The Textile Museum in Washington D.C. is hosting a new exhibit.  Woven Treasures of Japan's Tawaraya Workshop will run March 23 through August 12, 2012. 

Japan has a remarkably refined textile tradition, and for centuries the Japanese have admired the silks produced in the Nishijin neighborhood of Kyoto as the epitome of beauty and opulence.

Tawaraya is one of Nishijin’s oldest and most illustrious workshops. The exhibit was organized with the help of Mr. Hyoji Kitagaway, the 18th generation head of the Tawaraya, himself designated as a Living National Treasure.

Woven Treasures will feature some of the sumptuous pieces created in the Tawaraya workshop, its history stretching back over 500 years.

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(Uchigi (ceremonial court robe) 

21st century
Silk, woven in the futae-orimono technique
Courtesy of Hyoji Kitagawa)

(Photo: The Textile Museum)