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4. Samurai two-piece costume, kamishimo Japan 19th c. plain weave hemp, stencil patterning |
The mon is the only motif immediately recognizable on this costume, the kamishimo. It is an emblem which, historically, showed affiliation with a particular family or powerful clan, like a coat of arms. In the Edo period, these designs reduced to essentials appear on garments as symbols of rank. The kamishimo, reserved for the samurai, in earlier times worn by the shogun himself, is a two-piece costume whose distinctive silhouette is the result of pleating the stiff hemp cloth to form the upper garment, a katiginu, and the wide trousers called hakama. The real décor of the costume is the thousands of white stenciled dots which suggest a hailstorm, a metaphor for the force of the warrior. Itemcode: 8 |