National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

Funzou-e (lit. excrement-sweeping clothes) is a kind of Buddhist kesa robe made with discarded rags. The rags are washed clean, put on top of one another, and sewn together into a robe. This piece is made with irregularly shaped pieces of hemp cloth of a variety of colors put one on top of another, sewn together by fine quilting. It had a navy blue frame around the four sides, but the large part of it is lost. However, thanks to the surviving part of the frame, we know the initial form of the funzou-e, a fact that adds a special value to the piece.
Different from funzou-e made with silk, such as N-33, this piece uses a more modest material, i.e., hemp, and its colors are faded. Because of these, this one does look made with discarded old rags, and thereby appears to represent the true meaning of funzou-e. There is a word "Shoutoku-taishi Funzou-e" (Prince regent Shoutoku's founzou-e) written with sumi on the box originally storing this funzou-e.