Tomesode: formal kosode for married women at wedding and other formal occasions; typically decorated with yuzen-dyed motifs near the hem. Usually are adorned with family crests.

Tomoe: motif comprised of two, or more comma-shaped elements with the heads grouped at the center and the tails sweeped in the same direction to form the circumference [AoJ,v.1,pg.139]

Torii: ceremonial gateway which designates entry to Shinto precincts; constructed of two posts and one lintel that overhangs its' supports; often with additional braces for posts and sometimes an elaborate eaved roof [trad.]

Tsuba: disk-shaped sword guard worn on daisho (paired long and short sword); fitted over the blade; often elaborately decorated; motif sometimes used on men's clothing [trad.]

Tsubaki (camelia): A flower symbolizing the divine and the arrival of spring. It appears in religious settings and seasonal designs.

Tsujigahana (crossed flowers): decorative style that combines tie-dying and painting techniques; employs stitched borders to reserve areas for decoration; often supplemented by painted flowers; first popularized in Momoyama period; dyed edges often soft and blurred; [JCaTA,pg.145,48]

Tsukesage: informal, woman's kosode; characterized by decoration composed in vertical masses at both front and back hems [trad.]. One family crest on the center back is standard. Tsukesage is worn at either formal or informal occasions and refers to the way in which the patterns are dyed.The patterns of hemline go upward and meet at the top of the shoulders and the patterns on the sleeves also are the same.

Tsumugi: A textile woven with hand-spun threads from cocoon fibres. It doesn't have a glossy nor smooth texture, but tasteful rough texture. The low quality, dirty and dupion (double) cocoons that were an inevitable product of raising silkworms were used to make raw silk which the farmers, during the quiet months of winter, spun into yarn and wove into what is known as tsumugi (pongee). Unlike high quality silk yarn taken from good cocoons, tsumugi yarn has to be twisted and joined as it is spun. The small knots thereby created give rise to the distinctively nubbly texture of the woven fabric. The sturdiness of tsumugi made it popular for clothing among samurai as well as rich townsmen and farmers.

Tsuru:  is the Japanese word for crane, representing a revered bird in Japanese culture symbolising longevity, good luck, and happiness. As a cultural icon, it is frequently associated with origami (paper cranes), art, and mythology.

Tsuru Kame: combined crane and tortoise motif.

Tsurubami: grey-brown tint derived from acorns of oak [Quercus acutissima]; [BtTB, Dusenbury, pg.25]

Tsutsugaki: free-hand dying technique similar to yuzenzome; employs a squeeze tube to apply resist; produces a cruder line and hence a rustic look; [BtTB, Mellott, pg.53-5]

Tsuzumi: hand-held drum; usually played by striking with the free hand; sometimes used as textile motif in conjunction with other instruments, but other combinations are common [trad.]

Tsuzure ori: a form of tapestry weave in which the design threads are floated across the back of the fabric; often used for No' costumes [trad.]

Uchide no kozuchi: mallet of good fortune, one of the auspicious Collection of Treasures motifs. This mallet appears in traditional children�s tales, where it is depicted as granting the wishes of whoever shakes it.

Uchikake: Uchikake is a full-length unbelted outer robe with trailing hem. Until the Edo period, it was worn by women of Samurai, warrior, or noble families on special occasions. Since then, it had become a part of Japanese traditional bridal costume. Now it is only used for a wedding ceremony. The cotton is put inside the hemline to give added weight and form at the bottom

Uchiwa: round-faced fan: has fixed frame sandwiched between paper layers; often used as decorative motif in its' own right [AoJ,v.1,pg139]

Uki ori: : float weave, a patterning technique in which yarn is deliberately left to float across the surface of the underlying weave structure.

Ukiyo-e: woodblock prints, and an aesthetic school

Umanori hakama: loose, pleated pants designed for sitting astride a horse or other outdoor activities; constructed from tanmono and tied at the waist; hem can be finished as even, open pleats, gathered by drawstrings at ankles, or fitted from the knee to the foot with button or tabi closures [trad.]

