page_title: Japanese clothing
section_title: Materials
hierarchical_section_title: Japanese clothing / Types of traditional clothing / Kimono / Materials
caption_attribution_description: A close-up on a young woman's formal "tateya musubi" obi knot.
context_page_description: There are typically two types of clothing worn in Japan: traditional clothing known as Japanese clothing, including the national dress of Japan, the kimono, and Western clothing, which encompasses all else not recognised as either national dress or the dress of another country.
  Traditional Japanese fashion represents a long-standing history of traditional culture, encompassing colour palettes developed in the Heian period, silhouettes adopted from Tang dynasty clothing and cultural traditions, motifs taken from Japanese culture, nature and traditional literature, and styles of wearing primarily fully-developed by the end of the Edo period. The most well-known form of traditional Japanese fashion is the kimono, translating literally as "something to wear" or "thing worn on the shoulders". Other types of traditional fashion include the clothing of the Ainu people and the clothes of the Ryukyuan people, most notably including the traditional fabrics of bingata and bashōfu produced on the Ryukyu Islands.
context_section_description: Up until the fifteenth century the vast majority of kimono worn by most people were made of hemp or linen, and they were made with multiple layers of materials. Today, kimono can be made of silk, silk brocade, silk crepes (such as chirimen) and satin weaves (such as rinzu). Modern kimono that are made with less-expensive easy-care fabrics such as rayon, cotton sateen, cotton, polyester and other synthetic fibers, are more widely worn today in Japan. However, silk is still considered the ideal fabric for more formal kimono.
  Kimono are typically 39-43 inches long with eight 14-15 inch-wide pieces. These pieces are sewn together to create the basic T-shape. Kimono are traditionally sewn by hand, a technique known as wasai. However, even machine-made kimono require substantial hand-stitching.
  Kimono are traditionally made from a single bolt of fabric called a tanmono. Tanmono come in standard dimensions, and the entire bolt is used to make one kimono. The finished kimono consists of four main strips of fabric — two panels covering the body and two panels forming the sleeves — with additional smaller strips forming the narrow front panels and collar. Kimono fabrics are frequently hand-made and -decorated.
  Kimono are worn with sash-belts called obi, of which there are several varieties. In previous centuries, obi were relatively pliant and soft, so literally held the kimono closed; modern-day obi are generally stiffer, meaning the kimono is actually kept closed through tying a series of flat ribbons, such as kumihimo, around the body. The two most common varieties of obi for women are fukuro obi, which can be worn with everything but the most casual forms of kimono, and nagoya obi, which are narrower at one end to make them easier to wear.
caption: Formal tateya musubi obi knot
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