Japanese Kimono

Posts Tagged ‘furisode’

The furisode is characterized by long very full sleeves, for it was said at one time that a woman could win the man she loved by waving (furi) her sleeve (sode) to attract his spirit, even from afar. The furisode is, needless to say, a kimono worn only by unmarried women. 

Later there was some blurring of the distinctions between the social classes. All women began wearing a similar style of kimono. Wealth, rather than class, was the standard of distinction, and the uchikake with its elaborate patterns was no longer strictly for women of nobility. The picture below shows a woman in the uchikake robe, worn over a kosode, with a small hakoseko purse inserted between the front panels at the collar.