Footwear
Tabi
Tabi
are split-toed socks worn indoors. When going outdoors, zori, traditional
Japanese sandals
are worn with tabi.
Zori
Zori
is a traditional footwear for the use with kimono. It has a flat sole and a clog
thong. There are cloth, leather and vinyl zori and some has gold silk brocade to
make a nice match with kimono.
Geta
Geta
is a traditional wooden clogs worn with casual Japanese-style attire as
yukata.
The woods used are paulownia, cedar, cypress and oak.
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Fukuro Obi
Fukuro Obi is very similar to Maru Obi in length and width, but only one side has pattern. Only visible part when worn with kimono is pattered.
And usually the patterned side sixty percent is patterned while the rest part has no patterns. It is also used in formal or semi-formal occasion.
*You can make use of the section by folding or gathering.
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Furisode
Furisodoe is the most formal kimono for unmarried women. The characteristics of furisode is its long flowing sleeves. Among all kimono, it has most decorative patterns using intricate embroidering or elaborate work of hand paintings. Kimono wearers are decreasing, but many women wear furisode and attend the Coming-of-Age Day ceremony when they have turned 20.
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Hakama
hakama is a long pleated loose-fitting
trousers. usually worn over kimono to make a formal ensemble for men.
Hanahaba Obi
Hanhaba Obi, the half the width obi is very much in demand. There are some young Japanese Kimono wearers recently and they love this kind of obi ,because it is easy to tie and invent new bows. We know many Japanese women who cannot tie obi except Hanhaba Obi. The size is ideal for placing on mantels, tieing around flower pots or vases and wall hanging. With Hanhaba Obi, you can experiment any kind of decor in your house.
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Homongi
`Homon' means `to visit' and `gi' is a
`wear'. It's a formal wear both married and unmarried women. It can be worn at
the parties or when calling on somebody. It's characterized by colorful designs
running continuously over the seams. The length of the sleeves varies, unmarried
women wear with longer sleeves. Homongi is usually worn with the
double-folded(fukuro) obi with matching obi-age(bustle sash) and obi-jime(a
tieng cord).
Iromuji
Iromuji is one- color kimono made of satin, crepe
or tumugi weaving. It is worn by both married and unmarried women. It may be
worn as a formal wear when it has a single crest attached in the back.
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Irotomesode
It is a formal kimono same as kurotomesode but the base is not black but beautiful light colors. It's the second most formal kimono for married women. It also has five family crests and have more festive air and worn at formal parties or gatherings.
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Kasuri
Known as a Japanese ikat, kasuri is one of
the popular designs of kimono. The basic Kasuri patterns are cross and paralle
cross designs. There are more complex kasuri known as the pictorial kasuri,
where various Japanese disign such as pines, bamboo, plum blossoms, cranes,
tortoises.
Kasuri weaving begins by pre-dyeing of thread. Bundles of thread
are wrapped with cotton thread, so that certain sections of the bundles are dyed
and others are not. The part of the reserved area get irregular bleeding
naturall and this causes interestingy effect on Kasuri weaving. Once the thread
is dyed and set, the bundles are untied.
Notable examples of these are made
in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kurume-gasuri; Ehime Prefecture, Iyo-gasuri; and Okinawa
Prefecture, Ryukyu-gasuri.
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Komon
Komon kimono is the
kind widely worn in town or visiting people. Small delicate patternes are
equally distributed throughout the kimono. Those patterns are printed from
woodblocks or dyed using stencils.
Kurotomesode
Kurotomesode is a most formal
kimono for married women. It is black and has five family crests in white and
usually has gorgeous and coloful patternes floating on the bottom. The silk
white collar undergarment is worn under kurotomesode and makes the beautiful
neckline with the contrast of white and black. It is worn when attending the
relative members weddings.
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Maru Obi
Maru Obi tend to be made of the finest brocade, elegant and most formal . They are fully patterned on both sides and usually most expensive. It's length is about 4m(4 1/4ya) and
the width is 30cm(12inch).
