Decision-Making Procedure for the Reproduction of Ancient Japanese Braids

摘要

Ancient textiles preserved in Japan for more than 1000 years show marked deterioration and their original forms are largely missing. However, unlike other cultural artifacts such as paintings, individual experts are still undertaking reproductions of ancient textiles. The aim of this study is to clarify the decision-making procedure through which an expert can analyze the original ancient braiding structures. The analysis focuses on important parameters including the number of ribs, their interactions with the neighbor ribs (surpass or underpass) and thread direction at the fringes. Through a questionnaire survey, it was found that these parameters allow the expert to deduce the original braided structure. The reproduction works of the expert were also observed using an eye tracking device used to demonstrate how and what the expert mainly focused on during the analysis of the specimen. A positive correlation was found between the results of the questionnaire survey and the real eye movements of the expert.