Kimono

by Hayate Hosenji

A kimono is a traditional garment, and Japan's national dress, to wear in any formal situation for both males and females. It is a long, loose robe with a wide sleeve, and the wearer uses a sash, wide and long cloth to tie the kimono tightly at the waist. Japanese people have worn the kimono since about 710 (Mori 2012, 117). This garment relates closely to the lives of Japanese people and is a significant part of their cultural identity. My mother is a fashion designer who runs her own fashion brand remaking kimono into new fashion items. Since childhood, there were various kimonos in my house, and I used to see my mother working on kimono for her brand. Therefore, the kimono is not only a garment for me but also a symbol I feel familiar with. Also, as I am an artist and have an interest in the fashion world, I am sure that the kimono is a part of my identity. I need to figure out what the kimono is to know myself as an artist. Throughout this research paper, I express my view that culture should evolve and touch on my personal history.

The kimono is derived from the kosode, which was worn by Japanese people since the Nara period (710-794) (Mori 2012,117). The kosode is a garment with a body, sleeves, and a pair of collars that drape from both shoulders and cross over each other in front of the chest. It was initially worn as an undergarment and was the garment people mainly wore from the end of the tenth century through to the beginning of the eleventh century. Since the Samurai--the sword-bearing hereditary military nobility--began to appear, they wore the taboso, a single tube-shaped costume, as their daily clothing (or formal public clothing) since the Heian period (794-1185) (Mori 2012, 117). The shape of the garment was similar to the kosode. As Japan was engaged in warfare from the late Muromachi period (1336– 1573) to the Momoyama period (1568–1603), there was a shortage of textiles and clothing (Mori 2012, 118). As a result, the kosode, the simple garment, became the formal outwear for Samurai in the ascending class. The kosode was the most common garment worn by Japanese people from the lower class to the upper class.

The shape of these newer garments are based on kosode. Patterns on clothes became bigger, and loose clothes with longer sleeves and overall length, became the main garment people wore.

As economic prosperity increased during the Muromachi and Momoyama eras, and through to the Edo period (1603–1868), females began to wear more decorative garments than that of the kosode (Mori 2012, 118). The shape of these newer garments are based on kosode. Patterns on clothes became bigger, and loose clothes with longer sleeves and overall length, became the main garment people wore. From the Meiji period (1868–1912), Japanese leaders encouraged people to be familiar with Western-style dress in order to demonstrate Japan’s alignment with the modernizing movement (Mori 2012, 119). The policy reflected on the formal dress for any occupations. For instance, in 1870, the uniform of naval academy cadets was changed to British-style uniforms (Nakagawa 1963, 63). It gave people options to choose clothes to wear. Many Japanese people began to mix Japanese fashion styles, kimono, and Western fashion styles.

In 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred in the Kanto area, including Tokyo, in Japan. That disaster led more than 140,000 people to die and more than half of brick buildings and one-tenth reinforced concrete structures were collapse (Britannica, 2020). That disaster also boosted the modernization of the Japanese fashion style. As people wearing Western clothes survived more than people wearing kimono at the disaster, people tended to choose clothes that are comfortable to move around in. A kimono is not appropriate for moving quickly when there is a disaster (Nakagawa 1963, 65). After the disaster happened, buildings were rebuilt into the Western-style building due to their durability. As people began to use chairs in their daily lives, Western-style clothes are more appropriate; the structure of the kimono makes sitting on chairs difficult (Shuichi 2011, 16).

As movies were the main entertainment among Japanese people, watching movies from abroad made audiences become interested in Western-style fashion.

During the Showa period (1926–89), Japan had experienced high economic growth from 1955 to 1973 (Endo 2018). Due to the globalization, the lives of Japanese people had been influenced by Western culture. As movies were the main entertainment among Japanese people, watching movies from abroad made audiences become interested in Western-style fashion. Many people who attracted toward Western clothes applied to dressmaking schools in Japan, and the fabrication of Western clothes became fashionable in those days (Watanabe 2014, 26). The kimono market expanded rapidly due to the economic miracle. According to the report of total output of Kyoyuzen Kimono, the total output of the kimono was 3,370,000 in 1957, and it was 6,470,000 in 1966 (Yoshida 2013, 84). However, after this period of economic growth, Japan's economy had collapsed, and the kimono market was rapidly shrinking (Yoshida 2011, 86). As a kimono is expensive due to the high cost to create, people could not afford to buy expensive clothes and save money at the same time. According to the survey by Kimono Hoshokusha, there was a shift in consumer attitude such that they bought less and recycled more. The market scale of the kimono, which was about one and a half trillion yen in 1989, has continuously, to less than 300 billion yen in 2018. Western-style dresses are now more worn by the general public (Mori 2012, 119). The kimono is considered formal attire to wear at formal events, such as a funerals and the coming-of-age ceremony, a Japanese holiday to congratulate people who turn 20. According to the survey about the frequency of wearing kimono in 2011, 20% of respondents had worn a kimono only once in their lives, 10% wear one once every five years, 5% wear one once every two years, and 50% have never worn one in their lives (Yoshida 2011, 82). The kimono industry is at a critical stage now, and the kimono is not relevant to many Japanese people's lives as compared to the kimono market before the Meiji period.

