Why is there a big bag behind a woman's kimono?

This is a knot on the belt. During the Taoshan period (1582- 1600), Toyotomi Hideyoshi actively advocated overseas trade, which attracted many missionaries across the ocean to this eastern polar island country. At that time, the Japanese were very interested in seeing a rope-like belt tied to the missionary's robe and imitated it one after another. Later, influenced by the wide belt of Korean traditional clothing, it gradually evolved into the wrapping belt of kimono today.

At first, I just knitted a rope-like belt and wrapped it around my body layer by layer. This is the origin of Nagoya rope and Hakata rope. It was not until the edo period that it was changed to a wide belt. It was only three or four centimeters wide. Later, it gradually widened and became a belt that needs to be folded in half and wrapped around the waist today. However, this kind of winding will hide the girth of women and turn them into a cylindrical figure with a general thickness from top to bottom, so women have come up with a way to tie a knot on the belt and try to make the knot close to the breast to emphasize the curve.

At first, the knot of kimono belt, like all men's belts in the world, was tied on the front and the knot was very small. But the original purpose of the belt is to attract attention, so we have to fight harder and harder, and finally we can't even see our toes, walking like a beer belly. Because of this, it is inconvenient to move. In the early edo period, Japanese women simply rebelled with unprecedented costumes and moved the knot of their belts behind their backs. The necklaces, brooches and other decorations indispensable to western women are completely transformed into ropes or other things, all of which are decorated on the belts in front or behind. So please don't underestimate that bag, it's actually very learned. If you look closely, you will know whether your family is good or poor. When wearing a kimono, you generally can't wear other shiny jewelry.

In addition, the romantic pattern of kimono hem, how to swing when walking and how much feminine charm will be added are carefully studied and designed. On these patterns, what color or pattern belts and ropes should be tied is also an aesthetic that can be remembered without rote learning.