Accession Number
2005/1.354

Title
Black jacquard woven haori with woven design of bird-and-flower motifs

Artist(s)
Japanese

Artist Nationality
Japanese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1960s-1970s

Medium & Support
heavy black silk with woven designs in rust, silver and gold mettalic threads

Dimensions
31 1/2 in x 53 1/8 in (80 cm x 135 cm);18 1/2 in (47 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Howard and Patricia Yamaguchi

Label copy
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
Heavy black crepe silk with woven designs in lacquered rust-colored, silver, and gold metallic threads. Hand-painted design of Noh actors on light peach lining.

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
actors (performing artists)
floral patterns
kimonos