The Heian Noble Lady s Robe: The Founding Design for Most Outer Robes. Researched and written by:

Transcription

1 The Heian Noble Lady s Robe: The Founding Design for Most Outer Robes Researched and written by: JahanAra bint al-yehya amat al-hafeeze al-shyka (Baroness) (Copyright 2017, Galen S. Scott, Galen Skye) (Mistress Kasha s Vigil, Kasana no Irome: Plums in early spring; Photo: Wendy Gouine) This paper uses the APA style format.

2 Appendices Appendix A: Mentions of the robes in Primary Resources Appendix B: Important Clothing Terms Appendix C: Primary Sources: Literature of the Heian Era Appendix D: Periods of Japanese History Appendix E: Paintings and Reproductions throughout the ages of Heian Culture

3 Introduction Mono no aware- Beauty is precious because it is brief. Mono no aware is a phrase coined in the 19 th century by Motoori Norinaga. It became the edification of the ideal that was the basis for aesthetics of the Heian Era in Japan ( ) (Hooker, 1999). The term aware during the Heian era represented sensitivity to things ranging from beauty to sadness, life, love or death. While this article is about the clothing, it is very important to understand the cultural climate of Japan at the time in order to truly appreciate the thought and presentation behind the costume. Japan first began to develop its own personalized identity specifically in regard to the cultural arts and dress during the Heian imperial court in the ninth to eleventh centuries. Prior to this period, the Japanese observed Chinese customs and cultural nuances. This desire to break away from China brought forth a wide variety of extravagant expressions of self, especially in clothing and accessories. Colors for robes worn by the noble women of the time came to be combined into discreetly named combinations known as kasane no irome. This Court lady's everyday wear for summer at Insei period (heat of the summer) in latter part of Heian era. (Costume Museum, 2009) Two unlined robes (hitoe, kinu), Pants (nagabakama ), and undershirt (kosode) refers to the sensitive layering of colors of Heian clothing. The ideal developed into a full and subtle bloom over the course of 300 years. Very little in the emerging style was Chinese. As an actual mode of dress, kasane fashion passed away with courtly society, but its influence on kimono style has had echoes down even to present day (Dalby, 2001). This step away from the more Chinese style of dress helped create a huge shift in cultural identity The names of the layered colors are woven throughout Heian culture not only in the clothing but also in poetry and literature serving to pull together nature, season, person and incident into a poetic whole.

4 Pine Tree colors color combination worn all year round as Evergreens change very little. (Photo taken by K. Griffin, 2008) In order to understand relationship between these cultural phenomena of poetry, perception of beauty, colors, the flora and fauna of the environment and the clothing of the time, one needs to understand the sources available. One of the incredible things about the Heian era is the availability of primary sources (See Appendix B for detailed list) that we have access to for study, including diaries, novels, and letters. Women in the Heian era were prolific in writing diaries and in fact several of them also published works of fiction and poetry (for example, see Shikibu, 2001). The diaries, or Nikki as they were called, provide us with an inside look to the culture of Heian Japan (for examples, see Sei, 1991; Shikibu et. al, 2003; and Arntzen, 1997). Fujinami s Kasane no Irome The robe I have presented to you today is part of a full outfit for Fujinami no Kaede. Kaede is Japanese for Maple, and the Kasane no Iromo (layer of colors) that Kaede chose to emulate for her first set of robes is inspired by a variation of Downy Maples from the Kasane no Irome: Downy Maples (K. Griffin, 2001, Kyoto wardrobe of Empress Tashi (see figure to the left). However, she wanted a deeper color scheme, so we have added a maroon color, often seen with sumac maples to create an autumn leaves look. It was tradition to create your own kasane no irome and those who achieve it well, were talked about much at court during the Heian era (Dalby, 2001; Morris 1994). Japanese Maple Tree in Garden, R Downy Maples (Better Homes & Gardens, 2016)

