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- express itself, finding new ways of combining motifs. Therefore, most of the surviving kesa from Period Three are Japanese and reflect Japanese style and design.
Swatch albums known as meibutsu gire (meaning swatches of named fabrics) have greatly influenced kesa of this period. Meibutsu gire were highly prized by tea masters as coverings for their tea jars and other precious ob�jects. Often tea practitioners were called upon to correctly identify the teas they were drinking as well as identify the swatches in these albums. Designs in the swatch books included not only the traditional designs of flowers, dragons and phoenixes but also an endless variety of medallions of floral design; the so-called autumn grasses such as pines, willow, bamboo, chry�santhemum, iris, lily; birds such as cranes, roosters; nature motifs such as clouds and waves; musical instruments and theatrical masks; as well as dia�mond shapes, lozenges and plaids. Prior to Period Three most woven pat�terns were comparatively simple and often conventionalized and abstract, but this period saw the bold complicated use of gold and brilliant colouring for a lavish decorative effect. The surihaku impressed gold or silver foil technique became a popular method of costume decoration in the Momoyama and Edo periods. It involved a stencil of a certain design placed on cloth and then paste was applied followed by gold or silver leaf being rubbed on the paste design. The extra leaf was them removed. Usually a deep or bold coloured fabric was used as the background. A fabric called inkin (stamped gold) was also com�mon in Period Three. Kinran, a type of material with thin strips of paper covered with gold foil woven into the fabric, was a popular technique used for the making of kesa during Period Three as well as ginran which used silver foil. All these techniques already existed in Period Two, with the exclusion of surihaku, which goes right back to the Nara period.
The textile industry during the Momoyama and Edo periods greatly flow�ered in Kyoto at the Nishijin looms. Nishijin was a compound in the north�western ward of Kyoto and renowned for the fabrics produced there. They are noted for their tour de force techniques and workmanship. The weavers had acquired many valuable secrets of Ming Chinese weaving. One Nishijin weaver named Tawaraya developed a sumptuous brocade called kara-ori (Chinese weaving or Chinese fabric) which was very popular for Noh cos�tumes and kesa mantles. Kara-ori imitates the appearance of embroidery by means of weaving allowing coloured threads to float which are then fastened down with gold or silver foiled thread creating exquisite patterns on the surface of the fabric. The designs are of such intricacy and delicacy that they appear to be embroidered.
It should not come as a surprise that there were people who spoke out against such extravagance. Onko (1718-1804), a monk of the Shingon sect, was one such conservative. He studied old texts and wrote extensively on kesa and advocated a kesa more true to the Buddhist teachings. He promoted a renaissance of the funzo-e type of kesa made of rags. It is said that under his guidance a thousand kesa were made of this early type of kesa; forty of these are still preserved in his temple, the Koki-ji.
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