#kosode

[heaveninawildflower]

Resist-dyed plain silk crepe, embroidered with silk and metallic thread with a chrysanthemum design.

Piece from a kosode (Japan, 1615–1868).

Image and text information courtesy The Met.

[victoriantomodern]

Edo period kosode (kimono) with scene depicting the annual May 5th horse race at Kyoto's Kamigamo Shrine, 18th century. Yuzen dyeing, shibori tie-dyeing and embroidery of white chirimen silk crepe. Kyoto National Museum.

[love1kimono]

Kosode 1905

A geiko (geisha) dressed in the Genroku Style, with two kosode or 'small sleeve' garments, hanging in the background. Osaka geiko Makoto.

[tanuki-kimono]

Everyday wear for the warrior class - Nagakamishimo and Hankamishimo

(as worn by samurai of the Edo period - great charts by Nadeshico Rin). You can find more about samurai ranks and their regulated attires under the tag "samurai kimono".

The Nagakamishimo (here with noshime)

長上下 Nagakamishimo was worn by all upper ranked samurai.

肩衣 Kataginu - sleeveless overvest, with startched shoulders. It bore back and shoulder 紋 mon (family crests). It's said to be an evolution of 素襖 Suô attire with detached sleeves. Formal ones were also entirely covered with tiny dyed patterns, the 小紋 komon (clans tended to have their favourite ones, used by all their retainers).

長袴 Nagabakama - hakama pants with long trailing legs. Formal look required it to match the kataginu.

熨斗目 Noshime - kosode (=ancestor of the kimono) with stripes or lattice pattern at waist area. Note the mon family crest on the sleeves and back. Noshime was also worn under more formal sets, like the daimon, suô, hoi, etc.

小さ刀 Chîsagatana - small katana

The Hankamishimo

Also called 継上下 tsugi-gamishimo, 半上下 hankamishimo is the official everyday wear for all Edo period samurai.

Main difference with nagakamishimo are the shorter pants, far more suited to everyday life. Colors and fabrics were not especially regulated.

半袴 Hanbakama - ankle lenght pants, shorter than the more formal nagabakama. Today, it's simply called hakama.

脇差 Wakizashi - short sword worn by samurai​, depending on the era is part of the 大小 daishô (sword set with a katana and wakizashi)

紋付小袖 Montsuki-kosode - kosode (=ancestor of the kimono) adorned with family crest

[arthistoryanimalia]

Its #BatAppreciationDay so please appreciate this awesome 19th century Japanese kosode decorated with embroidered lucky bats, photographed in 2019 at The Life of Animals in Japanese Art exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in DC:

Kosode with Bats Japan, Edo - Meiji periods, 19th century silk twill, paste-resist dyed, embroidery, 67⅜ × 48⅞ in. National Museum of Japanese History, Chiba Prefecture

“In the West, bats - nocturnal in habit and denizens of dark places tend to be viewed as unlucky, but in China they have long been considered an auspicious motif (one of the characters used to write the word "bat" is a homonym for good fortune). The Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjüro VII (1791-1859) used bat motifs in his costumes, and the perception of these animals as a chic design element spread rapidly throughout Japan in the nineteenth century. Here a great number of them are arranged in right-left symmetry from the base of the collar to the hem.”

The above info is from the official exhibition catalog - this bat kosode is on p. 124:

The Life of Animals in Japanese Art (2019)

[eosvartauga]

I will be trying to be more active on here, and maybe catching up on things I have made in preparation for posting about my White Wolf Fian project. The project hasn't been accepted as an appropriate challenge yet, but I'm excited to share that it's going to be a skin out Sengoku jidai Japanese Courtier set featuring:

Fundoshi

Juban/Under Kosode

Properly fitted Kosode

Hakama with the correct pleat placement

Suikan

Lacqured eboshi

Tabi

Asagutsu

Other associated accessories

As well, all the garments will be hand sewn with the traditional Japanese technique. There may be some sort of block stamping or rice paste dyeing. I am also thinking of adding ohaguro in a masculine context.

I will have one year to complete this project, and I will be using this tumblr to post about my process and research.

[tetrachromate]

fursonae

[fashionsfromhistory]

Robe (Kosode)

Early 17th Century

This sumptuous robe is among the earliest extant kosode (garment with small sleeve openings). The natural scenery of Japan’s coast, with its beaches strewn with shells and sea grass, inspired the delicate embroidered design. The foundation fabric, woven in an intricate key-fret pattern with floral motifs, was likely imported from China in its white, undecorated state. It was then resist dyed to achieve the effect of irregular sandbanks, and the marine motifs were embroidered on top. The alternating bands of light blue were further embellished with gold-leaf accents.

The MET