marumon　丸文

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

A circular, decorative design used either as a single unit or repeated to create patterns for textiles and family crests. A type of *yuusoku mon'you 有職文様 . In the Nara period, circular designs based on Chinese and Middle Eastern designs were called enmon 円文. During the Heian period, most were simplified or adapted to resemble flora and fauna native to Japan and came to be called marumon. The motif was widely used by all levels of society. From around the 14c, the military classes frequently used it in bolder variations. From the 15c, marumon in variations called monzukushi 紋尽 were frequently used for woven textiles, especially *kosode 小袖 robes and *nou 能 costumes. Often encountered variations of the motif include: 1　*mukaimon 向い文. 2　fusenryou 浮線綾 (also called ukiorimono 浮織物 or fusechou-no-maru 臥蝶の丸) which was originally termed ukiori-no-aya 浮織の綾, in description of the floating or over, uki 浮 threads of textiles. Fusenryou came to designate the circular motifs consisting of one central floral motif which radiates out in four directions to often resemble four butterflies. 3　yatsufuji 八ツ藤 (eight wisteria blossoms), also called fuji-no-maru 藤の丸 (wisteria medallion), which consists of a floral center with blossoms radiating out on the axes.

fusenchou 浮線蝶 　 yatsufujimaru 八ツ藤丸

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