FEMALE DRESS.
Attempts at Europeanisation—Difference between Japanese and foreign
dresses—Expense and inconvenience of foreign dresses—Japanese
dresses not to be discarded—How the female dress differs from the
male—Underwear and over-band—_Haori_—_Hakama_—_Obi_—How to tie
it—The dress-_obi_—The formal dress—Home-wear—Working clothes—The
sameness of form—The girl’s dress—Dress and age.
The late Prince Ito’s first administration which lasted from 1886 to
1889, was a period of great pro-European activity when heroic attempts
were made to Europeanise the entire social organisation. The most
conspicuous of these attempts were the strenuous efforts made to
remodel the social life of the nation; and with that object in view,
various social customs of the West were introduced. Balls and soirées
were given in official circles and among peers and men of wealth. One
of the direct consequences of this innovation was the eager adoption
of the foreign costume by ladies of rank and position, whose example
was soon followed by their humbler sisters. Women in European dresses
were common objects in streets and at public gatherings. And it looked
for a time as if the national costume were doomed.
But it was not long before a reaction set in. A cry arose in various
quarters for the preservation of national characteristics; and though
there was a section of these reactionaries who would resist the
introduction of western innovations in all departments of life, the
general sense of the nation was to yield only so far as a change was
necessitated by the incompatibility of the old customs with the new
conditions imposed by the adoption of western civilisation. And among
the first to feel the effect of this reaction was the western style of
female dress; and our women fell back upon their national costume. It
was as well that the reversion to the old style took place before the
reforming spirit had gone too far, for, to tell the truth, the
Japanese woman seldom appears to advantage in a European dress. If she
looks graceful in her _kimono_, she cannot be equally prepossessing in
a bodice and a skirt; and those who are charming in a western costume
are the reverse in their native dress. The conditions which are needed
to give charm to the wearer of the _kimono_ are totally different to
the conditions which one associates with elegance in European dress.
The former require rounded or sloping shoulders, for square ones
would put the sides of the dress out of shape and interfere with the
graceful disposition of the sleeves. The body should be bent forward,
for if it were held straight or bent back, the dress at the breast
and the knot of the _obi_ would suffer; and for the same reason full
breasts are out of favour. The close-fitting skirt of the _kimono_
prevents the feet from being set far apart, and the wearer cannot take
long strides. Her feet are turned slightly inward and makes her wobble
a little as she walks. Such a gait would be very ungainly when a woman
puts on a European dress. It may be possible for her when she dons
European garments to assume another gait than that she is used to in
Japanese; but it is naturally very hard to throw off on occasion a
habit acquired from childhood.
But what really led to the discarding of the European dress was not so
much the uncomely form it presented as the expense and inconvenience
it entailed upon its wearer. It necessitates the possession of jewelry
which is useless in a Japanese dress; necklaces and bracelets are not
put on with the latter. The foreign dress is, moreover, extremely
inconvenient in a Japanese house. A man can squat in European clothes
without much difficulty if his trousers are baggy enough to allow the
knees to be doubled; and if they are creased, they may be set right
again with a little ironing. He can therefore visit his friends in
European clothes. With a woman the case is different. She cannot squat
in a European dress. Her corset would inflict on her excruciating
tortures as it gets out of shape when the body is bent forward in
squatting; she certainly could not bow her head to the mat in the
usual Japanese fashion. What trimmings she might have on her skirt
would be irretrievably spoilt; and if she once squatted, she
could not get up without assistance or going on all fours. In short,
the European dress cannot come into vogue until Japanese houses are
remodelled and furnished with chairs instead of mats and cushions.
Moreover, the expense of having a fair wardrobe of both European and
Japanese dresses deters many women from taking to the former since
the latter are absolutely indispensable.
Lovers of the picturesque may then rest assured that there is no
immediate prospect of the disappearance of the graceful _kimono_.
Largely as are the western clothes worn by Japanese men and boys,
there is not much danger of their totally supplanting the national
costume while the internal arrangement of the Japanese house remains
unchanged; and that transformation is, as we have already stated, to
be looked for in a very dim future. Still less probability is there
of a similar change in the costume of our women as it is even more
intimately connected than men’s clothes with domestic life. It is
indeed as well that it should be so, for much as we desire to make use
of the fruits of western civilisation, we would emphatically draw the
line when it comes to the appearance our wives and daughters shall
present at home. We may therefore leave out of consideration the
western costume as worn by Japanese women.
