Tsujigahana Textile with Horizontal Stripes, Flowering Plants, Fans, Snowflakes, Clouds, and Bellflowers

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Probably once part of the back of a kosode (predecessor of the modern kimono), this tsujigahana textile panel has four ornamented horizontal bands that alternate in brown and white. The term tsujigahana, translated literally as “flowers (hana) at the crossroads (tsuji),” evokes images of delicate blossoms amid pathways. While these motifs survive in textile fragments, the precise meaning of tsujigahana remains unclear. Late Muromachi (1392–1573)- and Momoyama-period written sources used the word in descriptions of garments, but twentieth-century scholars redefined it as a textile technique: stitch-resist dyeing and ink painting on a lightweight, plain-weave ground, often further embellished with gold-leaf imprinting and embroidery.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art