5 The Constructing of the Robe There are no extant garments from the Heian era. What we do have is the prolific literature written of the era describing the clothing and how it was worn, a small number of extant scrolls (Left, see Appendix F for more) and fans depicting the women in their robes and over 1200 years of tradition handed down from generation to generation as these robes were worn at court for high formal occasions throughout the entire 800 plus years since the end of the Heian era. Detail of 11 th Century illustrated manuscript page of The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu Japan, Public Domain, 2017 We also know that the fabric loom width ranged between 12 and 14 inches wide (Harvey, 2001). In order to conserve precious embroidered and dyed fabric and be able to adjust for size, garments made during this time were sewn with a basting stitch and any seam allowance was not trimmed (Minnich, 1963; Dalby, 2001; Munsterberg, 1996). This allowed them to let out the seams if needed to fit another body. It also allowed them to take the robes apart easily the few times each garment might have been washed. The cut of the various layers is fairly simple; each robe is constructed out of rectangles (Costume Museum, 20011). In order for you to see the construction of this robe, I have left it unlined. Depending upon the time of year you would wear a combination of lined and unlined robes. Due to the fact that the panels had to be cut, there is some fraying and a few finishing techniques used (hemming, melting the edges, etc.) in order to keep the garment intact while sewing it. Were this robe lined, the hemline would have only one turn as the lining would protect it. The basting of both the collar and the excess panel of the gore would have had more space between stitches about a 1 ¼ long. To cut or not to cut Prior to the age of dry-cleaning, kimonos (and their predecessors, kosodes, hitoes, and kinu) were made from a single bolt of fabric, woven for the purpose of becoming a robe. To clean them you took them apart and washed the panels individually. This allowed you to cut the fabric only a few times along the edges (Dalby, 2001; Minnich, 1963; Costume Museum, 2011; Munsterberg, 1996). You could then stop the fraying by hemming, or applying a resin to it. After you had them cleaned, they were basted back together. While this started during the Nara era ( ), it continued even into the time of the Geisha (Golden, 1997)

6 Several years ago, I was given the opportunity to examine a kimono owned by one of my father s graduate students from Japan. She showed me that her hand basted kimono had a fold for the gore instead of a cut. That has stuck with me for many years and when I started working on this project of creating my own pattern for the Heian robes, that memory came back to me and helped me understand how the Heian robes might have been put together. The entire robe presented to you has been made entirely of rectangles of 16 wide fabric. The Patterning Important notes on Pattern The most important discoveries made during the experimentation aspect of creating a pattern for these robes when you are using rectangles for all of the panels is the importance of the consistent width of those rectangles throughout the garment, the stitches used, how the seams looked, and where the seams fit. With Japanese, the numbers are somewhat ambiguous and thus patterns are limited in availability. For the hitoe or kinu (the main visible robes) even in our current modern era (take a look at the modern kimono) the design is based on the width of the fabric selvage to selvage. During the Heian Era ( ) the looms produced fabric in the range of 12 to 14 although they did produce 16 to 18 for specialty fabrics (Minnich, 1963). Working with 16 wide fabric (Kaede s wingspan needed slightly more fabric than 14 wide would have provided.) So, to make a pattern you choose the width of fabric needed, Measure your model s length from shoulder point to floor and double it (there is no shoulder seam in the body panel. You only cut when you have to.) Figure out how long you want the sleeves and collar. Decide if that same width will work for the sleeves. As the robes are supposed to be long and trail past your feet, you also need to decide how long you want that training to be. Two feet past your heels is ideal, but can get expensive. The longer everything is, the more wealth you show, and often the higher station you have. As we move far more in the SCA than Heian women did, most of our robes do not trail much. This is due to the cost of the materials needed as well.

7 You then cut the following: 2 Body Panels (Migoro), 2 sleeves (sode), 1 collar (eri), 2 gore panels (Okumi) (Remember the gores are rectangles that you fold). These go together to create the basic pattern on the right. The body is made of two panels that are 16 wide. This measurement is based on the width of the looms they had during the Heian era. Some adjustment can be made in order to compensate for different sizes because in the SCA we have a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds and a person who is 5 9 of Nordic descent is not likely going to be able to wear a robe made with 12 or 14 wide fabric. The sleeves would not be long enough and women s robes did not have sections added to make the sleeve lengths longer. In period you would have basted the two body panels together so you could take them apart to wash. In Heian Japan, the women at court did not move much at all. They sat for most of their time in court and did not put much work stress upon their robes. They also were constantly re-sewing the robes. However, basting with 1 stitches does not hold up well to the amount of wear and tear we put on our clothing in the SCA, nor do we desire to have to keep resewing the robes. Therefore, because this is for Fujinami and she is a very active in the SCA, and this is one robe of five (one unlined and 4 lined) and they all need to be done as close to the same way as possible so that the linings meet up and everything layers properly, I have chosen to machine sew the internal seams for strength and consistency. After you sew together the body panels, you attach the sleeves. The sleeves for the kosode are actually very simple. They are sewn to the body panel ten inches front and back and the rest is left open. This opening is both for air flow and so that you can show off the multiple layers of colors of the robes.

