Katagami stencil with a pattern of repeating squares containing dragon roundels, military fans and Japanese ideographs

Katagami stencil with a pattern of repeating squares containing dragon roundels, military fans and Japanese ideographs. The military fan (gumbai uchiwa ) was used to to direct troops in battle in the feudal period, later it was used to indicate the winner of sumo wrestling matches and became associated with Marishiten, a war god. A fine mesh of supporting threads made of silk is sandwiched between two layers of this stencil. This stencil is of the ch?ban size class (determined by the repeat length).