A Very Long Piece of Stenciled Raw Silk: Large Scale Tortoise and Crane

late nineteenth century
138" x 14", 3.5 m x 35.5 cm

This is a very long length of undyed, raw silk that is quite well worn as it shows some overall faint discoloration from wear and some stains which are shown on the accompanying photographs.

The pattern is stenciled on the cloth in a black dye and it shows elaborately rendered cranes and tortoises arranged more or less in pairs.

The combination of crane or tsuru in Japanese and the tortoise or kame is a familiar one in Japan and is referred to as tsurukame.

The essence of the meaning of the crane and tortoise is longevity: the crane was said to live for 1,000 years and the tortoise for 10,000 years so often these two images are shown together as they are here.

The base cloth of this length is beautifully woven and it is supple in the hand. The faint stains are noticeable but as they are in the same color family as the cloth and the dye they are not a nuisance to the eye.

A wonderful length of old cloth showing a traditional Japanese pattern, this cloth is auspicious in intention and meaning.