8 The front of the robe for outer wear includes a 4 collar and a gore that attaches to the body panel approximately where your collar bone is. The collar usually runs the length of the front to the tips of ones fingers, or to about 2 inches below the end of the sleeves unless they are the rare sleeve that drags past the knees (they really liked sleeves). There really does not seem to have been a true consistency in this, but for the matter of teaching the pattern to others, I had to have some point of reference. The layering process allows the other colors to peek out. In order to have the collar fit properly, you need to open up the back seam to insert the collar. I usually A Reproduction of Karaginu-mo by Kyoto Costume Museum showing position of sleeves, waist, and collar in relation to each other. (Photo by K. Griffin, 2001) open it up 1 ½ inched to 2 inches. Sewing in the collar takes practice. Of all the parts of this robe, it can be the most daunting when I teach it to others. There are a few steps to make things easier. On the short widths, iron under a ¾ hem. Iron the fabric in half (long) and then fold it over again (long). Then fold it in half so you have the middle of the length marked. Iron that. Unfold to the two layers (vs. 4) and pin the center line to the top of back seam (on the right side of the robe). Pin it all the way around along the gore. Sew down with a running basting stitch. Fold in again, and sew the top fold to the seam. (This keeps the stitches hidden and helps it lie flat.) Use a hidden whip stitch to close the bottom edge

9 So all of the over-robes including the hitoe (chemise), Itsutsu-ginu (middle robes), and Uwagi (outermost robe) have a gore-like layer between the collar (eri) and the front body panel, (migoro) that was of equal length at the base of the garments to the rest of the panels and then tapering up slowly mid torso. Previous patterns we had found showed this panel being half the width of the other panels. However, if you take the panel width down to the wide panels of the time period, you end up with a modern looking kimono, very narrow in look. You just cannot get the right look if you cut the gore panel in half. When I started the research for this project, there were very few patterns available. What patterns we did find, often did not support all the specific details of our research. The most important difference I found with the Kariginu-mo (Junihitoe) note that the width of the front patterns on line compared to my gore appears close in size to that of the width of the sleeves. research was that all not only had you (Photo by K. Griffin, 2001, Kyoto Costume Museum) cut the gore, but that it was at maximum half the width of the body panels. First, as I indicated early in this article, it is well documented that prior to dry cleaning and more modern sewing machines, Japan historically did not cut fabric if possible. Second, having investigated photos of extant textiles from Kamakura, Muromachi, and Momoyama as well as examined the photos of reproductions at the Kyoto Costume Museum, and the reproductions of robes at the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, Ontario) I have found that the bottom width of the gore was probably the width as the body panel. One you have inserted the gore, add seam allowance, and attach it to a lining or hem it, you have panel out of 14 wide fabric that looks to be about 7-9 inches visibly. This in part is what allows for the fullness that you see in Heian robe (compared to modern kimonos). In our experimentation, the look of the flared skirt of the robe was achieved in the few patterns we found if you make the gore half the width when using wide panels. In all the robes

10 that I make, I use the same width fabric for the body panels, the gore and the collar. Due to the wider arm span for women today, I sometimes substitute 18 wide fabric for the sleeves. Note: Hemming was a very rare thing in Early Japanese costume as with the fabric, the selvages were used as the finished edges. Even in modern day kimonos you will find that many still use selvages for the finished edges (Dalby, 2001; Costume Museum, 2009; Minnich, 1963) Construction and insertion of the Gore You start with your rectangle, iron it and then at the bottom, fold in about 1 ½, crease it at an angle equally, so that at the top, the fold leaves 1 ½ under the fabric. This makes each part of the fold roughly the same size. You do two of these in opposite directions (the other side you fold over the 1 ½ at the top.