The Japanese female dress does not differ essentially from the male;
the distinction lies in its proportions and colours. There is
therefore no need to describe it in detail; it will suffice if we give
the points of difference. Thus, the body pieces are a little narrower
to fit the slighter forms of women; but they are longer, the length
being from four feet nine inches to five feet. The tuck at the hip is
not sewn in as in a man’s dress, but the body is left loose so that
the dress may be worn with a train or tucked at the hip with a sash.
The tuck is usually about eight inches. The neck-band is also much
wider than men’s, being four inches and a half, and longer by an inch
or more. The sleeves too are longer by two inches or more; but the
opening at the wrist is smaller. The sleeves are open for about a foot
from the lower extremity so as to allow the wide _obi_ to be worn
without inconvenience, and sewn on to the body pieces for about
ten inches from the top. The front and back edges of the body piece
are hemmed for four inches before they are sewn together and leave an
aperture of that length under the joints of the sleeve. This opening
is made in all female dresses and exposes the sides of the body to the
air; but it is hidden from view by the sleeve and the _obi_, and is
visible only when the sleeve is held up; the object of this aperture
is to give free play to the breast part of the dress. In all female
dresses the sleeves are left open and hemmed from their joints with
the body pieces to the lower end. The skirt of the wadded _kimono_ is
more heavily wadded than men’s and is rounded to show more of the
lining and the bulge of the wadding.
Under the _kimono_ a woman wears much the same clothing as a man;
but unlike him, she wears two loin-cloths. The lower one, which
is the loin-cloth proper, is a piece of bleached cotton wound round
the hips and coming down to the knees. It is called in Japanese the
“bath-cloth,” as it was formerly, and still is in some parts of the
country, worn when a woman takes a bath. The upper loin-cloth, called
the “hip-wrap,” is more ornamental; it is tied round the hips like
the bath-cloth, but comes down to the feet. It is usually made of
_mousseline de laine_ or crêpe, and is red for girls, of a gay colour
with fanciful patterns for young women, and white for matrons. This
hip-wrap is replaced in winter by what we call a “long chemise,” which
is practically a _kimono_ made without the tuck and of the exact
height of the wearer. Over the neck-band is sewn an ornamental band
called “half-band,” which is usually of crêpe, though some other light
silk may be used, red for young girls and of various colours, white,
black, violet, blue, or grey for grown-up persons. Flowers, birds, or
landscapes are embroidered on it with gold or silver threads or with
silk. This ornamental half-band is worn on the chemise or other
underwear next to the _kimono_. The _kimono_, the upper one if two are
worn, which is for home wear, is usually covered over the neck-band
with an over-band of satin.
Women wear, like men, _haori_ of various descriptions, the crested
_haori_ of black crêpe, the uncrested made of silk, striped, spotted,
or of other pattern, and the long _haori_, which though often
less wadded than men’s, reaches like theirs below the knees. A woman’s
_haori_ differs from a man’s, like the _kimono_, in having sleeves
open on the inner side and a loop-hole under the arm.
The _hakama_ is worn by school-girls and their teachers, and by some
of the court ladies. The girl’s _hakama_ differs from man’s in not
being divided. It is simply round like the European skirt; but it has
plaits which are not, however, so deep or so marked as men’s. It is
open, like theirs, at the sides near the _obi_ and tied in the same
way.
The Japanese woman’s pride, however, is the _obi_. It is often the
most costly of all her apparel. It is about thirteen feet long and
thirteen and a half inches wide. The _obi_ for ordinary wear is made
by sewing together back to back two pieces of cloth, of which the face
is commonly of stiff stuff like satin and the lining of crêpe, or
other soft silk or cotton. But the _obi_ worn on formal occasions
consists of a single piece of double width, which is folded in two
lengthwise and seamed; it is made of taffety, satin, damask, or gold
or other brocade. The Chinese satin has at one end the name of its
loom in red thread; and imitation satins and sateens have similar
names at the same end; and this end is always exposed to view when
the _obi_ is worn. When sewn, the woman’s _obi_ is padded like men’s.
[Illustration: THE _OBI_ FOR ORDINARY WEAR. FOR GIRLS. FOR WOMEN.]
