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Japanese

Nō theater costume (karaori), early 1700s

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

Japanese

Title

Nō theater costume (karaori)

Year

early 1700s

Medium

silk; gilt paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • silk,
  • gilt paper

Techniques

  • brocading,
  • twill weave,
  • supplementary weft patterning

Dimensions

132.7 cm (52 5/16 inches) (center back length)

Type

  • Fashion,
  • Costume

Credit

Gift of Miss Lucy T. Aldrich

Object Number

35.479

Projects & Publications

Publications

Patterns and Poetry

Nō Robes from the Lucy Truman Aldrich Collection

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Patterns and Poetry

October 21, 1994 - January 22, 1995

Poetry in Pattern

June 9 - September 3, 1989

Poetry in Pattern

October 10 - November 4, 1987

The butterfly motif, popular since the 8th century when it was adapted from a Chinse T'ang period (618-907) design, has many associations. It is a motif of Japan's classical period, associated with spring and ephemeral beauty. The word for butterfly, kocho, also sounds like the word for "coming" associated with waiting for a lover or for tidings from a lover.

In this classical verse, the butterfly is associated with Buddhist doctrine that all things are transient:

chirinureba
nochi wa akuta ni
naru hana o
omoishirazu mo
madou cho kana

Infatuated,
the butterfly little dreams
that those fair blossoms
will decay and become dust
after they scatter to earth.

Archbishop Henjo, Kokin Wakashu, no 435. Translation by Helen Craig McCullough, Kokin Wakashu (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985) p. 104.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Nō theater costume (karaori) with the accession number of 35.479. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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