If you’ve ever visited an art museum and found yourself looking as closely at the mountings of beautiful hanging scroll paintings as the works of art themselves, then we’ve found the procrastination tool for you!
The Kyoto Mounting Society 京都表具協同組合 has created a digital interface known as the Hanging Scroll Online Simulator 掛け軸オンラインシミュレーター. From their virtual creation page you can choose formats, colors, patterns, fabric types, and even model paintings to create (and download!) your own virtual hanging scroll.
Art historians, especially, will likely enjoy nerding out over being able to peruse the technical vocabulary and color labels for the components of the scroll, but even if your Japanese is limited, it’s a lot of fun to explore the different design possibilities! Be sure to check it out.