The Kyoto-based publisher Suiho Matsumura (Uchida Art Books) issued our Collection of Kimono Patterns, Old and New, Worn in the Emperor's Residence in 1933. To free Japan from its feudal past, the 1868 Meiji Restoration returned to an Imperial system of government and, looking to the United States and Europe for inspiration, the Japanese began to modernize aspects of their society. As a result, professional classes adopted Western attire, the business sector and the military adopted Western models, and the country's traditional isolationism gave way to a Western style imperialist foreign policy. As these new winds were blowing from the West, however, Japan simultaneously experienced a renaissance of traditional arts, manners and Shinto ancestor worship which also fostered a deification of the emperor. Our silk, hand-bound folio with black-and-white kimono designs laid down on double-leaved custom paper is almost an art form itself. It satisfied the newly awakened Japanese fascination with kimonos, both as attire and an ancient art form of great beauty, as well as intense interest in the now deified Emperor and his family living in a world apart behind the walls of the Imperial palaces. Uchida Art Books still operates in Kyoto, issuing high quality titles. Condition: Very good with minor wear and foxing. Dimensions. 9.5" x 13.25".