11 Line fold up so that when you fold everything under, it is narrow at the top. You will be lining up the fold to the body panel. Iron the gore down and fold it under so the excess fabric is hidden. If you have raw edges, turn them under and tack down the excess fabric on the inside of the robe. Iron it down to help hide the stitches. (They don t need to be completely invisible).

12 Methods and Techniques Traditionally these robes were sewn with what today we call a kimono needle. It is a strong needle, slightly flat, very sharp and good for going through silk and brocade and just a bit over an inch in length. You could make very even stitches to hold the outfit together, but the stitches were also easy to pick back out. However, it does not work well is faux taffeta as it shreds the fibers too much, so when we are not using silk, we use modern needles. Kimono needle (Photo: G. S. Scott, 2009) In Period, a basting stitch would have been used to put the garment together. Smaller stitches would be used for seams that needed to be strong, and longer basting stitches would be used to tack fabric down (like the extra fabric along the seams or the gore) and to tack down the collar. It is interesting to note, that they did not always match the thread to fabric and it was okay if it was visible, especially if it showed off the skill of the seamstress and her even stitches (Dalby, 2001; Golden, 1997) There are only a few extant pieces of garments and screens left from the Heian era, and none of them were the clothing of the courtiers, so we get much of our information on sewing techniques either from the diaries written at the time both by the noble ladies and the tailors or royal masters of robes and from the Kamakura era that followed Heian, where more garments have been preserved and are described has having had used the same techniques (Dalby, 2001; Minnich, 1963). Basting stitches visible in a Mo from the Kyoto Costume Museum (K. Griffin, 2008) Other stitches used were the invisible hem stitch and a whip stitch. The whip stitch was sometimes visible (as in the picture to the left, or invisible, usually used to connect the lining to the over robe. This was done in part because during the Heian era, the linings always peeked out from beneath the over robe. Detail of skirt of robes Kyoto Costume Museum (Photo: K. Griffin, 2008)

13 Materials Used The materials used in period for the kinu were a fine, smooth, and polished silk with little to no slubs, similar to our modern silk taffeta and a slightly thicker version of our modern habotai (Dalby, 2001; Kyoto Costume Museum, 2011; Minnich, 1993). The period silk for the stiffer layers, such as the hitoe, MAY have been a fabric with the sericin left in the silk for extra stiffness called susushi (FUYUya, 2008). It is also possible, given some research that I have done and in talking with people who raise silk worms and make their own silk thread that the stiffer fabric was a thicker weave that would stand away from the body more and hold up to being so close to the body better because the spin of the silk itself helped create a more durable fabric. Period silks are virtually impossible to find in the United States, and exceedingly expensive if you can find them. The closest modern equivalent in texture and drape is silk taffeta, silk damask, silk jacquard, and silk brocade, all of which are still very expensive, especially given that even the most minimal number of robes can require over 60 yards of fabric. Due to the expense of more period fabrics, we have opted to use a very good faux taffeta for our robes. While the sheen is not exactly how it would have been in period, the drape works very well. The numbers I am a big proponent of using natural fabric for all things; however, in order to be able to do the 3 sets of robes I have worked on thus far, I have had to really balance priorities. It is just far too expensive to make the full set of robes out of silk at this time for the people who wear them. The average price of silk taffeta is $45. Sometimes I can find the colors I need for around $35, but other colors are $60 so I go with that average. I could buy plain white for the lower end of $35 and dye each color, however, I currently have a 3 year old in my house and my dyeing days are on hold. Each robe that I have made, dependent upon height of model and how long we want it to be, required 6-9 yards of fabric (if it is 45 wide fabric). This gives you a slight train and moderate sleeve length. 6 yards of Taffeta = $240, 9 yards = $360 Double that if the robe is lined. The minimum full outfit requires: nagabakama (pants, 7 yd), kosode (undershirt, 4 yd), hitoe (Unlined, 6 yd) 1 kinu (lined, 12 yd) & 1 uwagi (lined, 12 yd) If you only use silk taffeta (no brocade of jacquard) for someone 5 5 or shorter, then you need a total of 41 yards = ~$1650, if you are 5 7 by the way, like Mistress Kasha, you need a minimum of 9 yards for the robes, making it 56 yards - ~$2240 (not including her karaginu and mo) for the minimum under layers (no Karaginu-mo).

