Object Features
This pale blue crêpe cloak (kosode), is printed and embroidered with mountain tops emerging from clouds. It is lined in orange-red silk with a padded hem. The word kosode (小袖 in Japanese) literally means ‘small sleeves.’ This traditional garment predates the kimono and was commonly worn from the Heian period (794 to 1185) until the end of the Edo period (1603 and 1867), although our particular item is a later example. Originally, the kosode was a type of narrow-sleeved undergarment worn next to the skin by both men and women or worn as a sleeping garment. In later years it became common to wear a kosode as an outergarment, at which time they became more elaborately decorated and more similar in shape to the kimono. A kosode is different from a kimono in that the sleeves are narrower and shorter, the collar is wider, the overlapping panels are narrower, and the shoulders are dropped.
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