“This design is a traditional motif of scissors and roses,” Maki Yamamoto says, pointing to an obi that has caught my eye at her pop-up shop and exhibition in Tokyo’s Azabu Hills complex. “Roses once ...

Picture foam-flecked sea waves, springtime peach blossoms, leafy bamboo and geometric chrysanthemums: these are among the dozens of motifs that make up some 20,000 traditional obi patterns in the ...