This is a Japanese "katagami" paper stencil, made of layers of mulberry paper laminated together and treated with kakishibu--persimmon tannin--that lends durability and water resistence. Paper stencil like this were traditionally used for patterning textiles, especially kimono fabric, using a resist-dyeing process called katazome. I am not at all an expert but find them quite beautiful things, and really love the (all handcut) pattern on this one, with flying cranes amid gusts of wind, and what I believe are branches of pine needles. And this appears to be a fairly old one, 19th century I would guess, with red inked chop stamps (hanko) visible upon looking closely at the front side, and black ink writing all along the left margin on the reverse. The paper is stiff but also a bit brittle, with. losses along the sides as evident--but not to the stencil area itself. (One can understand the construction of it best from looking at the reverse side--as documented.) The first photo shows the front, laid flat against white paper, but the next few show it held up with light coming in from behind--so lovely.
16 3/4" x 12 3/8" (widest). Losses along edges as evident but no loss to the stencil area. One wants to be gentle handing it as paper is a bit brittle.
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