Sometimes found with the name fundoutsunagi, this is a design that dates at least to the Nara period (645-794), like the shippō design. It has been used in woven textiles such as twills and brocades, along with dyed textiles and sashiko. I have tried this one successfully using ori-nui shibori (stitched resist) and am currently working on a piece of linen to execute it in awase-nui shibori (stitched resist that stitches through two parallel folds of cloth to produce a pocket between them—commonly used to execute a shippō design element).

The design and the name come from the shape of one of the traditional counterweights used on scales in Japan. Fundo literally means “weight” and tsunagi means “link”. I have also seen shippō written as shippō-tsunagi.

fundo-tsunagi on indigo
(12×12 pixels)

fundo-tsunagi with transparent background
(12×12 pixel)

fundo-tsunagi on indigo
(24×24 pixels)

fundo-tsunagi with transparent background
(24×24 pixel)

fundo-tsunagi with indigo background
(48×48 pixel)

fundo-tsunagi with transparent background
(48×48 pixel)

fundo-tsunagi with indigo background
(96×96 pixel)

fundo-tsunagi with transparent background
(96×96 pixel)

two tone grey fundo-tsunagi background pattern
(96×96 pixel)

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