Gift cover (fukusa) with Sima Guang rescuing a boy from a water jar

WHAT’S THE STORY?
This fukusa tells the tale of Sima Guang rescuing his friend from drowning. Sima Guang (known in Japan as Shiba Onko) was a Chinese historian and statesman active during the eleventh century. According to legend, while he and his friends were playing, one of his companions fell in a large jar full of water. Without hesitation Sima Guang grabbed a rock and broke the jar, thereby saving his playmate.

TAKE A CLOSER LOOK
The borders where different colors meet are well-defined. This effect is created when weft threads of different colors are woven into a textile—a technique known as slit-weave tapestry, or tsuzure ori. The weaver essentially builds up the picture in stages from one end of the textile to the other. Threads wrapped in silver-covered paper were stitched (couched) to the textile to further define the edges of the clouds.