Several Chinese and Flemish tapestries were brought to Japan through the maritime silk road. These pieces were altered into hangings and used as decorations on floats in the Gion festival in Kyoto and other festivals in the vicinity of Kyoto. This presentation will clarify the influence of these foreign tapestries on the Japanese tapestries
Chinese tapestries and the Japanese copies
Tapestries preserved in the Gion festival indicate that the Japanese copies of the Chinese tapestries were produced around the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. The comparison of the Japanese copies and the Chinese originals in the Gion festival is important, as it will clarify the earliest stage of the Japanese tapestries. Although some discussions are available, little research has been done, as it is difficult to distinguish the Japanese copies from the Chinese originals. In this presentation, Zoho gione saiki (hereafter, Zoho) will be used as a guideline to
distinguish the Japanese copies from the Chinese originals.
According to Zoho, the outer back hanging depicting hundred children in the Kuronushi-yama float is the Chinese production. It can be inferred from inscriptions that it was brought to Japan sometimes before 1644 through 1700. Zoho also shows that the outer back hanging of the Kannon-yama float is the Japanese tapestry of the one hundred children. It was produced in or before 1818 according to Kannon-yama donation record.
In these Chinese and Japanese one hundred children tapestries, warps and wefts are silk, and warps are oriented in a vertical direction. It is apparent that the Japanese weavers imitated Chinese materials and weaving techniques as well as the pictorial theme.

European tapestries and the Japanese copies
Four tapestries depicting the Trojan War produced in Flanders are preserved in the Gion festival. One of them has a BB mark, guaranteeing it is from Brabant, Brussels. Another tapestry of this series has the mark of Nicaise Aerts who was active in Brussels from 1580 through 1620. Inscriptions and primary sources indicate that these Flemish tapestries were used as float hangings between 1794 and 1826 in Kyoto. Therefore, these Trojan War tapestries were brought to Japan between 1580 and 1826.
The diary written by Nicolaes Coeckebacker, the chief of the trading factory of the Netherlands East India Company (VOC) in Hirado, Japan, shows that the Netherlandish carpet depicting story of Rebecca was brought to Japan as a diplomatic gift to the Shogun by the VOC in 1633. And the Flemish or Netherlandish tapestry in Gion festival has the same pictorial theme as in this diary. Therefore, the Trojan War tapestries produced in the southern Netherlands were also likely given by the VOC as diplomatic gifts to the Shogun and other influential Japanese. This possibility can be supported by the facts that some of the Trojan War tapestries once were kept in the Tokugawa Shogunate temple and in the Maeda Daimyo family who had a strong influence on the Shogunate.
Four Japanese tapestries imitating Flemish productions remain in festivals in and around Kyoto. One of them is the outer back hanging of human figure design in the Aburatenjin-yama district. According to Zoho, it was produced in Japan in 1815. This piece includes borders which are almost the same as the Trojan war tapestries. So, it can be inferred that a European tapestry with the same design once existed, and the Aburatenjin-yama piece was produced after that.
In the Flemish piece of the Trojan war in the Hakurakuten-yama district, warps and wefts are wool, and warps are oriented horizontally. The same features can be found in the Japanese tapestry of similar design in the Kotobuki-yama district.

Japanese tapestries depicting Japanese pictorial themes
In the early 19th century, the Japanese started to create their own expressions using tapestries. Four tapestries of Urade-yama district depict four famous scenes of the Edo period. Record of sacred utensils of Gion festival Urade-yama indicates that Matsushima was woven by Monya-jirobei, Itsukushima by Ikoma (1831), Amanohashidate by Monyajirobei, and Mt. Fuji by Itoya-hikobei. The lost cartoon of Matsushima was discovered during my research. This cartoon includes the name of the painter, Beigan Okugawa, who was not the major painter, but one of the anonymous cartoon painters. These pieces are precious as the names of the cartoonist and weavers as well as the production year are known.
In these tapestries, warps and wefts are silk, and warp orientation is vertical. Their technical features indicate that the Japanese chose Chinese tapestries as the technical foundation for their own expressions.

Conclusion
The Japanese began to copy the Chinese tapestries in the 18th century, and the Flemish tapestries in the first half of the 19th century. However, it was difficult to distinguish the Japanese copies from the Chinese and the Flemish originals. In order to solve this problem, Zoho was used as a guideline to distinguish the Japanese copies from the foreign originals.
The research results indicate the following facts: The stylizations of both the Chinese and the Japanese one hundred children tapestries are quite similar. There is the possibility that the difference between the Japanese copies and the Chinese originals lies in make-up of threads. However, this aspect should be analyzed further with larger numbers of specimens. The Flemish and the Japanese human figure tapestries show many differences in stylization. The most obvious feature is awkward pictorial details in the Japanese copies.
In order to express their own pictorial themes, the Japanese chose the Chinese tapestries over the Flemish tapestries for technical foundation. The Japanese imitated and selectively absorbed the Chinese and the Flemish tapestries which were brought to Japan through the maritime silk road. These foreign tapestries provided the foundation for further development of the Japanese tapestry creations in the late 19th through the 20th centuries.