*Either end can be short or trail section
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Meisen
The "meisen" style silk kimono was the most
popular garment at the beginning of the Showa era. It is very different from
fancy Furisode or other formal kimono, but this is one of the kimono which
people wore everyday at home. The people over 60 years old feel so nostalgic
seeing this kimono. The principal characteristic of meisen is its interesting
surface decoration made by pre-dyed threads. As the fabric is woven the surface
decoration appears as a shimmering, soft-edged pattern. The technique is related
to earlier methods kasuri (ikat), in which threads are resisted before dyeing
and weaving, and e-gasuri ("picture-ikat"), a Japanese innovation in which
threads are resisted, rather than direct-dyed, with the use of a
stencil.
Because of the events such as World War I and the Kanto earthquake(
1923 ) there was an intensified demand for silk garments, and as the result, by
the beginning of the Showa period, the production and popularity of meisen
kimono was at its height. Meisen kimono were affordable, durable, smart attire
for everyday wear loved by everyone.
miyamairi
About thirty days after a
child is born, it is taken to a Shintoshrine for its first shrine visit, called
`miyamairi'. Mother or a grandmother holds the baby and covers him up with this
kimono and ties the cord around her neck. So the baby doesn't really `wear' the
kimono as you can see in the picture.
The prayer is offered to wish their
growth and bright future. The grandparents and relatives come to congratulate
them and tucks some gift money between that tieng cord and kimono. It is the
most proud moment for the parents!
The boys kimono usually has more gold and
the symbols of congratulations such as pine trees, a hawk and big hammer which
is supposed to produce good things are used.
A bay girl's kimono has flowery
pattern with bivrant colors.
Boy' s kimono somehow look more decorative. It
may be beacuse they consider a boy as an inheritor of the family.
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Michiyuki
Michiyuki is very similer to haori jacket, except
the square color in the front.
Mofuku
Mofuku is a mourning wear with black silk fabric with no patterns. It has five mon(family crests)
and the obi to go with mofuku should be black and so are the foot wear.
Mon (Crests)
Mon is a family crest handed down through the generations. Most mon designs are based either on flowers or geometrical designs. However, a few are based on the animals of the zodiac, birds, or butterflies. Many of the popular mon are derived from ones once used by the aristocracy, particularly those used by members of the royal family. Most of the black formal haori, kimono or children's celemonial kimono has those crests in white.
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Nagoya Obi
Nagoya Obi has a unique asymetrical shape with part of it folded and stitched.
Some are fully patterned and some are sixty percent patterned. The length is a bit shorter, 314-345cm(123-136") than other two obis ( width - 12.2" ). There are various designs for Nagoya Obi.
It is used for mostly young or unmarried women. You can unstitch the seam and use just like other obi, but this shape can easily make an interesting angle on the chest, cofee table and other furniture.
*You can cut the patterned part if it is only sixty percent patterned. It will be suitable for placing on a smaller chest or table
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Obi-jime
Obi-jime is a cord tied at the front of the obi.
It makes a beutiful accent both for obi and kimono. The cords are either braided
or sewn, some are round and others are flat and usually have tassels at the
bothe ends. The materials are silk, satin or gold brocade. Not only for wearing
kimono, obi-jime can also be used to tie obi when they are used as a table
runner or wall hanging.
Ro
Ro is an extremely light weight thin kimono worn during July and August.
It is made of sheer silk which looks striped. Sha is also the representative
of sheer summer kimono which looks just like ro, but the weaving is not
stripe.
Shibori (Tie-Dye)
Shibori is a type of resist dyeing in which certain areas on the cloth are reserved from dyeing by binding dots, stiching, or clamping and squeezing the cloth between boards. Different from other dyeing techniques, shibori creates a raised and wrinkled surface on the finished work.
Shibori may be machine-made or hand-made. The latter demands a high price becauce it is such an elaborate and intricate work. The most well-known example is the polka dot pattern called kanokoshibori . It is literally `fawnspots" because it looks like the spots on fawn's back. Each dot has to be tied tightly with thread.
