Antique Japanese Silk Full Length Kimono | Kokeshi Doll Motif

Dimensions: 58-0”l x 46-1/2”w, (22-1/2”shldr. to shldr.); 19-0”l sleeves

Today, Kimono in both Japan and around the world is in the category nostalgic and involves a wistful memory of times when feeling that involve tradition and evoke the love for long-gone moments. So today the value of garments is more emotional based and has more to do with a focused and time-consuming handcraft that required great skill. According to all the major sources, Taisho period styles were rarely abandoned in Japan.

The Kimono being offered and shown is a beautiful and elegant garment with an overall pattern of various color and patterned Kokeshi Dolls that was introduced in the 20th Century.  

The fabric represents a popular form of textile art in Japan made of “hitokoshi” crepe (flat-woven of crepe-spun thread, not nubby or overtly textured, but not shiny-smooth either). As a crepe fabric, the Kimono has a great drape and wonderful to the touch. This silk hand-constructed and hand tie-dyed work is only found on a more expensive Kimono. The pattern is created by minutely binding the fabric and masking off areas, then dying it. When the bindings are removed, the intricate pattern is revealed. The feeling of age results from the Kimono color, which is a muted Taupe, (Tōpu), that seems different natural and artificial lighting. The fabric encompasses subtle manipulations by the dyer, adding a tint or shade in small degrees from light and dark, creating a dyed garment that is not dull or uninteresting particularly when coordinated with a vibrant obi. The piece is fully lined in a gray colored silk.

Condition: The piece is in Excellent condition and as originally made. Having considerable age, the garment is completely sound, wearable, unfaded, and unsoiled. An elaborate kimono, as the one shown, can take a whole year to make, and the original cost was therefore exorbitant to create, and greatly revered by a textile, as well as the Kokeshi collector.