The tying of the _obi_, especially of the dress-_obi_, is by no means
a simple process. In the first place a woman puts on her dress in the
same way as a man, that is, she folds the front edges left over right,
and not right over left as in a European dress. When she has thus
folded her underwear, which she sometime ties round with a cloth cord
to keep it in place, she takes her _kimono_, single or double as the
case may be, and catching the two edges near the ends of the band,
holds them out behind her and raises them tightly until the skirt is
just at her ankles, that is, at the height at which she wishes it to
be, and then folding the edges stiffly one over the other, she ties
the dress at the hip with a cloth cord to prevent its slipping. Then
she arranges the upper half of the dress, putting the band in order
and pulling the loose part down so that the breast is pressed almost
flat, and ties the tuck just over the hips with a second cord. The
tuck is thus tied above and below; for this two different cords are
used in formal dresses, but for ordinary wear a single long narrow
sash of crêpe may be used for both purposes, the sash passing over
the tuck at the side. Next, the _obi_, if it is for ordinary wear, is
folded in two along its length and wound twice round the waist, thus
concealing the cord on the tuck and leaving at the back a foot or so
of one end, while the other end is three feet or more in length. The
former is folded lengthwise with the lining inside. The two ends are
tied in such a way that the doubled end comes out at the side slanting
downwards under the knot. The second end is, while being tied, folded
once with the lining outside and is pulled vertically so that the
folded part is held straight up; and it is drawn out until the length
above the knot is about the same as that remaining behind and then
dropped over the knot; and so, when it hangs down, its end or the fold
is higher than the end of the _obi_ just by the width of the knot,
that is, by a few inches. The end under the knot displays the face
and the fold itself the lining. Some people keep the knot from coming
loose by tying a cord over it round the _obi_, while others merely
tighten it when it slackens.
The _obi_ for ceremonial occasions is tied in the same way, only
that as it is of the same material on both sides, there is no
distinction of face and lining. When it is tied, a narrow sash with
a piece of board or stiff cardboard in the middle is put under the
vertical fold and raised above the level of the _obi_, and the ends
of the sash are tied in front and the knot is tucked under the _obi_.
This sash is a kind of bustle to keep the fold from falling. Next, the
fold is refolded inward, while the doubled end, instead of hanging out
as in the ordinary _obi_, is bent back and pushed under the fold. A
silk cord is then passed between the two faces of the fold along the
middle of the _obi_ and tightly fastened in front over the _obi_ by
means of a hook or buckle. This cord is intended to prevent the
doubled end and the fold, after the refold, from falling off. The hook
or buckle is usually in the form of a flower or some other simple
design in gold. Thus, it will be seen that in wearing the ceremonial
_obi_, a woman is tied twice each over and under it.
[Illustration: THE DRESS-_OBI_. FOR GIRLS. FOR WOMEN.]
As the _obi_ is the most conspicuous part of a woman’s dress, the
_haori_, which would conceal it except in front, is not worn on
formal occasions. It is only worn at home or on an informal visit;
and in the absence of a _haori_ to display her crest on, the
woman has it dyed on her _kimono_, the number being three or five as
on the man’s _haori_. The formal dress is a suit of three _kimono_,
of which the second and lowest have white neck-bands. The skirt is
wadded much thicker than usual. Sometimes when it is too warm to wear
three _kimono_, the middle one is dispensed with and an extra band is
put on the lower _kimono_ and a false skirt sewn on to it to make it
look as if there were an intermediate _kimono_. The formal colour of
the uppermost _kimono_ is black, with five white crests; but except
on special occasions less sombre colours may be worn, of which the
favourite are blue, grey, and violet, all light-tinted. Underneath the
_kimono_ is the long chemise which is the only article of clothing
that is allowed to be bright-coloured. It is often expensive; and just
as men line their _haori_ with costly stuff which may or may not be
seen in company, so women expend as much money upon their chemises,
the skirt of which may be partly exposed to view as they walk. It is
commonly of figured crêpe, _habutaye_, or crêpe de Chine. Under the
chemise is the ordinary cotton underwear.
When she goes out on an informal visit, the Japanese woman usually
puts on a crested _haori_; but if it is only for a walk, the _haori_
may be plain. The _kimono_ may on such occasions be of any pattern,
only that when she makes a call, the band must be of the same cloth as
the _kimono_. At home a woman usually has on a black satin band as it
can be readily renewed, for owing to the liberal use of pomade on her
hair, the band is the part of her dress that is soonest soiled, and
hence the advantage of a band that can be easily changed. The part
of her dress which is, next to the band, most liable to be soiled is
the lap; for as we squat with our knees bent in front of us, we are
apt to lay in our laps whatever may be in our hands, and most women
therefore, except in families of higher position, wear aprons at home.
