Kesa, Buddhist Priest Mantle

Buddhist vows of poverty contributed to the development of these mantles. Recycling old and worn fabrics, they are patchworks of textile fragments that create new designs, incorporating squares of brocade into a large rectangle with squares of a different brocade inserted into the design in the four corners. The new design ends up being different from the original design of the material.Ultimately those emblems of humility ended up being quite sumptuous themselves.This particular kesa is comprised of fragments of one brocade only and it features peonies and butterflies against dark blue background.