Unban: cloud-shaped bronze gong; first introduced with Zen Buddhism in Kamakura period; forms part of monastic paraphenalia [AoJ,v.1,pg.121,139]

Unryu: "Dragon in the clouds".

Uroko: reptile (fish or snake) scale motif consisting of equilateral triangles arranged in parallel rows and ranks; usually single color constrasts with fabric ground [trad.]

Wachigai: geometric pattern used on yusoku textiles; see shippo tsunagi

Wafuku: : literally "Japanese dress"; in contra-distinction to yofuku; word coined in Meiji era to distinguish it from non-traditonal [i.e. Western] dress; [K:FC,pg.10]

Warabide: fern leaf pattern [AoJ,v.1,pg.139]

Warinui: A variation of hiranui (satin stitch). The bilaterally symmetrical motif is divided into two areas by its axis and embroidered from its outlines towards the axis. It produces a V-shape and is suitable for such motifs as leaves and feathers.

Yabane: "Arrow feathers". In textiles, It refers to the motif itself. It typically features large, stylized, and sometimes semi-randomly placed depictions of hawk or eagle feathers.

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Yabo: : "good taste" as defined by samurai class as opposed to court styles (see goshuden); later interpreted to mean "old hat", "out-of-date" when applied by the chonin class to samurai styles; now used to define trite taste (especially in personal dress); juxtaposed to iki [JCaTA,pg.87-89,90]

Yaburitsugi (torn patches): Heian-style paper collage technique frequently used to decorate paper for transcribing poems; sometimes used as a textile motif [AoJ,v.1,pg.58,139]

Yagasuri: repeated kasuri pattern resembling arrow (ya) fletching; usually created by staggering warp threads that have been resist dyed to produce trapezoidal forms [trad.]

Yagasuri: "Arrow-splashed pattern" . In textiles, it refers to the geometric, repeating version of the pattern. It is usually composed of small, tightly repeating chevrons that look like a structured grid or columns.

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Yamagata: horizontal border with abstracted representation of mountains; either plain zig-zag line or with crenellated points added on top [trad.]

Yatsuhashi (8-plank bridge): ): a planked foot-bridge motif; often laid among iris marshes; popularized by Ogata Korin, a leading Rimpa School artist of the Genroku Era [AoJ, v.1,pg.108]

Yofuku: lit. "Western Clothing"; in contra-distinction to wafuku; coined in Meiji era to differentiate clothing [i.e. "kimono"] into native versus foreign dress [K:FC,pg.10]

Yogi: oversized, padded kimono-form comforter; developed for cold weather sleeping; often elaborately decorated in tsutsugaki technique when it formed part of a brides trousseau [trad.]

Yotsumi: Kimonos for about 4-13 year-old kids.

Yukata: very casual, unlined kosode; typically made of cotton or other vegetable fiber; usually dyed with indigo utilizing the katazome technique; traditionally worn after a bath; nowadays, more commonly worn at festivals and at traditional Japanese inns.

Yukiwa:  is a classic Japanese motif representing a stylized snowflake. The name literally translates to "snow ring," and the pattern is easily identified by its circular shape with six distinct inward-curving notches.

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Yusoku: originally the customs and ceremonies of the Imperial court; by extension, traditions of the Heian period, which reflects court taste; many motifs are of foreign origin [AoJ,v.1,pg.123]

Yuzen: dyeing that combines resist paste, careful brushwork, and layered color to create detailed patterns with fine white outlines and protected design areas. The technique became influential in the late seventeenth century when the Kyoto artist Miyazaki Yuzen introduced new designs and a more expressive approach to textile decoration. His method replaced earlier styles that relied mainly on embroidery and tie dye, and it opened the way for more complex imagery. In the twentieth century artists expanded the process by using raw rubber and wax as additional forms of resist, allowing even greater control of color. Creating a yuzen dyed fabric involves washing, steaming, outlining the design, applying paste to protect the pattern, brushing dyes onto the motifs, setting the colors with steam, covering the decorated areas, preparing the background, brushing on the background color, and finishing the cloth through washing and final steaming before it is sewn into a garment.

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