| Lit. cloud design. A broad classification of the
various designs used to represent clouds. It is known throughout Asia, and after
water designs forms the most frequently employed design. It entered Japan through
China in the Nara period, when the design was characterized by long trailing tails,
known as the tenpyoumon 天平文. It was often combined with designs of good
fortune *kisshoumon 吉祥文,
such as the phoenix *houou
鳳凰, *kirin 麒麟, or dragon *ryuu
龍. In the Heian period many types pf unmon belonging to the category of
ancient court designs known as *yuusoku
mon'you 有職文様 were developed, including; boiling clouds
kumotatewaku 雲立湧, moving clouds unkyorai 雲去来, and auspicious
cloudszuiun 瑞雲, rain clouds amegumo 雨雲, and ascending
clouds noborigumo 上雲. From the middle ages the misumon 御簾文
was used in the applied arts and picture scrolls *emaki
絵巻 to obscure portions of a depicted landscape or building, thus lending the scene
a distinct atmosphere. Later, more complicated reishiun 霊芝雲 were introduced
to Japan as Chinese textiles. In the Edo period , pictures or patterns were sometimes
divided into cloud-shaped areas arranged upon a larger picture. This practice
was known as kumotori 雲取 or kasumitori 霞取 and was used especially
for dyed fabrics. |
