clothing patterned with squirrel's foot fern design
Archaic term for a dyeing or textile patterning technique using the fronds of the shinobu fern (squirrel's foot fern) to create a resist-dye pattern on cloth. Often associated with classical Japanese poetry and historical garments.
See also: しのぶ
There is a poem in the Kokinshū that mentions 'shinobuzuri no koromo' (a robe patterned with fern-print).
The verb 忍ぶ means 'to conceal oneself' or 'to endure', and the fern name 忍 (shinobu) is a homophone. The textile term 忍摺り derives from the fern, not directly from the verb, though poetic associations exist.
Standard kanji spelling for this archaic textile term.
Variant without okurigana; also seen in historical contexts.
Alternate kanji using 信夫; less common.
Rare variant of 信夫摺り without okurigana.
From 忍 (shinobu, 'squirrel's foot fern') + 摺り (suri, 'printing/rubbing'), referring to the technique of pressing fern fronds onto fabric to create a resist-dye pattern. The exact historical origin is uncertain, but the term appears in Heian-period literature.