Today the exacting work of shibori dyeing is carried out in the Arimatsu Narumi area of Aichi Prefecture and in part of Kyoto Prefecture.
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Shichi-go-san
Shichi-go-san is
seven-five-three in Japanese.
It is a gala day for children of three, five and seven years of age. On Novembr 15, parents take their childeren to Shintoshirine to offer the prayer for children's growth. The ages of three and five for boys and three and seven for girls are celebrated. on that day, the children are dressed up in a gala kimono or fancy clothes to go to the shirines. There, they are given thousand year candy, which is long and thin in the paper bags with the pictures of crane and turtles. Cranes and turtles are the symbols of longevity.
Tsukesage
Tsukesage is worn at
either formal or informal occasions and refers to the way in which the patterns
are dyed.The patterns of hemline go upward and meet at the top of the shoulders
and the patterns on the sleeves also are the same. As a formal wear, it should
have a crest on the back.
Tsumugi
Tsumugi originated with farmers who made use of
cocoons left over after they had sold their best silk to market.They collected
the floss from the cocoons, spin(tsumugi) it by hand into thread and weaved
kimono for themselves.
Stripes, checks and the splash pattern kasuri are the
typical designs for Tsumugi.
Yuki, Oshima,Kumejima and Tokamachi are well
known for Tsumugi
Yukata
Yukata is a summer
Kimono, made with cotton with no lining. Yukata is still loved and worn,
especially when you stay at Japanese hot spring resort or hotels. It is roomy
and cool relaxing wear. At summer festivals, people enjoy bon-dance or fireworks
in yukata and a fan in the hand.
The most traditional designs are simple navy blue patterns on white base or white patterns on navy blue base. Young people enjoy yukata with both traditional designs and modern designs by young designers.
Yuzen
Yuzen is one of the most famous kind of dyeing
technique of Kimono. The characteristics of "yuzen" are its hand paintings and
picturesque patterns. The sublime beauty of Yuzen still catches the heart of
everyone.
There are two main techniques of Yuzen: "tegaki-yuzen" (hand
painted) and "kata-yuzen" (printed). Yuzen dyeing techniques use paste as the
resist for dyeing the pattern. After the pattern is first sketched on the cloth
using a juice squeezed from spiderworts, the paste is applied over this. Then,
colors are added to the pattern according to the dye and pigment. Next, the
completed pattern is covered with paste and the dye is added by a brush. After
the colors are fixed, the paste is removed by waving the cloth in the running
water. The beautiful patterns remain perfectly on the cloth. At the Kamo River
in Kyoto every year in August, you can see many Yuzen artisans washing the rolls
of the painted cloth in the running water. It is a beautiful scenery of Kyoto in
August. Some of the various styles of "yuzen" were also developed in different
regions:
"Kaga-yuzen" (Kaga . Kanazawa) "Kyo-yuzen" (Kyoto)
"Tokamachi-yuzen" (Tokamachi . Niigata) "Nagoya-yuzen" (Nagoya)
More about haori
Haori is a lightweight
coat worn over kimono. It was used as a jacket or to prevent the kimono from
becoming soiled and wet. It isn't meant to close in front, so you can just put
on as a jacket. Men's black haori can be worn just as a blazer for woman. It
matches perfectly with black pants or skirt.
For men, it is regarded as an
essential kimono attire along with the hakama, the long pleated loose-fitting
trousers. Black haori and hakama make the most formal ceremonial ensemble. Men's
haori often have unique pictures, woven, painted or printed on their linings.
The mtotifs have a great variety, from the Noh play to animals. You can even
find the pictures with a militaristic tone. Both men's and women's haori can be
worn as a jacket or blazer and also men's haori can be excellent for wall
hanging with the inside out.
The black haori made of silk or crepe and
bearing a single family crest at the back mid seam is called the kuro montsuki
haori. It is worn for ceremonies.