Kimono: embroidery

Kimono, 1820-1860. Museum no. T. 79-1927. The combination of delicate embroidery and dark blue satin fabric give this kimono a striking, lustrous appearance. This kimono has a design of ducks on rippling water among flowers. Paired ducks are a symbol of marital harmony, so this kimono may have been part of a wedding trousseau.

Like other patterning methods, Japanese embroidery has a long history and reached its peak of technical sophistication in the Edo period. Exploiting the freedom the technique allows, and utilising a myriad of colours and an extensive range of stitches, embroiderers have produced some of the most striking of all Japanese textiles. Embroidery was often used in conjunction with dyeing, the combination of techniques giving designs a variety of texture and visual depth. When embroidery was the sole decorative method, a satin fabric was commonly used, giving an extremely lustrous effect.

Japanese embroiderers employ a number of different stitches. A flat stitch (hira-nui), equivalent to satin stitch in the West, is used to create pattern elements such as flowers and leaves. These stitches use floss (untwisted) silk, which gives the embroidery a very rich sheen. A tiny gap, equivalent to the point of the needle, is used to delineate elements such as the separate petals of flowers or the central veins of leaves. Larger areas are defined with long and short stitches (sashi-nui), also in floss silk. Twisted threads, generally in pairs, are also used. In katayori, one thread is highly twisted and then twisted, more lightly and in the opposite direction, with another thread, giving a nubbled appearance. Another type of texture is created with a knot stitch (sagura-nui). Metallic thread is also used to dazzling effect in Japanese embroidery. This is made from a silk core wrapped in paper and then with gold or silver leaf. The resulting thread is too thick to pass through fine silk without damaging it, so is couched (attached with small stitches) on to the fabric.

In Japan a number of other decorative techniques involve the use of a needle and thread. In Tsugaru, the northernmost part of Japan's main island Honshū, kimono are embellished using a method called kogin, in which white stitches are embroidered over and under an odd number of warps on the woven ground fabric to create a diamond pattern.

Kimono, 1820-1860. Museum no. FE. 11-1983

The long 'swinging sleeves' (furisode) of this kimono indicate that it would have been worn by a young unmarried woman. The family crest, mon, across the shoulders suggest that she was probably a woman of the samurai class, the military aristocracy of Japan in the Edo period (1615-1868). The garment has a large padded hem and was designed as an outer kimono for winter wear. It would have been worn without an obi, the sash that secures the garment, so no part of the beautifully embroidered design would have been obscured. The pattern of floral roundels was a favourite among women of the samurai class.

Kimono, 1830-1880. Museum no. T. 269-1960

This striking kimono has long swinging sleeves, indicating that it would have been worn by a young unmarried woman, while the large padded hem reveals that it was designed as an outer garment for winter wear. The shimmering white ground has been embroidered with chrysanthemums and other flowers and large butterflies, no two of which are the same.

Kimono, 1890-1930. Museum no. FE. 141-1983

This kimono was made and worn by a woman living in Tsugaru, a penisula in the very north of Honshû, the main island of Japan. It is woven with fine indigo-dyed ramie. The decorative panel on the upper part has been stitched in white with a diamond pattern, a technique known as kogin. If she was to make a good marriage it was essential that a Tsugaru woman master the skills of kogin, and training began at an early age. By her wedding day the bride was expected to have woven and embroidered a number of fine garments for herself and her future husband. These would be worn on special occasions.