Japanese kimono and Japanese character

Kimono is a traditional costume of the Japanese nation, which was formed on the basis of the costume of China in the Tang Dynasty through the evolution of 1000 years. The Japanese vividly expressed their feelings about art with kimonos. Kimono is rich in traditional Japanese cultural characteristics and has been closely linked with Japanese life for thousands of years. Until now, kimono is still the first choice for Japanese people on holidays, weddings, funerals, graduation ceremonies, celebrations and other grand occasions. In addition, geisha and service personnel in high-end hotels in Japan also use kimono as their professional clothing, and kimono is indispensable for cultural activities such as flower path and tea ceremony, as well as folk dances and traditional art performances. Japanese traditional kimono has waist, ankle-length and wide sleeves, with distinct layers and many accessories. Because it is time-consuming to wear and complicated to sew, it has been gradually replaced by suits since 1920s. Now the situation has changed. In the past two summers, some new kimonos have appeared in the market, which are similar in design to traditional kimonos, but the accessories are simple and convenient, and you can wear them in 10 minutes.

Women's clothes are usually brightly colored, often with exquisite embroidery or hand-painted patterns and exquisite decoration; The most important decoration on kimono is Obi's belt, which is generally 1.2 feet wide and1-15 feet long. The surface of the belt is decorated with exquisite embroidery. Obi-Wan's belt also has various fastening methods. In addition, when wearing a kimono, an obiage should be placed in the belt and placed on the back waist to support the folds on the belt. The dress of girls in formal occasions emphasizes the long sleeves (vibrating sleeves) on the ground, which is similar to the early three-inch golden lotus in China, implying that they are from a noble family, not a labor stage; Generally, the sleeves of married women are relatively short (leaving sleeves) to show the identity of married women. In addition, the knot tied on the back will also be played differently due to the marital status of the wearer. For example, married women tie "Taikoo Tie" and unmarried women tie "Bow Tie".

Men's kimonos are mostly black and relatively simple, and their clothes are often printed with their own family patterns (family patterns). Formal kimonos are mostly made of black, brown, gray or dark blue cotton cloth, and there are also fine checks, bird's eyes or dot patterns; The belt is tied at the hips, and the sleeves of men are generally shorter than those of women.

Spring-cherry blossoms are in full bloom or designs with the theme of western flowers in spring are more pink.

Summer-Considering the cool colors, the patterns are usually themed with waves, fish playing in the water, and even aquatic plants and flowers and birds.

Autumn-take autumn chrysanthemum as the theme, add some bleak autumn, and the color is darker.

Winter —— Consider the artistic conception of winter snow scene in northern China.

Kimono history

The coarse clothes and narrow sleeves and oblique skirts in ancient Japan are very similar to those worn in ancient China. It should be from the Nara era (the prosperous Tang Dynasty) that Chinese clothes were really documented and institutionalized in Japan. Japanese sent a large number of scholars and monks to study in China. These envoys brought the culture, art and laws of the Tang Dynasty back to Japan. "Yi Ling" is one of the systems formulated in the Nara era by imitating the Tang Dynasty. The Dress Order stipulates the dress, court dress and uniform, and the court dress, including crown and hat, is divided according to the rank of official position. Uniforms are the clothes of civil servants without official positions, which are classified by industry. Kimono is a kind of robe that originated in the Tang Dynasty and was transplanted from Zhejiang, China.

During the Heian period (after the ninth century), due to the influence of the national wind at that time, the colors of clothes began to diversify and the sleeves also developed in a wide direction. "Twelve Single Clothes" is the clothes worn by aristocratic women in this era, representing twelve clothes to be worn on formal occasions.

During the Kamakura period, the Yuan Dynasty unified China and invaded Japan ten times in a row. In order to facilitate the battle, the clothes were restored to simplicity, and the wide sleeves were changed back to narrow sleeves. Printing family patterns on clothes, every family in ancient Japan had family patterns according to their surnames. It is estimated that the number of family lines exceeds 20 thousand, and the clothing begins to be formal. "small sleeve" evolved from twelve single clothes, and gradually evolved from underwear to coat from this era to Muromachi era. Compared with the present kimono, small sleeve has a looser waist and barrel-shaped sleeves. At that time, the kimono was not fixed with a belt, but tied to the waist with a thin rope.

