Accession Number
2005/1.353

Title
Black supplementary weft brocade haori with woven design of sparrows and bamboo

Artist(s)
Japanese

Artist Nationality
Japanese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1940s-1950s

Medium & Support
black crepe silk with woven metallic threads

Dimensions
35 13/16 in x 53 1/8 in (91 cm x 135 cm);23 in (58.5 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Howard and Patricia Yamaguchi

Label copy
from left to right:
Haori
Japan, Showa period (1926–1989)
1940s–50s
Black silk crepe with woven metallic threads
Gift of Howard and Patricia Yamaguchi, 2005/1.353
Haori
Japan, Showa period (1926–1989)
1960s–70s
Heavy black silk with woven designs in rust, silver,
and gold metallic threads
Gift of Howard and Patricia Yamaguchi, 2005/1.354
Haori
Japan, Showa period (1926–1989)
1940s–60s
Black silk crepe with hand-painted design
Gift of Howard and Patricia Yamaguchi, 2005/1.356
Haori
Japan, Showa period (1926–1989)
1960s–70s
Black silk with hand-painted designs and appliqués
Gift of Howard and Patricia Yamaguchi, 2005/1.349
Throughout much of the twentieth century, the haori has been the standard outerwear for women who dress in kimono outside the home. Haori were originally part of a man’s formal attire in the Edo period (1615–1868), but in the nineteenth century, female entertainers in the capital, Edo (modern-day Tokyo), adopted it as a cloak for outdoor wear in mild weather. By the end of the twentieth century, married women of the upper class had begun to wear black silk crepe haori with family crests for formal, public occasions. Iwata Shizuko, the eldest daughter of the Iwata family and herself a business woman, usually wore—like her mother—haori made of black silk crepe with modest decorations and the Iwata family crest.
The haori frequently has a colorful lining in the upper half of the interior of the garment. The black haori with fan designs, for example, is lined with silk painted with a picture of fruits in pastel colors. Only when the haori was removed would these patterns have been glimpsed by others—an effect both playful and sensuous. This kind of discerning sensibility, known as the aesthetic of iki, developed in the late Edo period among cultural elites such as merchants and high-ranking geisha in response to the ruling Tokugawa government’s sumptuary laws, which regulated outward displays of luxury.
(Wrapped in Silk & Gold Exhibition, Summer 2010)

Subject matter
The haori was originally part of a man’s formal attire, but in the nineteenth century, female entertainers in Edo (modern Tokyo) adopted it as a cloak for outdoor wear in mild weather. By the end of the century, married women of the upper class adopted black crepe silk haori with family crests (such as that seen here, at the back of the collar) for formal, public occasions. For much of the twentieth century, the haori has been the standard outerwear for a woman who dresses in a kimono outside the home.

Physical Description
Black crepe silk with woven metallic threads. Lining is made of white damask silk with sayagata pattern; white gofun painted lines between pattern repeats and then bokashizome in "stripes" of colors. Woven design of sparrow and bamboo is on the back only.

Primary Object Classification
Costume and Costume Accessories

Primary Object Type
haori

Additional Object Classification(s)
Textile

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
bamboo (material)
birds (motifs)
brocade (textile)
jackets (garments)
kimonos