Suntory Museum of Art
About the Museum
Collection
Notable Works
Noh costume, nuihaku type, with cherry blossom and spider's web design on kantō-striped ground

Notable Works

Textiles

Noh costume, nuihaku type, with cherry blossom and spider's web design on kantō-striped ground

Click on the photograph for a larger image

Number of components: 1
Dimensions (in cm): L. 142.3, D. (sleeve) 52.7, L. (center-to-sleeve) 67.8
Date of production: Edo period 19th century

The dark gray base, which was probably first dyed indigo, is accented with horizontal yellow and white stripes in the kantō style (striped and checked textiles imported in the Muromachi to Edo periods). It is embroidered with cherry blossoms in pale pink, white, yellow, light brown, gray, and other colors. They are rendered in many ways, including petals scattering and the petal-less centers of the flower. In between the cherry blossoms are spider webs meticulously rendered in silver surihaku. The design of cherry blossoms and spider webs floating on the blackish ground, with its associations with night, gives us a sense of a somewhat dark and obscure emotion.

Notable Works

Noh costume, nuihaku type, with cherry blossom and spider's web design on kantō-striped ground

SUNTORY MUSEUM of ART