Noren
1989 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Utsuki Ken'ichi produces a wide variety of indigo-dyed textiles and garments in his Kyoto workshop. The design on this noren, or doorway curtain, was created by resisting out sections of the cloth with rice paste, applied both through stencils and by means of a cloth tube fitted with a nozzle, prior to its repeated dipping in the indigo dye bath. The calligraphy reads 'momo kuri sannen kaki hachinen', which means 'one much have patience in all things'. It can also be read more literally as 'it takes three years for peaches and chestnuts, eight years for persimmons'. These fruits also feature in the design.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Indigo-dyed ramie, with stencilled (<i>katazome</i>) and freehand paste-resist (<i>tsutsugaki</i>) decoration |
| Brief description | Noren of indigo-dyed ramie, made by Utsuki Ken'ichi, Kyoto, 1989 |
| Physical description | Noren (doorway curtain) with calligraphy and decoration of peaches, chestnuts and persimmons. The design of the noren was created by first applying paste through a stencil over the areas to be left uncoloured and dip dyeing the fabric in indigo vats to achieve a light blue shade. The areas to be left a lighter tone were then resisted using the tsutsugaki technique and the fabric was then dip dyed over 15 times to achieve the deep blue of the background. The calligraphy on the noren is based on that of Reverend Kosho Shimizu, the former abbot of the Todai-ji temple in Nara. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'mono kuri sannen, kaki hachinen' (Despite the literal translation of the calligraphy, it also means: 'one must have patience in all things'.)
|
| Credit line | Given by the artist |
| Summary | Utsuki Ken'ichi produces a wide variety of indigo-dyed textiles and garments in his Kyoto workshop. The design on this noren, or doorway curtain, was created by resisting out sections of the cloth with rice paste, applied both through stencils and by means of a cloth tube fitted with a nozzle, prior to its repeated dipping in the indigo dye bath. The calligraphy reads 'momo kuri sannen kaki hachinen', which means 'one much have patience in all things'. It can also be read more literally as 'it takes three years for peaches and chestnuts, eight years for persimmons'. These fruits also feature in the design. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | FE.269:1-1995 |
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| Record created | February 22, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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