< > During the Edo era, the kosode was a unisex clothing, worn by every Japanese, regardless of age or socio-economic position. The quality of the fabric, the choice of pattern, yarn, dye, print and colour were essential criteria for the presentation of the rank, age, gender and sophistication of the person wearing it. Women of the lower classes wore…

< > Until the end of the Edo period the Japanese body symbolized one persons place in society. Aside from the dress one wore, bodies were marked and styled in a way to distinguish oneself from other groups. The male court nobles deemed themselves best attired when they resembled women most closely. Robes and trousers were…

< > As the most valuable of all materials, silk, was used by the aristocrats and by the military class, while the commoners had their cloth made of bast fibres such as asa (hemp), fuji (wisteria bark), kuzu (arrowroot), koozo (mulberry), or shina (Japanese lime). Gradually cotton production increased with the introduction of more efficient home-based spinning wheels and weaving looms. Hemp garments began to…

< > Trade in kimono and washi paper to Europe began in 1641, when the Netherlands became the only European country permitted by the shogunate. The clothes for export resembled Japanese yogi 夜着, with no shoulder seams. The sleeves were attached in a more typical way of Western dress. For example, in 1692, 123 such garments were sold by the…

< > Nara period (710–794) Clothing in the Nara-period was influenced by Tang-dynasty China. Women adopted overlapping tarikubi (垂領, “drape-necked”) robes with very long sleeves, and a wrapped skirt (mo 裳) that was draped over the waist. Men continued wearing round agekubi (上領, “high-necked”) mandarin robes, which were associated with scholasticism.  Heian Period (794 – 1185) …