Gold brocade. Woven of patterns with gold or silver woof on a plain ground of hiraori 平織 (plain fabric), ayaori 綾織 (twill), or shusu 繻子 (satin). Kinran patterns are made by inserting thin strips of gold-covered thread into the warp of every other row. There are plain-weave gold motifs such as Chinese foliage *karakusamon 唐草文, peony scrolls, chrysanthemums, clematis, dragons, and paulownia. Swatch books of famous fabrics *meibutsugire 名物裂 preserved in temples contain examples of Chinese kinran. It is called ginran 銀襴 (silver brocade) when silver thread is used. There are two kinds of gold or silver threads: hirakinshi 平金糸 (flat gold thread) and yorikinshi 撚金糸 (twisted silk thread with gold). Kinran was brought to Japan from China during the Kamakura period by Zen 禅 monks whose robes were made in Song dynasty kinran. Kinran from this period was used for imperial court dance *bugaku 舞楽 costumes. Yuan and Ming dynasty kinran and ginran were imported widely, given preeminence among meibutsugire and prized in the tea ceremony. In Rokuon Nichiroku 鹿苑日録, it is written that the first Japanese kinran was woven by a Kyoto merchant in 1592. Kinran techniques were adapted in Sakai 堺 (Osaka) and the Nishijin 西陣 district of Kyoto.