Uchikake with Cranes, Pine Trees, and Mt. Fuji_back

The decorative pattern on this wedding robe was largely created by dyeing and painting on the base fabric. Small details, such as the cranes' red crowns, were highlighted with embroidery. Throughout East Asia, textile artists sought to express auspicious wishes for the bridal couple through the ornament of wedding robes. While the entire surfaces of Chinese and Korean robes are typically covered with an abundance of symbolic patterns created almost entirely in embroidery, Japanese textile artists often combined different methods of surface patterning, and sometimes chose to convey auspicious wishes more subtly. Through a deft intermingling of needle and brush, this robe depicts cranes and pine trees, widely recognized symbols of immortality throughout East Asia, in a naturalistic landscape setting.