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Pines and Plum Trees

Japan
ca. 1750-1850

An embroidered appliqué in the shape of a decorated poem card (shikishi), made from a repurposed fragment of a wealthy samurai-class women's kimono. Such luxurious silk textiles were too valuable to discard after wear and were routinely repurposed into new garments (see Accession no. 2024.021). This appliqué, along with other similarly shaped embroidered fragments, would have likely been arranged in a disorderly composition and sewed onto an outer robe.


This textile fragment likely originated from a bridal kimono worn by a woman married into the warrior class during the Edo period. The complete design would have featured a bamboo motif, forming part of a pattern collective known as the Three Friends of Winter (saikan sanyū): Pine, Bamboo, and Plum. These motifs are a symbol of strength in hardship and the renewal of the New Year and springtime.

Additional information

It is possible that object information will be updated as new research findings are discovered. Please email kentonicollection@gmail.com if you can improve this record.

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