half of the garment. On this garment. Later, during the Momoyama eighteenth-century kosode.The way
robe dense patterning on the upper this pine tree is interrupted at the
part stops abruptly in a contour period (1573 -1615), katamigawari waist to accommodate an obi was
designs were worn by the upper class.
derived from an abstract represen- also common.
tation of pine trees ("pine-bark The woven designs on this robe
lozenges," or matsukawabishi), then include six poems from Japanese and An allover checkered pattern —
canted to harmonize with the bold
continues in an extremely abbre- Chinese Poems for Singing (Wakan
diagonal stripes tie-dyed in red, blue,
viated form on the lower skirt. roeishü), an anthology compiled about and white (shibori somewake) — is
1013 by Fujiwara no Kintó. Three are
Crenellated arched lines (resembling from the early spring section, two handsomely rendered in alternating
abstract snowflake roundels known from the crane section, and one from gold and silver leaf. Commonly known
as yukiwa) represent the buildup of in Japan as ishidatami (stone pave-
dew and snow on blades of grass. The the red plum section. The calligraphy ment), in the mid-Edo period check-
of the poems is woven in an asym-
gold- and silver-leafed blades of grass metrical compositional style known ered patterns were called ichimatsu
and the dots of dew and snow glisten after the popular kabuki actor Sano-
as scattered writing (chirashigaki) that
on the shiny white satin (shusu) sur- was popular in the Nara (710 - 794) kawa Ichimatsu (1732 -1762), whose
face, suggesting the feeling of a cold, and Heian (794-1185) periods. checkered garment became fashion-
melancholy, autumn day. The motif of able. Although the characters for the
autumn grasses, which flourish before The robe once belonged to the name Ichimatsu mean "market pine,"
the first frost of winter, is appropriate. Konparu family of no actors and was the word is also a homonym meaning
This robe would have been selected in the Teirakusha Collection. SST "one pine." SST
for plays with autumnal imagery. SST