Types of Kimono

As I promised in my previous hubs, here's a little something on types of kimono.

I did mention in Types of Obi article that kimono are also categorized in awase - lined, hitoe - unlined and usumono and worn, much the same as obi are.

Beside the time of the year to wear them, kimono are also differentiated by the way the pattern is located on them.

By pattern, we have:

A. Short sleeved-kimono - both married and unmarried women can wear them.

• yukata, the summerwear. it's made of cotton, unlined, and often in bright colors. This is the traditional garment for summer festivals like Bon Odori, Tanabata etc.
• komon kimono - a small, all-over pattern; by far the most common type of kimono worn throughout the year. It's a casual outfit (townwear - informal), its western correspondent being the jeans.
• edo komon kimono - small dots pattern which, from a distance look like a solid color, can be considered a "smart casual" outfit;
• iromuji kimono - single, solid color kimono; it's usually made of rinzu(= weaved pattern) silk, and it's highly praised among the Japanese Tea Ceremony students and teachers for it's simplicity and beauty; it can contain 0 - 5 kamon (family crests), which also give them a degree of formality
• tsukesage kimono - the main focus of its pattern is the front left panel and continues on towards the hemline; most of the times, a small pattern can be seen on the back of the right sleeve, and the front left, upper panel; it's not a continuous pattern, often times looking as if the design has just been thrown there. These kimono are considered to be formal, and usually marketed as "visiting wear". it can have up to 3 kamon.
• houmongi kimono - the most common formal wear, with meticulously painted/dyed designs in the form of Eba (kimono are first cut and basted to fit the wearer and only after unpicked and painted to give them a particular design). They have a high level of formality, being worn to receptions, weddings etc. Most often, these kimono come from cutting the sleeves of a furisode in half when a young lady got married. It may have 0-5 kamon.
• irotomesode kimono (lit. iro - color; tomesode - short sleeve) - are not as popular these days as they used to about 100 years ago, when they were introduced to the ladies attending the Japanese Imperial Court; it was considered that black based kimono (lit. kuro - black) were bad luck and colorless. These can easily be associated with houmongi in formality; the exception is that irotomesode's design begins below the waist and towards the hem .It can have from 3-5 kamon.
• kurotomesode, as mentioned lit. kuro - black, tomesode - short sleeve; are the most formal kimono worn by married women. The main difference between kuro and irotomesode is he black color of the kimono. Generally, all kurotomesode have 5 kamon, and are worn at very formal events such as official receptions, as a close relative to either bride or groom at a wedding.

B. Long sleeved kimono - worn only by girls and young unmarried women.

• furisode - lit. furi - swinging, sode - sleeve; a formal kimono worn to official events, receptions, weddings etc. It can have 0-5 kamon and there are 3 types: ko-furisode, with the sleeves no longer than 85 cm, chu-furisode, with the sleeves up to 100cm - the most common type met, and oh-furisode, with the sleeves up to 115cm, nowadays met more on stage of kabuki artists;
• kakeshita - wedding furisode, longer than usually, traditionally the last long sleeved kimono a lady to be married can wear; it can be either white or very colorful, made of rinzu silk. It can have 0-5 kamon;
• uchikake - heavily padded furisode, worn in the golden days of samurai era by their wives; depending on how rich the pattern was, the uchikake showed the social status of one's family. Nowadays it's only worn on weddings, oveer a kakeshita. If it's completey white, then it's called shiromuku.

I think next I will be writing about the process of coordinating an outfit. Ta-ta!