Dashi-fukusa Cloth (Tea-things) (Gin Yoshino)

There once lived in Kyoto a big merchant named Haiya Jōeki who was famous for his refined taste and for his wife Yoshino Dayū. She was a famous woman entertainer who got married him making a great romance between them, and his good fortune has become of the envy of his friends. She was endowed both with intelligence and beauty, and was known to be a complete mistress in tea ceremony. Among "Meibutsu-gire" ( a group of brocades selected by the head tea master Sen no Rikyū with the purpose to be used for tea ceremony ), we have a mate rial called "Yoshino Kanto" which is said to have been the one of "uchikake" worn by Yoshino Dayū. ( Uchikake is a full-length silk overcoat worn over Kimono on very formal occasions.) It is usually woven in“sanada”style with check patterns of colored silk threads on dark blue background, while with this piece we stress modern feeling by weaving a gold or silver thread on white background, and try to reproduce the feeling of the original "Yoshino Kanto."