14 For good faux taffeta (aprox $10/yd) the numbers are 41yds =$410 or 56 yds = $560 A full outfit with the hitoe layers (nagabakama, kosode & hitoe) 5 kinu, 1 ko-uchigi, 1 karaginu, and 1 mo: about 112 yards/$4480 Fujinami s outfit is a full outfit with the hitoe layers (nagabakama, kosode & hitoe = 19yds), 5 kinu (lined, 70 yd), 1 uwagi (lined, 14 yd), karaginu (lined, 10 yd), and mo (partially lined, 14yd) at 7 yards per robe. 127 yards approximately for one court outfit. In silk it would cost a minimum of $5700. In Faux Taffeta it cost us around $600 (using discounts). I hope one day myself to be able to afford one lined robe in period appropriate silk, however at this time it just is not affordable for me, particularly given that I do not have a Japanese persona. Recap This robe is made out of synthetic taffeta, hand sewn with period stitches for everything but the internal supporting seams. Both silk and cotton thread were used. The robe will be lined after this.

15 Bibliography of Primary Resources Books Arntzen, S. (1997). The Kagero Diary: A Woman's Autobiographical Text from Tenth-Century Japan. Ann Arbor, MI, Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan. Nagase, Mari. (2000). The Tale of Genji. UNESCO Sei, S. & McKinney, M. Ed. (2006). Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon. London, England, Penguin Books. Sei, S. & Morris, I., Ed. (1991). The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon. New York, Columbia University Press. Shikibu, M. (2001). The Tale of Genji. New York, New York, Penguin Group. Shikibu, M. (2001). The Tale of Genji, Viking. Shikibu, M (2006). The Diary of Murisaki. Penguin Books, The Penguin Group. Shikibu, M. and others (2003). Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan. Mineola, New York, Dover Publications, Inc. Museums & Photo Galleries from Museums Costume Museum, Inc. (2011). Costume Museum, Kyoto (Japanese version): Griffin, K. (2008). Crimson Griffin s Photos of Kyoto Costume Museum Set: Bibliography of Secondary & Tertiary Resources Arntzen, S. (1997). The Kagero Diary: A Woman's Autobiographical Text from Tenth-Century Japan. Ann Arbor, MI, Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan. Better Homes and Gardens. (2010). Gardening, Bryant, A. E. o. E. (2004). Sengoku Daimyo Homepage: Costume Museum, Inc. (2011). Costume Museum, Kyoto (Japanese version): Dalby, L. C. (2001). Kimono: Fashioning Culture. Seattle and London, University of Washington Press. FUYUya (2008). HEIAN Kasane no irome: Golden, Arthur. (1997). The Memoirs of a Geisha. Vintage Books, Random House. Goodwin, J. R. (2007). Selling Songs and Smiles: The Sex Trade in Heian Kamakura Japan. Honolulu, HI, University of Hawaii Press. Griffin, K. (2008). Crimson Griffin s Photos of Kyoto Costume Museum Set: Harvey, S. M. (2001). Juni-hito Styles of Heian Era Japan: Hooker, Richard (1997). Japanese Glossary, The Heian Period. Minnich, H. B. (1963). Japanese Costume and the Makers of Its Elegant Tradition. Tokyo, Charles E. Tuttle Co. Morris, I. (1994). The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan, Kodansha International.

16 Munsterberg, H. (1996). The Japanese Kimono. New York, Oxford University Press. Nagase, Mari. (2000). The Tale of Genji, UNESCO Noma, S. (1983). Japanese Costume and Textile Arts. New York, New York, John Weatherhill, Inc. Stevens, Rebecca A. T. and Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada(1996). The Kimono Inspiration: Art and Art-to-wear in America. Pomegranate. Sei, S. & Morris, I., Ed. (1991). The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon. New York, Columbia University Press. Sei, S. & McKinney, M. Ed. (2006). The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon. London, England, Penguin Books. Wakita, Haruko, & Walthall, Anne & Tonomura, Hitomi (1999). Women and class in Japanese history. Center for Japanese Studies, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