Those of the middle class take off their aprons when they go out;
but the wives and daughters of tradesmen and artisans wear them even
outdoors. Still, as it is not considered good form to have them on
when one receives calls, they should take them off before they go into
the parlour to welcome their visitors; as a matter of fact, however,
this is done only when the visitor is one of superior position
who must be treated with great respect. The apron covers the front
part of the _kimono_ below the _obi_, under which it is tied by a
cord attached to it. It is also worn by tradesmen and others whose
business it is to handle wares of any kind.
[Illustration: A SERVANT WITH TUCKED SLEEVES.]
The ordinary _kimono_ is inconvenient for active work. Those whose
work requires a free movement of the limbs, commonly discard the long
sleeves and the skirt. Coolies and artisans wear tight-sleeved coats
and tight-fitting drawers of cotton. Women, too, who labour
outdoors have on similar clothes sometimes; but more frequently they
wear tight-sleeved _kimono_, the skirts of which are tucked up to the
knees to facilitate their walking. Women, however, who live indoors
but have to move about at their household work, do not care to put on
tight-sleeved _kimono_, and they tie up their sleeves with a cloth
cord when they are actively employed. They are often to be seen
dusting and sweeping the rooms with their sleeves tied up and a
towel on their heads. The _kimono_ appears indeed to be capable of
little improvement. The only concession that has been made to the
requirements of the latter-day school-girl is the contraction of the
sleeves. The “reformed dress,” as it is called, has large open sleeves
which can be tightened by means of a string. It is found very handy
and is worn by many school-girls. Reformed or unreformed, there is
this to be said for the Japanese woman’s dress that it does not suffer
in the matter of pockets or what serve as such from comparison with
man’s.
[Illustration: THE REFORMED DRESS.]
There is then very little difference in the dress of a Japanese woman
indoors and out, except in the case of the formal dress. Even there
the form is the same. This uniformity of cut strikes one everywhere
in Japan; the dresses are all cast in the same mould. There may be
variations in the length of the sleeves or in the colour and texture
of the apparel; but even fickle fashion leaves the shape of the dress
unchanged; it only varies the stuff and the pattern.
Children’s clothes differ slightly from their elders’. Up to about ten
they often wear at home the tight-sleeved _kimono_. Boys, indeed, may
continue to put them on far into the teens; but girls are soon dressed
in _kimono_ of fancifully-figured crêpe or _mousseline de laine_, the
gayest of which are specially made for their wear. Their outdoor
_kimono_ have sleeves almost touching the ground, and their formal
dress is black with light patterns on the lower part of the sleeves
and round the skirt. Their _obi_ is folded almost perpendicularly
behind, the folded end coming close up to the shoulders; and over it
is tied a plain sash, usually of yellow or red crêpe, the knot being
tied at the side with the ends hanging down.
[Illustration: A YOUNG LADY DRESSED FOR A VISIT.]
The girl, on reaching her sixteenth or seventeenth year, ceases to
be a child and becomes a _shinzo_, or maiden; she no longer puts
on gaily-coloured _kimono_, though she still retains the hip-wrap,
underwear sleeves, and band of crimson. At twenty-four, at which she
becomes a _toshima_, when she is supposed to be married, the colour of
her dress becomes more sober; the hip-wrap is white, the sleeves of
her underwear, though sometimes still red for a little while longer,
are oftener of a less conspicuous tint, and the band of blue, purple,
black, or other dark hues. For the first few years she may, in her
desire to conceal her age, affect the _shinzo’s_ costume; but when
she reaches thirty, she is an unmistakable _toshima_. This stage
terminates at forty, when she comes to be spoken of as approaching old
age. She is dressed soberly as if to avoid notice. Forty is pretty
early for a woman to be classified as old; but in former days old age
began at fifty when a man was considered unfit for business and made
over his name and property to his heir. We mature early and decline at
the same rate. Indeed, man, says a Japanese proverb, lives but for
fifty years and rarely does his span extend to seventy years. Our
expectation of life is, then, two decades less than the Psalmist’s.
Impressed by its brevity, the Japanese woman knows that she ceases to
please after two score and unmurmuringly gives up hope. She does not
allow herself to be deceived when silver locks begin to appear among
the raven; and by her dress and coiffure she frankly confesses the
stage she has reached in the journey of life.