Noh costume: Nuihaku type, chrysanthemum, water and mist motifs

This costume is decorated with large chrysanthemums in a stream, some floating, some submerged. The flowing water and whirlpools are embroidered in white and blue. The mist is expressed by the surihaku work faintly visible at their periphery. In surihaku, a design is stenciled on in glue and gold or silver leaf applied to it. When the glue dries, the excess foil is removed, leaving the metallic pattern. The technique used in robes such as this, a combination of embroidery and gold or silver leaf, is called nuihaku, literally embroidered and leafed. Surihaku rubs off easily and, in this example, has been almost entirely lost. Originally, however, the use of gold leaf for the mist created an even more sumptuous effect.