17 Appendix A: Mentions of the robes in Primary Resources Returning to my room, I looked in at Lady Saishō s door, only to find her asleep. She lay with her head pillowed on a writing box, her face all but hidden by a series of robes dark red lined with green, purple lined with dark red over which she had thrown a deep crimson gown of unusually glossy silk. The shape of her forehead was enchanting and so delicate. She looked just like one of those princesses you find depicted in illustrations. I pulled back the sleeve that covered her face. (Shikibu, 2006, p. 6-7) For the third day she wore a white mantle of Chinese damask with a red lining, and a dark red jacket of figured silk. As was usually the case, when the gown was dark the lining was a shade paler, and vice versa. Her lined robes were of various colours, pale green, white with a dark-red lining, light yellow, dark yellow, crimson with purple lining, and pale purple lined in white; the effect of these six quite common combinations worn all at one time together with the mantle was perfect. (Shikibu, 2006, pg 24) Inside the blinds, we gentlewomen sat with our cherry-blossom combination Chinese jackets worn draped loosely back from the shoulders. Our robes were a fine blend of wisteria and kerria-yellow and other seasonal combinations, the sleeves all spilling out on display below the blinds that hung from the little half-panel shutters (Sei, 2006, pg. 18). a woman is lying in bed after her lover has taken his leave. She has a beautiful glossed silk lavender robe lined in violet pulled up over her head. She is asleep. She wears an apricot-colored chemise, a yellow raw silk robe, and a scarlet-pink unlined robe. The cords of her long trousers hang untied by her side. (Sei, 1991, p. 37) "The sleeve of my turned-out robe is chill with tears," he wrote, "And this morning even the heavens seem to weep." (Arntzen, 1997, p. 76) Sei Shonagon s Lists from The Pillow Book Elegant Things A white coat worn over a violet waistcoat (Sei, 2006, p.) Elegantly Intriguing Things Hair tossed back, but not roughly, over a robe that s been beaten to a fine gloss, so that you can only guess at its splendid length (Sei, 2006, p. 179) Dispiriting things - Robes in the plum-pink combination, when it's now the third or fourth month. (Sei, 2006, p. 23) Infuriating things Having hurriedly sewn something, you re rather pleased with how nicely you ve done it but then when you come to pull out the needle, you find that you forgot to knot the thread when you began.

18 It s also infuriating to discover you ve sewn something inside out. I remember an occasion while Her Majesty was staying in the Southern Residence, when she announced that some clothes were urgently needed, and ordered us all to set to and sew them then and there. She handed out the pieces of robe, and we all gathered at the front of the building and started work, each on her separate piece. We looked quite crazed, everyone sewing away furiously to see who could do the most, each of us seated on her own and all facing in different directions. Nurse Myōbu raced through her sewing and put down the finished work. However, just as she was in the act of tying off the thread she realized that she d stitched one of the sleeve pieces together the wrong way round. She flung it down in a panic and rose to her feet, but when her piece was put together with the back section the mistake was discovered. We made great fun of her for this, and told her she had to hurry and redo it, but she wouldn t hear of it. Why should I re-sew it just because I find I ve sewed it up wrongly? she demanded. If it s figured cloth or something then you can tell what s back and front, and it would be fair to make anyone who hadn t looked re-sew it in that case, but this is unpatterned cloth, so there was no way of telling. Why should I re-sew this! Get someone who hasn t done any of the sewing to fix it. Well, we can t just leave things at that, can we, said Gen Shōnagon and Chūnagon, and they drew up the pieces and grimly set about doing the necessary re-sewing. It was most entertaining to observe how Nurse Myōbu sat there staring balefully at them as they worked. (Sei, 2006, p )