During the Taoshan period (1mid-6th century), people began to pay attention to wearing different clothes in different places, so there appeared "clothes visiting" for wedding banquets and tea parties and "sleeveless clothes" for various celebrations, adult festivals, banquets and blind dates.

The edo period was the most prosperous period in the history of Japanese clothing. Most of the kimonos we see today are special styles of clothing in the edo period. At present, the most basic belt is in this era, because it is very important to rebuild the Taikoo Bridge of Edo Shenyou at that time, so it was named Taikoo Bridge. Among them, the popular Jimmy's Day, Hirashiro's Day and Shui Mu's Day are waist festivals invented by cabaret prostitutes and named after them.

In addition, during the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods, the royal costumes showed nobility, luxury and luxury, as well as the costumes worn by celebrities, ladies, ordinary people and children, which all reflected the fashion and artistic atmosphere of costumes in various times.

Although Japan is also a traditional eastern agricultural country that uses the lunar calendar, the New Year in China is not just the lunar new year, but the New Year's Day in the Gregorian calendar. One of the highlights of the Japanese New Year is the "first day", that is, to visit the shrine on New Year's Day and pray for happiness and peace for a year. The most famous junior high school resort in Tokyo is Meiji Jingu. After the countdown to the New Year, there will be a long queue in the dark. It takes about three hours to queue from Shen Dao to the main hall of the shrine. Flip a coin and cross your hands and make a wish. This is called Chu Yi. The first craze started on the first day of New Year's Day, and shrines everywhere were very lively, but it was the first time until the end of January, and there was no strict time limit.

People usually wear traditional clothes, that is, kimono, but in recent years, modernization has changed a lot, kimono only accounts for about one tenth of the crowd, and it is usually mostly women.

Kimono species

There are many kinds of kimonos, not only men and women, unmarried and married, but also casual clothes and formal clothes. Men's kimonos are few in style, monotonous in color, dark in color, thin in belt and convenient to wear. Women's kimonos have various styles, bright colors and wide waist. Different kimono belts have different knots and different hairstyles. Married women wear "cuff" kimono, while unmarried women wear "cuff vibration" kimono. In addition, according to the different purposes of going out, such as visiting, playing and shopping, the patterns, colors and styles of wearing kimonos are also different.

Sleeve kimono: The dresses worn by women attending relatives' weddings and formal ceremonies are mainly divided into black sleeves and colored sleeves. With black as the background, dyed with five patterns, patterns are printed on both ends of the hem of the kimono predecessor, which is called "black sleeves" and used by married women; There are three or one patterns printed on fabrics of other colors, and there are patterns on the hem, which is called "color sleeves".

Vibrating sleeve kimono: also known as long-sleeved dress, it is a lady's first dress. According to the sleeve length, it can be divided into "large vibrating sleeve", "medium vibrating sleeve" and "small vibrating sleeve", among which "medium vibrating sleeve" is the most worn. Mainly used for bar mitzvah, graduation ceremony, banquets, parties, visiting friends and other occasions. Because this kimono gives people a sense of fashion, more and more married women wear "vibrating sleeves".

Visit kimono: it is a kimono with an overall pattern. It is a picture from hem, left front sleeve, left shoulder to collar. In recent years, as the most popular simple gift, visiting kimono is very popular. It can be worn at opening ceremony, friends' banquets, parties, tea parties and other occasions, and there is no age or marriage restriction.

Small patterned kimono: clothes are dyed with small broken patterns. Because it is very suitable for practicing wearing, it is generally used as daily fashion and can often be seen on dating and shopping occasions. Small pattern kimono is also used by young women for semi-formal parties.

Mourning clothes: All-black clothes, including belts, worn at funerals.

Wedding dress: a dress worn at the wedding.

Bathrobe: Wear it before bathing.

Men's kimono: A men's kimono is a formal dress with patterned tops and skirts. Except for black, other patterned coats and skirts are just simple gifts, which can be matched with clothes at will.

Plain kimono: This is a monochrome kimono (except black). If it is dyed with patterns, it can be worn as clothes. If there is no pattern, it can be used as a daily fashion dress.

"Fuxia" kimono: The patterns of sleeves, front and back and collar are all printed from bottom to top. Lighter and more comfortable than visiting kimonos.

Twelve Orders: It is a full set of dresses worn by ancient women when they entered the palace or celebrated festivals. Divided into Tang suit, single coat, watch, * * * twelve layers.