fuutai　風帯

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

A term used for one of the parts of the mounting of a hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物. The fuutai　usually consists of two long narrow strips of cloth sewn to the upper crosspiece *hassou 発装, of the mounting and hung down. Their lengths match the height of the upper portion of the mounting, the tenchi 天地 or *jouge 上下. By their positioning they divide the tenchi vertically into three equal sections. Their width generally will be the same as that of the lower fabric strip *ichimonji 一文字, or perhaps a little wider. Fuutai are generally in pairs, but in the case of narrow mountings, such as the hashirakakushi 柱隠, only one fuutai is used. Formal fuutai are called sagefuutai 垂風帯 or ichimonji fuutai 一文字風帯 because the same high quality cloth is used for both the fuutai and the ichimonji portions of the mounting. They are called chuuberi fuutai 中縁風帯 or chuufuutai 中風帯 if they employ the same cloth used for the central border fabric *chuuberi 中縁. In this case the cloth used is generally not as fine quality as that used for the ichimonji. When the fuutai do not hang loose, and are instead attached to the mounting, they are called oshifuutai 押風帯. The oshifuutai is used in what is called the sou 草, or informal style of mounting. In this case, the cloth used is the same quality as that used for the chuuberi. The name chuufuutai is also used. A chuufuutai is considered more mundane and is used in typical mountings. In cases where a refined sense is sought in a paper mounting, a white oshifuutai is used. Attached to the right and left sides of the lower end of each sagefuutai are cotton or silk threads in the form of small tassels or tufts called tsuyu 露. They are attached from 4.5mm to 6mm above the lower edge of the fuutai and extend to below the edge. In the time of Sen Rikyuu 千利休 (1522-91), these were called tsuyu in general, but more specific designations also came to be used. The small bunches of thread can also be called tsuyu if referring to white threads, hana 花, when the tufts consist of colored thread, and mizu 水 when asagi 浅葱 (*asagi-iro 浅葱色; a kind of light blue with a touch of green) is used. Today, the four colors primarily used for tsuyu are asaasagi 浅々葱 (a lighter asagi), moegi 萌黄 (*moegi-iro 萌黄色; a light yellow-green; a color halfway between blue and yellow), purple/violet and white. Formerly red and koiasagi 濃浅葱 (a darker version of asagi) appear to have also been used. The tone of the tsuyu should harmonize with the style of the painting or calligraphy as well as the cloth used in the mounting. White is most commonly used. The shapes the tsuyu vary; straight, fan-shaped, and round.

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