Matoi Motif
date: label: Date
content: mid 18th - early 19th century
notes: label: Catalogue Status
content: Research in Progress
label: Description
content: In Japan, firefighters would use a unit called a matoi to put out fires. Each firehouse would have a unique matoi. This stencil represents team four. Edo is also known as the city of fires since houses were built from timber and paper. There were five hundred major fires known between 1951 and 1867. Matoi is a popular motif in ukiyo-e prints from the nineteenth century.
place: label: made in
content: Japan
setName: label: See more items in
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collection
label: See more items in
content: Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design Department
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Helen Snyder
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 1976-103-70
objectType: label: Type
content: textile designs
label: Object Name
content: Katagami
label: Type
content: Katagami
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Mulberry paper (kozo washi) treated with fermented persimmon tannin (kakishibu), and silk threads (itoire)