The was a type of short-sleeved Japanese garment, and the direct predecessor of the

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn Garment collars in hanfu#Youren (right lapel), left side wrapped over ri ...

. Though its component parts directly parallel those of the kimono, its proportions differed, typically having a wider body, a longer collar and narrower sleeves. The sleeves of the were typically sewn to the body entirely, and often featured heavily rounded outer edges. The was worn in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

as common, everyday dress from roughly the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

(1185–1333) until the latter years of the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

(1603–1867), at which a point its proportions had diverged to resemble those of modern-day kimono; it was also at this time that the term ''kimono'', meaning "thing to wear on the shoulders", first came into use when referring to the garment formerly known as the .

History

Originating in the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

as an undergarment for both men and women, the was a plain white garment, typically made of

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

, worn directly next to the skin. Both men and women wore layered, wrap-fronted, wide-sleeved robes on top of the , with the style of layering worn by women of the Imperial Japanese courtknown as the , literally "twelve layers"featuring a greater number of robes than were seen on men. The would also be worn as sleeping wear alongside a pair of . Following dress edicts designed to decrease the number of layered garments worn at court, the gradually became outerwear from roughly the

onwards. Styles of wearing the such as layering two and wearing the uppermost robe stripped off from the shouldersbecame popular, alongside a number of newly-developed textile decoration techniques, such as

dyeing Dyeing is the application of dyes or pigments on textile materials such as fibers, yarns, and fabrics with the goal of achieving color with desired color fastness. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular ...

and

embroidery Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...

, used to decorate the garment. Initially undyed, the dyed came in the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

, peaked in popularity in the

Momoyama period Momoyama may refer to: History *Azuchi–Momoyama period, the final phase of the Sengoku period in Japanese history 1568–1600 People * Ion Momoyama, Japanese singer and voice actor * Momoyama Kenichi (1909–1991), Korean prince and cavalry offi ...

, and faded out in the Keicho period and

. Methods used for decoration included ("Chinese textile") silk fabrics, which mimicked embroidery through the use of floating silk yarns and gilt-paper strips, and the elaborate technique of combination dyework and embroidery, until both were restrained by

sumptuary laws Sumptuary laws (from Latin ) are laws that regulate consumption. '' Black's Law Dictionary'' defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditures for apparel, food, furnitu ...

and the development of . The 's proportionsa wide body and comparatively narrow sleevesgradually evened out over time, before coming to resemble those of a modern kimono around the Edo period. The sleeves on some women's also got longer and began to detach from the body below the shoulder, a style allowing the to become wider over time.

Components

The component parts of a are roughly similar to those of a kimono, with the only major differences being the proportions of each aspect in comparison to those of a modern kimono. The width of the loom, and hence the (fabric bolt) used for was significantly larger than that for , and the sleeves and collar were also cut and hemmed to different widths. In the

Keichō was a after '' Bunroku'' and before '' Genna''. This period spanned from October 1596 to July 1615. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1596 : The era name was changed to ''Keichō'' to mark the passing of various natural disaste ...

period (1596–1615, just before the

), the width of the fabric bolt used for a was about , and the sleeves were made of one-half width. The (cuff opening) was narrow, the (width of the neck opening) was narrow, the (collar length) was long, and the was short. See "Woman of the upper class in kosode (=short-sleeved kimono) of Keicho period" under th
"Edo" section
for associated picture *the sleeves of a were comparatively short in both length and width, being for the most part attached to the body down the entire length, with a somewhat rounded edge below the wrist opening of each sleeve. *the body panels for the were much wider in proportion, creating a distinctive dropped-shoulder appearance. *the collar of the was much wider than is seen on modern kimono, and was also relatively longer, forming a longer, shallower angle along the . * the overlapping front panels. The , due to the length and low placement of the collar, had a far more triangular appearance than the irregular quadrilateral on modern kimono; this gave the a sloping, low-waisted appearance.

Gallery

File:Sleeve stylized kosode edo wide shoulder short sleeve.png, alt=A diagram of a person wearing a wrapped-front robe with a wide body and narrow (in horizontal width) sleeves entirely sewn to the body., The short sleeve and wide shoulder popular in the

and early

File:Sleeve stylized kosode 1.png, alt=A diagram of a person wearing a wrapped-front robe with a wide body and comparatively wider sleeves than the previous diagram, also entirely sewn to the body., A wider sleeve. File:染分紗綾地蜘蛛海松貝模様小袖-Robe (Kosode) with Shells and Sea Grasses MET DP247810.jpg, The unfolded width of this 's collar is similar to the length of its sleeves. File:Kosode with yuzen dyeing inside fan and snowflake shapes, 1 of 2, Edo period, 1700s AD, chirimen crepe - Tokyo National Museum - Tokyo, Japan - DSC09592.jpg, with dyework inside fan and snowflake shapes, 1700s, Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Traditional Arts and Crafts File:Kosode, late 18th century, Honolulu Museum of Art.JPG, for a woman, late 18th century,

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...

File:白縮緬地橘文字模様小袖-Robe_(Kosode)_with_Mandarin_Orange_Tree_and_Auspicious_Characters_MET_2002.325.jpg, with Mandarin orange tree design and auspicious characters, late 18th century,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

File:Khalili Collection of Kimono KX142.jpg, for a woman with design inspired by the ''

Eight Views of Ōmi 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. Etymology English ''eight'', from Old English '', æhta'', Proto-Germanic ''*ahto'' is a direct continuation of Proto-Indo-European '' *oḱtṓ(w)-'', and as such cognate wi ...

'', 1780–1820, Khalili Collection of Kimono File:Khalili_Collection_of_Kimono_KX158.jpg, for a woman showing flowers on rafts, late 19th century, Khalili Collection of Kimono File:Historiallisia kimonotyylejä.jpg, Ways of wearing . Top left: worn as a wrap-front robe; top right: stripped off the shoulders in the style; bottom left: worn as an unbelted robe over another in the style; bottom right: worn over the head in the style. File:Matsuura-Byobu-by-Iwasa-Matabei.png, The worn as outerwear. Note, compared to modern kimono, the wider cut of the body, unisex narrow and shorter sleeves. Matsuura , , Azuchi-Momoyama period.

References

Bibliography

* Gluckman, Dale Carolyn, and Sharon Sadako Takeda, eds. ''When Art Became Fashion: Kosode in Edo-Period Japan''. New York: Weatherhill, 1992. * Kennedy, Alan. ''Japanese Costume: History and Tradition''. New York: Rizzoli, 1990. * ''Kosode: 16th–19th Century Textiles from the Nomura Collection''. New York: Kodansha International, 1985.

External links