P1+Kimono

=P1 Kimono= Dress and Appearance: Kimono Jessica M. and Doug S. Dress and appearance is very important and traditional in Japan. Some common garments are; kimonos worn with obis, hantens, yogis, Samurai armor, silk robes, and geta sandals. Japanese garments are decorated in many different ways like; with repeated patterns, compositions, silk, and rice paste used to stencil the compositions. Different garments are worn by different people because of their class and social status. Traditional Japanese garments are very special to their culture and are unique. Kimonos are traditional Japanese clothing that is worn with a sash called an obi and are decorated with a repeated pattern. There are two special types; the yukata and furisode. The Yukata kimono is lightweight, made of cotton, and is worn in the summer by women. Kimonos are floor length, long or short sleeved, and worn with a sash called an obi. The obi can be tied in many different ways. Obis c an be as long as 13 feet, as wide as 1 foot, and sometimes can take 30 minutes to tie the obi in a complicated style. The length of the kimono’s sleeve shows age and social status. Unmarried women wear long sleeves that fall to their ankles. On the other hand married women wear short sleeved kimonos. Kimonos are decorated with repeated patterns. Though, the bride’s kimono is usually white, but at their wedding reception the bride wears another kimono over her wedding kimono which is brightly colored and normally red or orange. M en and Women both wear Kimonos. Men still wear the kimono today in Japan but in modern-day Japan woman only wear their kimonos on special occasions. Kimonos for women were expensive and important. Women bought Kimono fabric and sowed them together themselves. Kimonos are easy to make. Kid Kimonos are same shape as the adults but are mostly bright, colorful, and have a neat pattern. The kimono has the same basic shape as the yogi, farmer's coat, and the hanten.

The Japanese coat or hanten was worn by most Japanese people including urban merchants. Hantens are decorated with a composition such as a landscape and is also decorated with silk. When merchants got wealthier their hantens resembled the elite more and more. They are shorter than Kimonos and are asymmetrical. Hantens are made of cloth, silk, rice paste, and yuzen. Also silk is used to decorate them. The wealth of the hanten owner is shown by the silk and the fabric. Rice paste was used to outline the composition and to keep the die from running to different parts of the hanten. The paste is removed after the dies dried. Hantens are made with the yuzenzome technique where the dies were painted onto the hanten with brushes. Hantens don’t have repeated pattern, instead they have a large composition. The main design is normally on the back of the hanten and it takes a lot of skill and time to make them. The hanten is normally worn when it is colder but when it is warm the Japanese wear a lighter garment a yogi. In Japan the coverlet in Kimono form is called a yogi. Yogis are larger and wider than the Kimono so they could be worn over the Kimono. The family crest is on the yogi and yogis are worn by common people. People used stencils to bold the large design. The paste which is the stencil for the design is applied by it being squeezed out of a cone shaped tube. The main pattern is on the bottom so that the obi or Japanese sash will not cover up any of the main design. Samurai wear normal clothing such as yogis when they aren’t in battle, but when they are fighting for their country they wear traditional decorative armor.

Samurai in Japanese culture were the main defense and were very important in the lives of the Japanese because everybody in Japan needed protection against robbers, thieves, and invaders. Some of the earliest Samurai armor was called “Tanko.” The Tanko was mainly designed for fighting and up-close combat, not for style. The Tanko only protected the chest and belly and was very difficult to get on. The metal components on samurai armor are lacquered to prevent rust and to repel arrows and other weapons off the smooth surface of the armor. Plates of armor were fitted very close to the body and held together with leather strips, often made from deer hide. The sword a samurai carried was the main piece of his armor. Samurai armor is also very traditional and it is decorated. If a samurai’s armor is superior and more decorative it shows that it is a tough and high rank samurai. The kabuto (the helmet a samurai wears) is also a main part of their armor not just for protection. Their helmet is the most decorative part of samurai armor and is also the most protective. A samurai treated his sword as if it was part of him. He polishes it every day like it was himself. In the Ghost in the Tokaido Inn it said “There were about 20 horsemen. All of the men wore the two swords that marked them as Samurai. But it was clear that it was one of them was a daimyo or Lord, who commanded the others. He wore red leather armor and a hachimaki, or headband which was decorated with his family crest: a fish inside a red square.” Some samurai were very high in rank and when the high rank samurai were not fighting they wore clothing like the nobles. Nobles had to keep an elegant appearance in court and also had very elaborate and fine clothing. Noble women played a central role in court society where everything evolved around their aesthetic (loving beauty) pleasures. When noble women were in court they wore layers upon layers upon layers of silk robes. The noble men in court wore tiny patches of beard on the very point of their chins. Both men and women nobles covered their faces with white powder. Noble men also blackened their teeth when they were in court, white teeth were considered hideous and glaring. Despite their rank the nobles have some of the same footwear as common people.

Most Japanese people wear sandals. A popular type of sandals is wooden geta sandals. They are called Geta Sandals because of the clacking sound that they make. Wooden geta sandals have an elevated platform to protect feet from rain and snow. They are made of wood and have a thong which goes between the big toe and the second toe. Wooden geta sandals are worn with a kimono or other traditional Japanese garments. A type of traditional Japanese socks is tabi socks. Tabi socks have a separation between the big toe and the other toes so people can easily walk while wearing sandals. Tabi socks are ankle socks and are worn by men and women. Tabi socks are worn with geta sandals or other traditional Japanese footwear. Traditional Japanese clothing and footwear are very extraordinary and make Japanese culture one of a kind. media type="custom" key="8452366"  Citations 1. “A portrait of beautiful Japanese wearing kimono.” []. (2-21-11.) Image. 2. "Attractive Japanese woman with traditional clothing looking and smiling against white". [] (2-21-11.) Image. 3. "A woman's kimono - sleeve design." //JP Net Kimono Hypertext. Massachusetts// Institute of Technology, 1999. Web. 2-17-11. 4. Deal, William E. //Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. New// York : Facts on File, Inc. 2006. 5. Dersin, Denise, Ed. What Life Was Like Among Samurai and Shoguns. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Inc.,1999. Print. 6. "Historic samurai armor on yellow".[] 7. Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler. // The Ghost of the Tokaido Inn. //New York: Penguin Group, 1999. Print. 8. "Japanese Kimono". []. <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">9. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">“Japanese Kimono.” []. (2-21-11). Image 10. “Kimono".[] (2-21-11).Image. <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">11. Loudon, Sarah. "Instructional Resources: Wearable Arts of Japan Seattle Art Museum." Art Education. Vol 49. No 6, (Nov 1996): 25-32. JSTOR. Cary Academy Library, Cary, NC. 27 March 2009 <http://www.jstor.org/search>.   12. Rosalie, Baker. ‘Samurai” School Street: Peterborough: UP, 1993. Print.  <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">13. "Sandals and Socks." Japanese //Style. Japanese Style Inc, 1997. Web. 2-15-11.//  14. Thomas, Louis and Tommy Ito. Samurai, The code of the warrior. China, 2006. Print <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">15. Turnbull, Stephen. //Warriors of Medieval Japan.// Great Britain: Osprey Publishing Ltd. 2005. Print. 16. "Zori-traditional Japanese footwear-in a rock garden". [](2-21-11).Image.