Silk Gauze Monk’s Robe

As Buddhist monks were poor and existed on donations, a tradition developed for their garments. Recycling old, donated material , their capes are made of small rectangles that are sewn together to form a new large rectangle where the old graphics are used to create new design. Eventually this tradition that originated out of poverty developed to use sumptuous fabrics to create quite fabulous garments that are called Kesas.

Case in point, this Kesa, made of light green silk gauze which is decorated in the Kinran technique which is gold paper-based weft brocading.