Image titled Kimono Bag By My Mother

As the kimono market shrinks, it leaves the kimono craftsman and kimono merchants with the challenge of maintaining their businesses. As my mother was born in a family operating a kimono store, called Gofukuya, providing luxury kimono in Japan, she experienced Gofukuya’s prosperity and decline. In the 1980s, when she was a child, the store was always full of customers. As the kimono is a luxury good and purchased by many consumers, its business performance was in good shape. However, as the years went by, customers gradually stopped coming to the store, and her parents decided to close their store when she was 25. She realized the cruelty of society at that time, she said (personal communication). Due to the low frequency of wearing kimono, people tend to buy cheaper kimono or borrow kimono from others or kimono rental store (personal communication). Also, as machines and inkjets became popular to mass produce kimono, the traditional handmade kimono became less popular among customers for whom affordability was an important criterion. Using a printer to print patterns on the fabric increased the productivity of production. As cost and time are saved much more than handmade kimono created by craftsman, it can be provided at an affordable price to customers (personal communication). The closure of Gofukuya also influenced craftsman who create high-quality kimono to give up on their business (personal communication). As the stores are the main client that they deliver the finished kimono, the closure of stores generated difficulty in earning income and keeping their business. Decreasing craftsman is a severe problem as the methods and technique of creating kimono are in danger of dying out. There are various types of kimono, and each of them requires unique techniques to create by craftsman. For example, there are Ryukyukasuri in Okinawa and Nishijinori in Kyoto (personal communication). Maintaining the kimono business is essential to passing on the kimono culture and their unique methods of creation to the next generation.

As the kimono is used to wear in any special events and has been inherited generation after generation in the family, the kimono is a thing full of precious memories.

The kimono business is required to change its form to survive. As today's people do not wear kimono on a daily basis, today's kimono businesses do not only sell kimonos but also sell merchandise using kimono fabrics. There is a Japanese fashion brand, Bon Bricolage by Reiko Hosenji, which utilizes the antique kimono fabric to create fashion items (personal communication). As the kimono is used to wear in any special events and has been inherited generation after generation in the family, the kimono is a thing full of precious memories. People struggle with their desire to wear kimonos, but they only wear them at ceremonies. The fashion designer, Reiko Hosenji, accepts kimono from customers and remakes them into new fashion items.. Therefore, they can wear the kimono, which is full of memories, as a different fashion item daily and keep holding and inheriting generation after generation. Also, there are kimono businesses that sell kimono items to visitors from foreign countries. There is Yamato Craft Gallery at Narita airport in Tokyo, a store selling kimono, general merchandise, and interiors made of Kimono fabrics (personal communication). Foreigners at the airport can experience the kimono culture at the store while seeing the products at the end of their trips in Japan. The ways kimonos have been consumed and worn daily in people's lives are changing.

The company collaborated with high-end fashion brands, such as Dior, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton.

In today's world, the kimono has been gathering attention around the world. Masao Hosoo is a Japanese businessperson who popularized the kimono globally. According to the website of The Graduate School of Project Design, he is the CEO of HOSOO, a Kyoto-based textile company founded in 1688 and specializes in superior quality fabrics for high-end interior and fashion design. The company collaborated with high-end fashion brands, such as Dior, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton. HOSOO provided the textile of Nishijinori, one of the kimono's brand in Kyoto, to these fashion brands and hotels for the interior. These works made HOSOO famous worldwide, so that now, the kimono gathers more attention from various kinds of industries. It shows that there is still a demand of kimono from foreign businesses.

In conclusion, the kimono industry is at a critical stage; there is the danger that the tradition will die off but there is still a high demand, especially from foreign businesses, and the kimono has new possibilities to develop and change to fit a changing world. As society and people's lives have been changed dramatically, culture must stay flexible to remain relevant and to survive. If the kimono tradition has remained consistent since the Meiji period, now, in light of the shrinking market, particularly since the recession of 1973, and the overall westernization of Japan, new markets have to be sought after. Now, in 2020, people’s lives have dramatically changed due to the Covid pandemic. Therefore, people operating kimono business are require flexibility and the willingness to change one's business model in order to reach the changing markets. When I observe the business of HOSOO, I am impressed by how fashion builds the relationship between the native country and foreign countries. As the kimono attracts many people around the world, they can feel Japanese culture and Japanese lives from kimono even though they are not Japanese. For me, as a migrant, a Japanese citizen living in the U.S., I realized that the kimono is the object that reminds me of Japan and my childhood even while staying abroad. That experience, realizing my connection with Japan and feeling comforted to see the design, I understand that the kimono is a significant part of my identity as a Japanese person and an artist. I am particularly interested in what aspects of kimono attract non-Japanese people. That question would lead to finding a new style of kimono culture to develop and evolve.

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References

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https://www.britannica.com/event/Tokyo-Yokohama-earthquake-of-1923.

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Endo, Kaoru. 2018. “Period of high economic growth and present” Kaoru Endo’s Lab website, September 25. Accessed April 1, 2021.

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Masao Hosoo. 2015. “Nishijinori Collaboration with foreign high-end brands” Project Design Online website. February 2015. Accessed December. 18. 2020. https://www.projectdesign.jp/201502/haveachance/001868.php.

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