Japan · Weaving / Textile / Buddhist Craft
打敷 (Uchishiki)
Uchishiki (打敷 — 'spread cloth') is the decorative Buddhist altar textile draped over the frontal surface of the altar table in front of the principal Buddha image — produced in Kyoto Nishijin nishiki brocade (錦 nishiki) with Buddhist iconographic motifs in gold thread on silk ground. The uchishiki tradition is distinct from the Nishijin obi weaving (CRAFT-0458) in its Buddhist iconographic vocabulary requirement — each Buddhist sect has specific uchishiki patterns that are not interchangeable between sects — and in the cut and finishing technique: uchishiki have a distinctive triangular point at the lower hem produced by a specific diagonal cut and fold technique. The diagonal cut at the hem must bisect the corner exactly to produce a perfect isosceles triangle — a geometric precision requirement rarely encountered in textile finishing.
Risk level: Endangered · Within Nishijin weaving designation
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