The dress of the Japanese is very peculiar, and well suited to their features and complexion. Although it has about it something of a Chinese aspect, it is as distinct from the Chinese as is the character of the two people. As in China, the dress consists of much the same articles with both sexes, that of the women differing from male apparel chiefly in the comparative length of the robes and the mode of dressing the hair. A male Japanese may or may not wear trousers, his liberty in this point being absolute, sometimes amounting to a practical dispensation with all dress whatever.
The chief articles of male dress are robes of differing lengths, one being worn upon the other, until a man will sometimes carry four or five robes at once. They are girt round the waist with a broad sash, so that if the wearer wishes to remove his dress, he has only to loosen the sash, and draw his arms out of the sleeves, when all the garments fall to the ground together. The sleeves are very large, and, being partly closed at the ends, are used as pockets, in which are carried various little articles of portable property. In the sleeves, for example, are carried the squares of white paper which serve as pocket handkerchiefs, and which are always thrown away when used; and in the same convenient receptacle the Japanese guest will carry off the remains of the feast to which he has been invited, such being the custom of this strange country.
The material of these robes differs according to the wealth and quality of the wearer, some being of simple cotton, while those of the higher classes are made of the finest silks, and ornamented with the device or arms of the family, embroidered on the breast and back of the outer robe.
The hair of the men is dressed in a very singular manner. The front and temples of the head are shaved, as in China, and the remaining hair is made into a tail, as is the case with the Chinese. The hair, however, is not allowed to grow to its utmost length, and to hang down the back, but is made into a short queue, about three inches in length, and as thick as the finger, and is turned up over the top of the head. Generally the head is bare, but it is sometimes covered with a hat. The hats differ much in shape. That which is in general use is nearly flat, and is fastened to the head by six strings, two of which pass under the chin, two are crossed at the back of the head, and two more are passed under the nose. A hat thus fastened gives to the head a very singular aspect, making the face look as if it had suffered from a severe accident, and was covered with bandages. Some hats look like beehives, and entirely conceal the features, and are worn by outlaws, or “lonins,” and disgraced nobles. Sometimes the men pass a piece of stuff over their heads in such a way as to hide the forehead and chin, and only to leave the eyes, nose, and mouth exposed; and in winter they throw over the hat a piece of cloth, which is tied over the nose so as to shield that member from the cold blasts.
Men of consideration also wear a scarf over the shoulders, its length being regulated by the rank of the wearer, and thus serving to indicate the amount of courtesy which is due from one man to another. When two Japanese gentlemen meet, they bow until the ends of the scarf touch the ground. It is evident, therefore, that the man who, in virtue of his rank, wears the longest scarf, has the less distance to bow.
In addition to the ordinary costume, the dress of ceremony has two extraordinary additions. The first is the “kami-samo,” respecting which the Japanese are exceedingly punctilious. It consists of a piece of stuff which is folded back over the shoulders in a fan-like form, and gives a most extraordinary and awkward look to the wearer. Courtiers wear another article of dress which is exactly opposed to our customs.
In European courts the nether garments are abbreviated, and only come to the knee; in Japan the custom is reversed. When the nobles appear before the emperor, they wear a pair of trousers with legs fully twice as long as those of the wearer, so that in walking they trail a yard or so on the ground. Walking in such garments is an art which can only be attained by long practice, and which, even when learned, is nothing more than an ungainly shuffle, threatening every moment to throw the courtier on his face. The attitudes which are assumed by fashionable courtiers are so absurd that the Japanese picture books abound in caricatures of noblemen at court. The object of this curious custom is probably to give the wearer of the court dress an aspect as if he were kneeling instead of standing.
Men of the better classes always appear in public carefully dressed, but those of the lower orders consider themselves sufficiently clothed if they have a mere strip of cloth like the “languti” of India. Coolies, for example, laborers of various kinds, post-runners, etc., wear nothing but the cloth strip while at work.
Mr. Oliphant, in his “Narrative,” mentions this fact in connection with the custom of tattooing, which is carried out in Japan to as much perfection as in Polynesia. “Some, however, denied themselves the benefit of dress, apparently for the purpose of exhibiting the brilliant patterns in which their skins were tattooed. One man had a monster crab on the small of his back, and a pretty cottage on his chest. It is rather fashionable to have scarlet fish playing sportively between your shoulders. The scarlet tattooing presents a very disgusting appearance. The skin looks as if it had been carefully peeled off into the required pattern.
“On a really well-tattooed man there is not an inch of the body which does not form part of a pictorial representation. If the general effect is not agreeable, it is perfectly decent, for the skin ceases to look bare, or like skin at all; it rather resembles a harlequin’s costume. It must be dreadful to feel that one can never undress again. Yet what anguish does not the victim undergo, in order to put himself into a permanent suit of red dye and gunpowder!” The Japanese are very fond of their children, and in summer time a man may often be seen in the streets, wearing nothing but the cloth strip, and carrying in his arms his infant child, who has no clothing whatever.