A Length of Old Narumi Kongata Katazome: Hand Spun Cotton

This is a length of quite old Narumi kongata which is a beautiful type of stencil resist cloth that utilized a set of stencils when used in combination would yield a design or repeat pattern that mimicked the look of shibori. Soft edges and shibori-like effects would be seen on the finished cloth.

Here we see a short length of very good indigo dyed cotton Narumi kongata that shows a repeat pattern of makiage style shibori gourds against a background that mimics a type of vertically pleated shibori: quite ingenious.

The cloth is rich in suggested textures and hints very well at its inspiration of stitched and pleated shibori. Note the horizontal band at the bottom and the white blank on it: this indicates that this section of cloth was the end of bolt where notes about the cloth could be written.

There are condition issues to the length as you will note the small areas of loss as noted in the detail photos here. These flaws notwithstanding, this is a marvelous length of old Narumi kongata which shows an equally marvelous and rare pattern.

Recommended.