Black Nagoya-style obi in sateen weave (shusu) with embroidered plum blossom designs

Accession Number
2005/1.331

Title
Black Nagoya-style obi in sateen weave (shusu) with embroidered plum blossom designs

Artist(s)
Japanese

Artist Nationality
Japanese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1930s-1950s

Medium & Support
silk damask with woven pattern and metallic thread embroidery

Dimensions
142 15/16 in x 11 5/8 in (363 cm x 29.5 cm);29 15/16 in x 18 1/8 in x 6 5/16 in (76 cm x 46 cm x 16 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Howard and Patricia Yamaguchi

Label copy
Black Nagoya-style obi with embroidered plum blossom designs
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Nagoya obi
Japan, Showa period (1926–1989)
1930s–50s
Black silk with gold- and silver-wrapped thread
Gift of Howard and Patricia Yamaguchi, 2005/1.343
Nagoya obi
Japan, Showa period (1926–1989)
1960s
Black silk damask with metallic thread embroidery
Gift of Howard and Patricia Yamaguchi, 2005/1.330
Takizawa Kôyû
Japan, active 1940–1960
Nagoya obi
Showa period (1926–1989)
circa 1940–60
Tamaito (dupioni) silk with hand-painted landscape design
Gift of Howard and Patricia Yamaguchi, 2005/1.332
Nagoya obi
Japan, Showa period (1926–1989)
1930s–50s
Silk damask with woven pattern and metallic thread embroidery
Gift of Howard and Patricia Yamaguchi, 2005/1.331
Obi
Japan, Showa period (1926–1989)
1940s–50s
Silk with Saga brocade appliqués
Gift of Howard and Patricia Yamaguchi, 2005/1.335
On kimono, Saga brocade appliqués seem almost like delicately painted designs. The poems on the fan-shaped Saga brocades of this pink-grey obi were specially commissioned from a professional calligrapher by Iwata Shizuka; they allude to a long tradition of applying calligraphy directly to kimono during the Edo period (1615–1868).
Because of its origin as a pastime for the ladies-in-waiting of the Nabeshima clan, Saga brocade continues to be practiced today by women of upper-class families. Soon after she married in 1950, Iwata Shizuko took a class to learn the Saga brocade weaving technique. Both she and her mother liked the understated, elegant beauty of Saga brocade.
(Wrapped in Silk & Gold Exhibition, Summer 2010)

Subject matter
Nagoya obi were first produced at the end of the Taisho era, and are simpler than the more formal fukuro and maru obi. A portion of Nagoya obi fabric is folded and stitched in half, making it easier to tie. This is possibly a 1930s fukuro obi resewn into Nagoya style in 1970s.

Physical Description
Black silk damask with interwoven paulownia pattern; plum blossoms embroidered in solver, gold, and gunmetal gray metallic threads, and persimmon, brown, and black silk threads.

Primary Object Classification
Costume and Costume Accessories

Primary Object Type
obi

Additional Object Classification(s)
Textile

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
kimonos
obis

& Author Notes

Web Use Permitted