Chintz cloth produced for the Japanese market, sarasa cloth was used to make obi (waistband) and kosode (robe) linings during the Edo period (1615–1868) in Japan. The name may have derived from the Japanese word for chintz, or the Gujarati saras, meaning “beautiful.” The cloth is believed to have been introduced to Japan as a trade textile by the Dutch during the Muromachi period (1336–1573). In 1606, a trading post was set up in Petapoli, southwest of Machilipatnam, following which sarasa cloth began to be exported to Thailand, Indonesia and Japan.

Sarasa cotton is dyed with five colours — dark red, indigo, green, yellow and brown — derived from natural and mineral sources. The processes used to dye the cloth include mordant painting and wax resist-dyeing, as well as hand- and block-printing using the kalamkari technique.

Sarasas feature motifs and designs associated with Japanese culture, such as the lotus and the wheel, which are emblematic of Japanese Buddhist iconography. Chrysanthemums, pomegranates, squirrels, magpies and tortoise-shells were also depicted, along with floral arabesques with patterns in gold leaf.

One of the earliest uses of Indian sarasa in Japan was in Japanese warrior jackets from the Edo period, known as hoari. These garments featured designs such as repetitive roundels and sawtooth hem-line patterns, which are found in sarongs from Indonesia. It was also tailored to create shifuku (pouches for tea caddies), furoshiki (square cloth to wrap implements), tobacco pouches, display mats and scroll-box covers. There is also some evidence of the sarasa being used to make undergarments, sashes and handkerchiefs. It was largely considered a precious cloth, and small fragments of sarasa were mounted in sample books known as meibutsugire (famed fabrics).