A long narrow stiff double-sided obi composed of one width folded in half of a complex-woven nishiki fabric (polychrome figured silk with wefts of silk and metal-leafed paper strips wrapped around a silk or cotton thread core). The pattern on the obverse consists of layered hi-ogi or imperial fans of Heian era, decorated noble’s carts (gosho-guruma), auspicious plants and flowers (prunus blossoms, peonies, chrysanthemum), and the ancient textile pattern of squares and octagons called "shokkou-mon" as well as paired cranes. These designs are created by supplementary wefts of red, blue, orange-gold, white, black, purple, lt. blue, dark blue, flat gilded gold paper and gilded paper wrapped around silk or cotton core threads on an off-white ground. On the reverse the pattern features Ho-o birds (a Japanese variation of the phoenix). The obi has been opened along one long and one short edge. The lining, which would have stiffened the obi even more, has been removed.