This outer robe is decorated with various motifs, including the evergreen mandarin tree (tachibana) executed in tie-dye (shibori) on a patterned black silk damask ground, furthermore ornamented with embroidery and gold thread couching.
This outer robe may have been worn at a marriage ceremony on top of a wedding kimono; this seems indicated by some of the decorative designs, as for instance the pairs of folded-paper butterflies (male and female !).
Metropolitan Museum of Art online catalogue (retrieved 14 September 2016).
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