Heian Period Costumes

During the Heian period (794-1185), before the birth of kimono, a beautiful costume culture blossomed. By the eleventh century the Chinese style costumes (karafu) prevalent earlier in the Imperial Court evolved into uniquely Japanese garments, such as the formal uniform with round-collared jacket (sokutai), the less formal, round-collared kariginu, the women’s layered costumes (itsutsuginu-karakoromo, popularly referred to as a “twelve layer costume” jūnihitoe), and inner pleated trousers (keiko).

Although today they may seem unfamiliarly distant, the people appearing in such world-famous Japanese classics as the Tales of Ise and the Tale of Genji were appareled in costumes of this sort.

Not only the royal family, but also shrine priests wear court costumes for ceremonies and festivals. Since the Meiji period the Shinto shrines have played an important role in sustaining the culture of court costumes. The job of creating them belongs to the costume firms. Their products are not limited to garments, but include all manner of related items such as furnishings like the standing curtains (kichō) used to divide room spaces, and implements like the folding fans made of slats of Japanese cypress (hiōgi), as well as portable shrines (mikoshi). 　

The woman’s jūnihitoe sports a long pleated half skirt (mo) draped from the hips and trailing out to the back, and the men’s under robe (shitagasane) has a long narrow trains trailing behind the person. Scenes in picture scrolls depict men with their shitagasane trains (kyo) hanging out of ox carriages or hung over the balustrades of verandahs. 

A unique beauty lies in Heian-period costumes. Even among the wide variety of traditional costumes, these stand out for the quality of their silks, their combinations and layering of colors, and their voluminous, sumptuous fabrics. The colors and color co-ordinations created by the layering of garments (kasane no irome) have poetic names evocative of the seasons. The “scent of red plum” combination shown here brings to mind the red flowers of the plum tree blooming in early spring.

To give the fabric buoyancy, the woven cloth is stretched out using tenterhooks (shinshi), and paste is brushed on it. 

Finally the fabric is cut and tailored into a garment. The edges of the fabric may be folded under into a three-layer hem and stitched down, or the edges may be rolled and glued. The basic sewing technique is straight stitch, but there are exceptions as well.