Hitoe (unlined kimono)
Silk (?), supplementary metallic threads
Stenciled warps

Morning glories were a popular theme in kimono design in the early twentieth century, and fans were an integral part of life in the hot Japanese summer. These morning glories, while cartoonish, are close to their actual shape, so one has to look twice to see that they are actually large fans on a background of smaller, solid blue fans.

In this hitoe, only the warps have been stenciled. All the weft threads are black.

The supplementary metallic thread has its own points of interest. The longer exposed thread (below, photographed on the inside of the hitoe) has a core of green silk filaments, and is wrapped in a metallic thread which is green on its underside. The shorter exposed thread below it, which turns two corners, has a core of blue silk filaments, and the paper appears to be undyed on its underside. Elsewhere on the hitoe, there is metallic paper with a red underside. All of these serve to give the hitoe an extra hint of color as the light changes.