19 Appendix B: Important Clothing Terms Hitoe. Type of underwear, sometimes referred to as the chemise, worn beneath the uchigi and over the kosode and hakama or nagabakama. It is the first visible layer. Itsutsu-ginu. (robes) The robes worn over the hitoe and under the karaginu and mo. Also referred to as uchigi and kinu. Juni-hitoe. Literally twelve layers, this is the term for the formal court attire of Heian women, consisting of a kosode, a hitoe, a nagabakama, and many layers of uchigi, often finished with a karaginu and mo. Karaginu. Chinese styled jacket worn over the uwagi and mo for formal occasions. Karaginu-mo. Formal term for juni-hitoe. Kosode. (Short sleeve) Traditional robe style of Heian Japan. It is also the term for the undergarment of both women and men s clothing. Ko-uchigi. (Little cloak) A dressing robe that could be put on over the uchigi to slightly dress up the outfit. Kumihimo. (Gathered threads) Japanese braiding technique. Heian Lady in semi-formal dress (Reproduction) Kyoto Costume Museum, (2009) Mo. Train or apron-skirt worn over the juni-hitoe for formal occasions. It was considered very formal and was required of women of the court while on official duty Nagabakama. (divided skirt) Formal version of hakama worn by court women Uchigi. The outside uchigi was called uwagi and the ones worn under it were called kasane-uchigi. The highest ranked court ladies could wear patterned silk; the ordinary court ladies wore unpatterned waves similar to modern habotai. They were also called the itsutsuginu or kinu. Uwagi. (Over robe) This robe topped the layers of uchigi. The higher the rank, the longer the uwagi. Mistress Kasha, Genpei War era (12 th Century) Karaginu-Mo (Photo, Dr. RoseAnna Vicklund, 2016)

20 Appendix C Primary Sources: Literature of the Heian Era Between 814 and 827 three imperially sponsored anthologies of Chinese poetry appeared, for a while, however, it seems this would be all, and that poetry and literature would play a minor role in society. These are the most important and easily available documents written during the Heian era. While there are others, many of them are either not translated into English or not intact enough to benefit this research. The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon the title is representative of the noble habit of keeping notepaper near their pillows, called makura. Shōnagon called her WIP soshi (Random notes). The Japanese refer to the collected essays as Makura no Soshi (Random Notes of the Pillow). The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu - Widely considered the first novel ever written, and just celebrated its 1000 th anniversary in The complete book with woodwork art is available online now: The Gossamer Years (The Kagero Nikki) Written by "the mother of Michitsuna, it was the first of its kind in a long line of diaries from the Heian Era. It was written in her later years, after she left court. The Sarishina Nikki (Diary) - The daughter of Takasue started it when she was less than 18 years old and covers her time both at court and in the country on her family s estate in the Sarishina Province. The Murasaki Shikibu Nikki (Diary) Murasaki Shikibu diary, author of The Tale of Genji, most likely written between 1008 and 1010

21 Appendix D Periods of Japanese History Ancient & Early Medieval (C. E.) Kofun ( ) Askuka Period ( ) Nara period ( ) Heian Period ( ) Medieval Period Kamakura Period ( )** Kenmu Restoration ( ) Sengoku Period (Upheval) Muromachi Period ( ) Momoyama Period ( ) Tokugawa Shogonate Edo Period ( ) Modern Period Meiji Period ( ) Taisho- WWI ( ) Showa ( ) Heisei (1989 present) ** Different sources date the end of the Heian Era to either 1185, when Taira is defeated and Minamoto Yoritomo seizes power, or the beginning of the Kamakura Shogonate in 1192

22 Appendix F - Paintings and Reproductions showing the Robes of the Heian Era. These first two pictures are of Makura no soshi emaki a single illustrated scroll/text of The Pillow Book, handwritten by Gokoken-in, a Buddhist monk in the late 13th century and illustrated in the early 14th by an unknown female artist. It is the only early period known surviving copy that is illustrated. (Photos are Public Domain, provided by Japan s Historical Archives and Wikipedia.)

23 11 th Century Scroll of Palace Interior, The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, (Public Domain, Japan, 2017) 12 th Century segment of Murasaki Shikibu s Nikki Emaki (Tokyo Historical Museum, 2013)

24 Excerpts from Tale of Genji manuscript, Top: Palace Interior, Bottom: Bamboo River ( Library of Congress Photo Archive, 2017)

25 From the Album of the Lotus Sutra, 12 th Century Fan Shapes pages that are considered one of Japans National Treasures. There are 23 pages to this manuscript at the Tokyo National Museum and available to view online at the Japanese e-museum (

26 Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, then Crown Prince & Princess, She is wearing a Jūnihitoe, very similar to the robes described at those worn by Murasaki Shikibu. 10 April 1959, Public Domain (2017)