Kimono of the Meiji period (1868-1912)

In 1853 an American naval squadron arrived off the coast of Japan demanding that the country open its ports to western powers. This external pressure combined with internal unrest and led to revolution, the overthrow of the shōgun and the restoration of the Meiji Emperor in 1868. The imperial court moved to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo.

The new government realized that the only way Japan would be able to compete with the military and industrial might of the West was to transform itself along western lines. An unprecedented period of transformation was launched that was to affect all areas of life, including clothing. It was at this point that the word 'kimono', the thing worn, was coined to define T-shaped garments as opposed to western-style ones.

Some members of the elite adopted western dress because of its association with the concepts of civilisation, modernisation and progress that the Meiji government sought to promote. Dress also began to diverge along lines of place and gender as men started to wear business suits for work. While men usually changed into kimono when at home in the private sphere, women, who tended to inhabit only the domestic space, continued to wear kimono most of the time. Interestingly, Japan's textile industry was one of the first to adopt western science and technology. Using new techniques silk fabric was produced in greater qualities and at reasonable prices. Many women could afford to buy silk kimono for the first time and, with the end of the Tokugawa shogunate and the sumptuary laws, were not forbidden from wearing them.

The 'opening' of Japan aroused enormous interest in the West and the flood of information and goods that subsequently reached Europe and America led to a craze for all things Japanese. Kimono were exported to the West, and by the 1870s were available to buy in shops such as Liberty's in London.

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Figure 1 This kimono has a lavish overall design of auspicious motifs of pine, bamboo, plum, peony, chrysanthemum, crane and tortoise. This type of kimono was often exported to the West in the late 19th century in respose to the craze in Europe and America for all things Japanese.

Figure 2 This kimono is embroidered with two shishi, mythical lion-like creatures characterised by their fierce expressions, large eyes and curly mane and tail. They are shown fighting across a bridge over a waterfall surrounded by peonies. The eyes of the shishi are of glass and the embroidery is padded, giving the scene a very three-dimensional quality. The thick, heavy hem of the garment denotes that it is an outer kimono, or uchikake, worn during the winter months. Uchikake are worn without an obi (sash) so the rich design would have been clearly visible.

Figure 3 This elegantly patterned kimono celebrates the beauty of textiles through its decoration, which depicts lengths of fabric hung on an elaborate stand and gently fluttering in the breeze surrounded by clouds, fans and falling cherry blossoms. The design was created using a technique called yuzen. This involves drawing the pattern on the cloth with rice paste extruded through the metal tip of a cloth bag. The paste forms a protective coat that prevents the colour penetrating when the dyes are applied. Here the skills of the dyer have been enhanced by those of the embroider, who has highlighted the stand and the edges of the fabrics in gold and added flowers, blossoms and elaborate ties and tassels in pink, white and green.