Place

Japan

Date

1939

DIMENSIONS in centimetres

158 x 128

Materials & techniques

Silk, gold thread; Resist dyed, painted, embroidered, hand-sewn

Credit

Gift of Mary Hiraishi

ID

Textile Museum of Canada T93.0103a

This silk kimono was worn by its donor Mary Hiraishi in her early days in Vancouver when she performed with a Japanese musical group. It was commissioned for her by her mother, Teru Hiraishi, in 1939 in Okayama, a prefecture north of Hiroshima, who chose the colour and design. It is a formal kimono traditionally worn by married women for special occasions such as weddings, New Year celebrations, and tea ceremonies. Its young-grass green colour (waka-kusa) suggests that it was intended for wear in early spring. The fabric was hand-dyed, and the mist and flower designs that decorate it were painted and embroidered by hand. The kimono features five family crests indicating its formal nature. The crest is a butterfly, associated with the Taira samurai clan and with the Buddhist doctrine of rebirth.
 
Although the kimono is no longer everyday attire in Japan, it remains a universal symbol of beauty in Japanese culture and the preferred attire for special occasions in Japan and within Japanese communities around the world.