Common Motifs: Tachibana

There are a ton of common motifs in Japanese textiles, everything from the expected cherry blossoms to the rather surprising popularity of lobsters. This series will be another reoccurring blog feature here, a quick look at one motif at a time and examples of it.

Today is tachibana 橘, or "mandarin orange". Usually a summer theme, from what I've read, it has the fruit nestled in five leaves, forming an almost star shape at times and easily identifiable once you've seen it a few times.

Detail of fukusa (gift-wrapping/tea ceremony cloth), now with more lobster!

Detail of haori (coat) done in the shibori technique:

Detail of uchikake (wedding kimono):

Tachibana family crest on a furoshiki (carrying cloth), detail:

Images copyright Ichiroya and used with permission.