Modern Kimono designs featuring Kimono and Cranes

The origins of the crane and the kimono stretch back to an old fable from Japan titled "The Crane Wife" . There are many variations of the story but the one most told tells the tale of a poor man who finds an injured crane on his doorstep. He rescues it and nurses it back to health before releasing it. Not long after releasing the crane, a woman appears at his doorstep with whom he falls in love and marries. Recognising the depths of their poverty, his wife suggests weaving kimono out of silk to sell at the local market. She tells him she will weave the kimono if he agrees never to watch her doing so. The Kimono she weaves begin to sell at market and as they lift themselves out of poverty they enjoy the trappings of a comfortable life. But greed takes over him and despite his wifes fading health he asks her to weave more and more Kimono. One day curiosity takes over him and he sneaks into the room where she toils over the Kimono to see how she weaves such beautiful patterns. To his astonishment, he sees at the loom a crane plucking feathers from her own body and weaving them into the loom. The crane, upon seeing him, flies away and never returns. And so the love affair with cranes begins...