Object Note
A set of three (kimono)s acquired from the V&A store during a visit to ‘Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk’ exhibition, held in 2020, along with (ZI2020.500745 ASIA, and ZI2020.500747 ASIA).
Object History
This is a genuine Japanese vintage kimono made in Japan. It was restored and put on sale by the V&A where Dr. Reem Tariq El Mutwalli purchased it along with two other kimonos (ZI2020.500745 ASIA, and ZI2020.500747 ASIA) for the Zay Initiative collection.
Object Features
This is an olive-green silk (houmongi_kimono) woven in (twill_tapestry) style and decorated with landscape motifs and scenes in a typical Oriental – Sino-Japanese / Far Eastern – style. This elegant piece showcases the traditional Japanese craftsmanship of kimono making.
The base fabric is a figured (damask) or (rinzu) with sprinkles of leaf motifs possibly bamboo. The piece is heavily printed, possibly (yuzen_print), with an eastern landscape depicting a countryside scenery in bright yellow along its bottom hemline, left sleeve and shoulder and left side fall. This idyllic landscape scenario is exhibited in a painting – eba – style which was quite popular during the Taisho period – 1912-1926.
The kimono is filled with the holy trinity of Japanese motifs the pine tree – sho – bamboo – chiko – and plum – bai – of which are associated with good fortune. Other motifs like little huts, flowing water bodies, rolling hills, curling clouds, and willowing bamboo bushes along the edge of the water create a picturesque and idyllic setting bringing about a certain gracefulness and calmness associated with femininity in Japanese and other Far Eastern cultures.
Although in a very muted colour, the triple opening in the sleeves, and the broad collar suggest that it is a women’s kimono. A metal snap button set is sewn in the middle of the collar possibly to help keep it folded while wearing it. The original lining in ivory satin, now only limited to the back, stands testament to its usage with its stains and discolouration. It is clear from the grey and silver lining on the fall – waist down – of the piece that it is a new piece attached to the kimono in an effort to restore and preserve its original construct as much as possible.
The entire piece is hand stitched with white silk floss thread which creates a visual element along its hemlines especially the sleeves and the bottom. With a thick fabric, an educated conclusion could be drawn that this piece was possibly made for a mildly cool autumn or spring as kimonos for winter were mostly made of thicker material and were also padded while summer kimonos were mostly constructed of very light materials like cotton and linen.
While the origin of certain techniques and methods in textiles like satin_stitch embroidery can be traced to China, and its spread across the world could be attributed to the Silk Road, other similar techniques and styles are believed to have originated independently in different regions of the world almost simultaneously in human history possibly from necessity and convenience.
Though The Zay Initiative is concerned mainly with the dress and adornment heritage of the Arab world, it does include in its collection articles from areas outside the region. These tend to be collected to illustrate specific shared elements and influences attesting that the Arab world never existed in a vacuum.
It constantly drew, and continues to draw, inspiration and influences from the cultures it comes in contact with be it through trade or geopolitical circumstances, especially those countries within the old silk route.
Therefore, one cannot but draw parallels between many techniques used in such garments, such as (couching) and thread knotting techniques (macrame), or flat metal adornment (talli), that are quite similar to those found in different parts of the Arab region.
The kimono also shows an example of similarities that can be drawn from the pattern of Arab women’s overgarment or the (thawb), common to the Gulf region, constructed of three uncut panels of broad clothes forming the central body panel and the side sleeve panels very similar in shape to the kimono.
Links
- Morishima, Yuki, et al. Kimono Refashioned: Japan’s Impact on International Fashion. USA, Asian Art Museum, 2018.
- Kahlenberg, Mary Hunt. Asian Costumes and Textiles: From the Bosphorus to Fujiama. Italy, Skira, 2001.
- Liddell, Jill. The Story of the Kimono. USA, E P Dutton, 1989.
- Dalby, Liza Crihfield. Kimono: Fashioning Culture. Reaktion Books, 1993.
- Gluckman, Dale Carolyn and Sharon Sadako Takeda. When Art Became Fashion: Kosode in Edo-Period Japan. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1996.
- Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk. 27 Aug. – 25 Oct. 2020, V&A South Kensington, London https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/kimono-kyoto-to-catwalk
- Gluckman, Dale Carolyn. “Liza Dalby. Kimono: Fashioning Culture.:Kimono: Fashioning Culture.” Museum Anthropology, vol. 19, no. 1, Mar. 1995, pp. 79–81. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1525/mua.1995.19.1.79
- “Meisen Kimono From HALI 184 – HALI.” HALI, 24 July 2015, hali.com/news/meisen-kimono.
- Kimono Style: Edo Traditions to Modern Design: The John C. Weber Collection. USA, Met Publications, www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Kimono_Style
- Kimono Refashioned. 8 Feb. – 5 May, 2019, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco https://exhibitions.asianart.org/exhibitions/kimono-refashioned/
- Takeda, Sharon Sadako. Monumenta Nipponica, vol. 49, no. 2, 1994, pp. 245–47. JSTOR,https://doi.org/10.2307/2385177. Accessed 10 May 2023.
- Guth, Christine. Journal of Japanese Studies, vol. 20, no. 2, 1994, pp. 518–22. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/133209. Accessed 10 May 2023.
- Richard, Naomi Noble. “Nō Motifs in the Decoration of a Mid-Edo Period Kosode.” Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 25, 1990, pp. 175–83. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1512899. Accessed 10 May 2023.
- Kramer, Elizabeth. “Review of ‘Kimono: A Modern History.’” Reviews in History, School of Advanced Study, 2015. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14296/rih/2014/1787.
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