The “Arisugawa” brocade is a textile that was woven in the 16th-17th Century and subsequently brought over to Japan. It was once owned by the Maeda clan, a Daimyo family that governed the prosperous Kaga Domain during the Edo Period (1603-1867). The roots of the name “Arisugawa” is unknown but there are similar patterns with horse, deer, and dragon in clouds. The original of this horse pattern brocade is preserved in the collections of the Kyoto National Museum. （文入り変り角繋ぎ文様錦ー有栖川錦）
Kitamura Tokusai has been making silk cloths, or fukusa, for practitioners of tea since 1712. Their elegant textiles are among the finest woven silk fabrics available in Japan and are made by highly skilled weavers in Kyoto’s historic Nishijin area. Kitamura Tokusai’s inventory of fabrics features over 400 patterns of historical significance, many of which were expressly favored by the founders and most prominent devotees of Japan’s tea culture. The Kitamura family continues to warmly welcome tea and textile enthusiasts to their Nishijin shop by hanging a fukusa, a symbol of hospitality, in the entrance.
