Translation Results Requested Through Conyac Made Public

About stencil printing: Stencil printing is applied to various kinds of materials, and famous examples are the Yuzen, Komon, Kijaku, Bin patterns which are used for long-sleeved kimonos, formal visiting kimonos and wrapping cloth, or the Chusen pattern used for dyeing towels. Kyo-Uzen (Stencil Uzen), Edo-Komon, Okinawa’s Bin pattern, and Yukata (Chusen) are often-heard names. Something unexpected is that the method is also applied for painting for ceramics and obscure glass. The standard method for stencil printing is first to put paper pattern on a cloth to be printed and apply glue from the top of it to cover the areas where should not get dyed by other colors.

So the glue is left on the part has the same shape as the one from the pattern and let the glue dry. When it is washed away after the other parts are dyed, the parts still remain uncolored. What is special about this paper pattern is that it can be repeatedly used for the same pattern of design for both standard design style or just a part of the design. Since one paper pattern have to be prepared for one color, there are some designs using many colors require more than 100 paper patterns. In the case of long-sleeve kimonos, there are some designs requiring more than 700 to 800 paper patterns to complet the whole printing.
About Edo-Komon and Ise paper pattern: Among stencil printing, small patterns are called Komon, and big pattern are called Daimon.

The middle size pattern is called Chugata, which later became another name for Yukata. Komon was originally developed as a design pattern for warrior’s standard dress, but warriors gradually started having their own dress using a different design pattern for each province. (Ex. Omeshiju for the Shogunate family of Tokugawa, Kikubishi for the Maeda family in Kaga (Currently in Ishikawa prefecture), Goma (sesami) for the Nabejima family, etc).
And Komon pattern which had once been the symbol of warriors gradually spread to ordinary families from the Genroku era (1688-1704), and since then many more liberal and vivid patterns were created. That time was the best time for Edo-Komon design, and that led to the highest accomplishment for both carving for paper patterns and dyeing techniques.