"One of the characteristics of Japanese textile design is the employment of paper stencils for pattern dying. Stencils offer several advantages over hand-drawn designs: the same stencil can be applied any number of times on the same fabric to produce a continuous design, or a stencil can be reused on several different textiles, making efficient use of a costly material... The stncil itself is creatd by carving a pattern on the layered paper, with the occasional use of thread for additional support, as can be seen in the 'waves of the blue sea' stencil (top, right). The brown color of this stencil is the result of the application of persimmon juice."

From: Hibi Sadao. The Colors of Japan. New York: Kodansha International, 2000; 45.