Nara Sarashi is a hand-woven hemp cloth bleached into pure white. It has been favored by people since the ancient times for its cool touch and perspiration-repellency. The craft is designated as a Traditional Craft Product by Nara Pref. Although the origin of Nara Sarashi goes back to the age of Kojiki (the Records of Ancient Matters), it only became widely known in the early Edo period. In the preceding Azuchi-Momoyama period, a master craftsman named Seishiro Kiyosumi had succeeded in improving bleaching technique, which gave this craft a growing popularity. Until then Nara Sarashi had been mainly used for the clothing of monks and priests, but later in the Edo period it began to be used for hakama (a skirt-like pants worn on a formal occasion) or summer kimono for samurai (warriors) and came to be known all over the nation. The Tokugawa Shogunate also favored this cloth and selected it as one of the purveyance supplies for the government. Because of its clean and elegant texture, it has been used for the costumes of traditional performing art including Kyogen. Presently, Nara Sarashi is used for chakin (tea ceremony cloth) as well as for Noren curtains and tablecloths with the patterns designed from the treasures at Shosoin (the Imperial Repository).