This listing is for a vintage Japanese nagoya style obi from the Fuller Collection. See below for details on this exceptional group of Japanese textiles.

Nagoya obi are notoriously difficult to display because of their unusual shape - folded over for two-thirds of the length where it would be wound around the waist. But the Fuller Collection owners developed a unique way to display them - cleverly tacking the point of the fold to the narrow section and adding a copper tube to support the hanging cording - to create the long display shown in the photos.

This obi features an elaborately woven scene of a courtesan of the Edo Period, with her long, flowing hair and billowing kimono. The colors are mottled with gives a soft, ethereal, almost water-color effect to the design.

Excellent condition, silk, and within the typical nagoya measurements: approximately11 feet long in total and 14 in wide. As shown, the display length is approximately 55 inches.

The Fuller Collection - originally over 2000 pieces - was the passion and pride of Richard Fuller of Chicago, IL and Wabasha, MN. Richard served as a US Marine in post-war Japan, and there began his love of and appreciation for vintage Japanese kimono and obi. Richard saw that the mastery and artisanship of traditional Japanese textile techniques was waning - threatening to die out all together - which sparked his mission to promote this industry and preserve what he could.

Together with his wife Janith, Richard invested in thousands of kimono and obi, opening Wind Whisper West, a kimono Gallery in Wabasha in 2003. Most of the collection was sold there but several hundred pieces remain. Richard passed in 2020, and Janith has consigned the remainder of the collection to Kyoto Kimono to offer through our website. We are honored and proud to be stewarding the Fuller Collection as each piece finds its new home and continues to bring wonder and beauty to admirers around the world.