Abstract
This study investigate the transition about Japanese national costume kimono. The prototype of the present kimono is a kosode. The origin of kosode dates back to the mid-Heian period, when this type of kimono served as the everyday wear of commoners and an undergarment for court nobles, both men and women. In the Muromachi period, particularly after the Onin war, the kosode began to be by people of all classes. In the Muromachi period, kosode consisted mainly of woven textiles. In the Momoyama period, kosode became very elaborate, employing such various techniques as tie-dyeing, embroidery, metallic leaf(surihaku) and free-hand painting. These were further combined resulting in such techniques as tsujigahana dyeing and nuihaku, which are now considered to epitomize Momoyama-period textile design. A category of kosode of the early Edo period, known as Keicho kosode, is fashioned mainly from black, white, or red figured satin(rinzu), or from figured satin segmented in these three colors. Books of kosode designs began to be published in the Kambun era, when the merchant class was becoming economically powerful, kosode began to reflect its taste. During its final stage of development in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, yuzen dyeing achieved wide acceptance. From the late 18th century toward the early 19th century, kosode worn by the merchant class underwent drastic changes, while those worn by the samurai class changed little. In the after the late 18th century, clear differences in design and decorative methods appeared between the kosode worn by rich merchants and those worn by middle and lower class merchants.
