Clouds (bands)

雲 kumo

Clouds (bands)

Clouds, especially auspicious five-coloured clouds, signal good fortune and the heavens; banded clouds (kasumi) also frame scenes in Japanese painting.

Cloud designs from China in the Nara period (8th century); banded clouds and mist in medieval scroll painting

Cloud patterns (unmon) reached Japan from China in the Nara period, often paired with phoenixes or dragons. Heian court designers named several types. In medieval picture scrolls, bands of cloud and mist hid parts of a scene to set the mood, and in the Edo period dyed fabrics were often divided into cloud-shaped panels (kumotori or kasumitori), which is where banded clouds on textiles come from.

Banded cloud and mist frames remain a common way to divide a kimono or furoshiki design into scenes.

Technique catalog · draft for review

Every way to wrap, carry and wear a furoshiki.

The furoshiki.com archive, sliced into annotated steps with plain directions, plus techniques found in research.