Home Life in Tokyo

by Jukichi Inouye

THE late Prince Ito’s first administration which lasted from 1886 to 1889, was a period of great pro-European activity when heroic attempts were made to Europeanise the entire social organisation. The most conspicuous of these attempts were the strenuous efforts made to remodel the social life of the nation; and with that object in view, various social customs of the West were introduced. Balls and soirées were given in official circles and among peers and men of wealth. One of the direct consequences of this innovation was the eager adoption of the foreign costume by ladies of rank and position, whose example was soon followed by their humbler sisters. Women in European dresses were common objects in streets and at public gatherings. And it looked for a time as if the national costume were doomed.

But it was not long before a reaction set in. A cry arose in various quarters for the preservation of national characteristics; and though there was a section of these reactionaries who would resist the introduction of western innovations in all departments of life, the general sense of the nation was to yield only so far as a change was necessitated by the incompatibility of the old customs with the new conditions imposed by the adoption of western civilisation. And among the first to feel the effect of this reaction was the western style of female dress; and our women fell back upon their national costume. It was as well that the reversion to the old style took place before the reforming spirit had gone too far, for, to tell the truth, the Japanese woman seldom appears to advantage in a European dress. If she looks graceful in her kimono, she cannot be equally prepossessing in a bodice and a skirt; and those who are charming in a western costume are the reverse in their native dress. The conditions which are needed to give charm to the wearer of the kimono are totally different to the conditions which one associates with elegance in European dress. The former require rounded or sloping shoulders, for square ones would put the sides of the dress out of shape and interfere with the graceful disposition of the sleeves. The body should be bent forward, for if it were held straight or bent back, the dress at the breast and the knot of the obi would suffer; and for the same reason full breasts are out of favour. The close-fitting skirt of the kimono prevents the feet from being set far apart, and the wearer cannot take long strides. Her feet are turned slightly inward and makes her wobble a little as she walks. Such a gait would be very ungainly when a woman puts on a European dress. It may be possible for her when she dons European garments to assume another gait than that she is used to in Japanese; but it is naturally very hard to throw off on occasion a habit acquired from childhood.

But what really led to the discarding of the European dress was not so much the uncomely form it presented as the expense and inconvenience it entailed upon its wearer. It necessitates the possession of jewelry which is useless in a Japanese dress; necklaces and bracelets are not put on with the latter. The foreign dress is, moreover, extremely inconvenient in a Japanese house. A man can squat in European clothes without much difficulty if his trousers are baggy enough to allow the knees to be doubled; and if they are creased, they may be set right again with a little ironing. He can therefore visit his friends in European clothes. With a woman the case is different. She cannot squat in a European dress. Her corset would inflict on her excruciating tortures as it gets out of shape when the body is bent forward in squatting; she certainly could not bow her head to the mat in the usual Japanese fashion. What trimmings she might have on her skirt would be irretrievably spoilt; and if she once squatted, she could not get up without assistance or going on all fours. In short, the European dress cannot come into vogue until Japanese houses are remodelled and furnished with chairs instead of mats and cushions. Moreover, the expense of having a fair wardrobe of both European and Japanese dresses deters many women from taking to the former since the latter are absolutely indispensable.

Lovers of the picturesque may then rest assured that there is no immediate prospect of the disappearance of the graceful kimono. Largely as are the western clothes worn by Japanese men and boys, there is not much danger of their totally supplanting the national costume while the internal arrangement of the Japanese house remains unchanged; and that transformation is, as we have already stated, to be looked for in a very dim future. Still less probability is there of a similar change in the costume of our women as it is even more intimately connected than men’s clothes with domestic life. It is indeed as well that it should be so, for much as we desire to make use of the fruits of western civilisation, we would emphatically draw the line when it comes to the appearance our wives and daughters shall present at home. We may therefore leave out of consideration the western costume as worn by Japanese women.

The Japanese female dress does not differ essentially from the male; the distinction lies in its proportions and colours. There is therefore no need to describe it in detail; it will suffice if we give the points of difference. Thus, the body pieces are a little narrower to fit the slighter forms of women; but they are longer, the length being from four feet nine inches to five feet. The tuck at the hip is not sewn in as in a man’s dress, but the body is left loose so that the dress may be worn with a train or tucked at the hip with a sash. The tuck is usually about eight inches. The neck-band is also much wider than men’s, being four inches and a half, and longer by an inch or more. The sleeves too are longer by two inches or more; but the opening at the wrist is smaller. The sleeves are open for about a foot from the lower extremity so as to allow the wide obi to be worn without inconvenience, and sewn on to the body pieces for about ten inches from the top. The front and back edges of the body piece are hemmed for four inches before they are sewn together and leave an aperture of that length under the joints of the sleeve. This opening is made in all female dresses and exposes the sides of the body to the air; but it is hidden from view by the sleeve and the obi, and is visible only when the sleeve is held up; the object of this aperture is to give free play to the breast part of the dress. In all female dresses the sleeves are left open and hemmed from their joints with the body pieces to the lower end. The skirt of the wadded kimono is more heavily wadded than men’s and is rounded to show more of the lining and the bulge of the wadding.

Under the kimono a woman wears much the same clothing as a man; but unlike him, she wears two loin-cloths. The lower one, which is the loin-cloth proper, is a piece of bleached cotton wound round the hips and coming down to the knees. It is called in Japanese the “bath-cloth,” as it was formerly, and still is in some parts of the country, worn when a woman takes a bath. The upper loin-cloth, called the “hip-wrap,” is more ornamental; it is tied round the hips like the bath-cloth, but comes down to the feet. It is usually made of mousseline de laine or crêpe, and is red for girls, of a gay colour with fanciful patterns for young women, and white for matrons. This hip-wrap is replaced in winter by what we call a “long chemise,” which is practically a kimono made without the tuck and of the exact height of the wearer. Over the neck-band is sewn an ornamental band called “half-band,” which is usually of crêpe, though some other light silk may be used, red for young girls and of various colours, white, black, violet, blue, or grey for grown-up persons. Flowers, birds, or landscapes are embroidered on it with gold or silver threads or with silk. This ornamental half-band is worn on the chemise or other underwear next to the kimono. The kimono, the upper one if two are worn, which is for home wear, is usually covered over the neck-band with an over-band of satin.

Women wear, like men, haori of various descriptions, the crested haori of black crêpe, the uncrested made of silk, striped, spotted, or of other pattern, and the long haori, which though often less wadded than men’s, reaches like theirs below the knees. A woman’s haori differs from a man’s, like the kimono, in having sleeves open on the inner side and a loop-hole under the arm.

The hakama is worn by school-girls and their teachers, and by some of the court ladies. The girl’s hakama differs from man’s in not being divided. It is simply round like the European skirt; but it has plaits which are not, however, so deep or so marked as men’s. It is open, like theirs, at the sides near the obi and tied in the same way.

The Japanese woman’s pride, however, is the obi. It is often the most costly of all her apparel. It is about thirteen feet long and thirteen and a half inches wide. The obi for ordinary wear is made by sewing together back to back two pieces of cloth, of which the face is commonly of stiff stuff like satin and the lining of crêpe, or other soft silk or cotton. But the obi worn on formal occasions consists of a single piece of double width, which is folded in two lengthwise and seamed; it is made of taffety, satin, damask, or gold or other brocade. The Chinese satin has at one end the name of its loom in red thread; and imitation satins and sateens have similar names at the same end; and this end is always exposed to view when the obi is worn. When sewn, the woman’s obi is padded like men’s.