Nishiki: Fabric Worth Gold
- Category: History of Craft
- Practices: Russian Weaving
Nishiki is a patterned silk brocade with embossed jacquard pattern.
Its originated in the 7-9th centuries, when Chinese culture elements of Sui and Tang dynasties came to Japan. By the 10th century, after the termination of diplomatic relations with China, noble people wore numerous thin robes of different shades, made from mon-orimono silk, with beautifully matching color and edges, collars and sleeves, peeking out from under each other. Female costume from Heian era got the name of zuni hitoe (gown with twelve layers). The costume consisted of many clothes of different colors, often translucent, which created the effect of a complex mixture of colors.
The front and back sides of the fabric were decorated in different color combinations and included natural motifs — plants, insects and other elements, characteristic for a particular time of the year. Each motif had its own name, there were about 130 color combinations. The chosen motif had to correspond to the current season.
Heian era paid much attention to the color scheme of the ensemble. Fabric colors were carefully selected according to ranks and titles, as well as to a specially developed system of certain concepts and meanings. Color combinations had special names: white and purple — "plum", blue and green — "bell", pink and green — "peach".
For example, a costume called "layers of pine", consisting of five outer clothing, included two dresses of dark red shades, two yellowish-green dresses and crimson bottom dress.
That is how a female festive gown looked like in the 12th century. Sleeves and edges of the multi-layered silk garment, made from mon-orimono fabric, convey the beauty by means of alternating stripes of different colors. (Property of the Kyoto National Museum).
By the 17th century, Japan found new technologies to dye fabrics. But nishiki fabrics were also preserved. In most cases, this fabric was used for obi belts — the most valuable and expensive elements of a Japanese costume, and also for festive gowns.
High precision and skill level, required to create this fabric, and its extraordinary beauty required a special word for this type of brocade. In Japanese, a character used for nishiki is a combination of a woven fabric symbol and a symbol of gold, implying that the value of nishiki is equal to the value of money.
The secret of this fabric is that it is 3D. It is woven in layers, part of the pattern is embossed. In addition, separate translucent silk threads of special form are used. They are metaphorically called "silk prism". Because of this structure, a silk thread allows light to penetrate and reflect itself, which is why the fabric has a shining glow.
Nishiki is a "fabric of light."
One of the most important nishiki components are silverand gold threads, which were made of thin gold and silver foil twisted with silk.