Meibutsugire

• Japanese: 名物裂 (meibutsu gire)

Meibutsugire, or famous scraps, were pieces of brocade, damask, and other lavish imported textiles which were treasured by Edo period tea ceremony practitioners. Most were either Chinese textiles from the Yuan or Ming dynasties, or Indian textiles imported more recently (in the 17th-18th centuries). Tea practitioners compiled kogirechô scrapbooks of such textiles, which they then used as references when selecting or reusing cloths as furoshiki or for use otherwise in the tea ceremony practice.

A particularly famous example of such kogirechô is Record of Distinguished Objects of Past and Present, compiled by Matsudaira Fumai and reproduced in a woodblock-printed form in 1789 to 1797.

References

• Gallery labels, Tokyo National Museum.[1]