Hokusai Moyo Gafu: an album of dyeing patterns
ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp

・

170 points

・

fanf2

・

12 days ago

16 comments

srean ・ 12 days ago

I never knew Hokusai had interest in these.

Does anyone know if he had seen any Islamic tiling art ? Or for that matter if Escher had seen any of his.

Group theory / symmetry runs deep through these. One [0] of the circular ones made me think of braid(group)s. Not sure what the * operator would be in that case.

Speaking of braid groups Richeson had a very interesting blog post on the braid like groups of maypole dances.

Let me find and submit separately (spoiling a Hokusai story with another story, no matter how interesting, would be a personal sacrilege). Found it [1][2].

[0] https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1899550/1/10/

[1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44225324

[2]https://divisbyzero.com/2009/05/04/the-maypole-braid-group/

  • bradly ・ 12 days ago

    About halfway through there is a pattern depicting birds behind a chain link fence that he did possibly the same year the chain link fence was invented in the United Kingdom.

    • srean ・ 12 days ago

      So Banksy of his time to do that.

PaulHoule ・ 12 days ago

The Metropolitan Museum has books of fabric samples for kimonos with colorful and complex patterns but unfortunately I could only find pictures of kimonos:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/354838

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?q=kimono+jap...

People had kimonos with crazy prints throughout the Heian, warring states and Tokugawa periods.

ossicones ・ 12 days ago

Does anyone know how are these patterns were intended to be applied? It seems like they might be block printed, but the fact that they're called "dyeing patterns" makes me think of some kind of resist or shibori.

  • dole ・ 12 days ago

    I was curious myself, so I'd think resist printing such as [0] Katazome or [1] Rōketsuzome, using wax wheels. I feel like shibori would be tough for pattern accuracy but considering the craftsmanship I wouldn't be surprised to be wrong.

    [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katazome [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C5%8Dketsuzome

    I have a very similar tattered thread-bound book of these style of kimono patterns at home but I don't think they're from Hokusai.