CHAPTER VII.

MALE DRESS.

Japanese and foreign dress—Progress in the latter—Japanese clothes indispensable—_Kimono_—Cutting out—Making of an unlined dress—Short measure—Extra-sized dresses—_Yukata_—The lined _kimono_—The wadded _kimono_—Under-dress—Underwear—_Obi_—_Haori_—The crest—The uncrested _haori_—_Hakama_—Socks—How to dress Wearing of socks.

A stranger in the streets of Tokyo cannot but be struck by the number of Japanese, especially men and boys, who are dressed in European clothes. The western costume, if less picturesque, is certainly more handy than the Japanese; it allows a greater freedom to the limbs, whereas in the latter the long sleeves are apt to be caught by knobs and corners and the skirt is always in the way when we wish to run or walk fast. For this reason the European male dress is largely worn in schools, government offices, and private places of business, which are built in a style more or less foreign and furnished with chairs, benches, and tables; for squatting is uncomfortable with foreign clothes and, whatever the dress may be, is a more complicated way of resting ourselves than sitting in a chair, besides requiring a greater effort when we wish to rise. But there are further reasons for the favour which European clothes enjoy in Japan. They last much longer than Japanese, for silks wear out pretty quickly if they are constantly in use and are, moreover, torn more readily. If they are soiled, they have to be taken to pieces, washed, perhaps redyed, and remade. Besides, a Japanese outfit of fair quality is more costly than a European suit. And as the custom stands in Japan, we have to provide ourselves with several Japanese suits; whereas so many changes are not needed of European clothes, in respect of which the Japanese people, as a whole, have not yet learned to discriminate so rigidly as when their national costume is concerned. A man may, in fact, wear the same frock-coat all the year round and make it last long by taking as great care of it as he does of his Japanese clothes. All things considered, then, European clothes are both more handy and economical, and on that account preferred to Japanese on business and ceremonial occasions.

In the early days of the new regime when European clothes were comparatively rare and not unfrequently worn rather as a sign of their wearers’ progressive spirit than for their convenience, it was considered sufficient if they were simply European, no account being taken of their cut or style. A man in a tweed cutaway or serge lounge suit found ready access to an evening party or a semi-official gathering. But as time went on, the frock-coat became the usual dress on such occasions; still, silk hats were not yet generally worn, and bowlers remained the common wear. The evening dress was the official suit and was worn at one time even in the morning, if there was an official ceremony at such early hours. It is only within the last decade that silk hats have come into vogue; and they are now worn with the frock-coat or evening dress at all parties and social gatherings. But as they are still only worn at social functions, they last a long time, and at garden parties silk hats of all ages and styles may be seen.

The rapid encroachment of European clothes into Japanese society is undeniable; and if we may judge from the steady increase of tailoring establishments in Tokyo and elsewhere, they seem destined to command a still greater popularity. But there appears to be little ground for the prediction often made by European writers that the national dress is doomed. For so long as Japanese houses remain radically unchanged and we are forced to squat on the mat, Japanese clothes cannot be dispensed with. European clothes are not comfortable to squat in; as the body cannot be kept quite straight, the collar presses on the throat, the waistcoat gets creasy, the trousers soon become baggy about the knees, and the socks are but a poor protection against the cold since they cannot be hidden as under the skirt of the Japanese dress. In a room warmed only by a small brazier, we feel the winter chill more severely in European clothes than in Japanese. In summer no one who has once worn the Japanese _yukata_ would willingly take it off, for it is the slightest possible consistent with decency as it is nothing more than a single unlined dress. It is the coolest imaginable. Other Japanese summer clothes are only less cool than the _yukata_. Hence, a Japanese of the upper or middle class has usually to provide himself with both European and Japanese suits, that is, if he wears European clothes at all, and is put to double expenses in the matter of clothing. And to be completely equipped in both requires no light purse.

The ordinary Japanese dress is shaped like a gown with hanging sleeves. As the exact shape of the _kimono_, as it is called, appears unknown to those who have never seen it, we will here explain how a _kimono_ is made.

The _kimono_ is made out of a piece of silk, cotton, or hemp cloth, usually eleven inches wide and about thirty-five feet long. Cloths are always made of nearly the same measure or of double the length just mentioned, that is, if they are for making _kimono_. The length and width may vary slightly, cotton cloths being for instance smaller than silk. The cloth is cut out into two pieces each for the body, the sleeves, and the gores, and one for the band and sometimes another for the upper band, or into seven or eight pieces in all. The body pieces are each ten feet long and the sleeve pieces three feet and a half, so that the two pairs take up twenty-seven feet; they are of the same width as the original piece. The remainder is cut into two strips, usually six and five inches wide, of which the former is cut in two lengths of four feet three inches each, if possible, for the gores and the latter into a strip, five feet eight inches long, for the main band, the remainder being used, if needed, for the upper band.

We now pass on to the making of the male unlined _kimono_, as naturally it is of the simplest form. In the first place, the length of a _kimono_ varies with the size of the wearer; it is not only his height, but his condition as well, that has to be taken into consideration, for broad shoulders, a thick chest, and rounded hips require more cloth, longitudinally and laterally, than a body of the same height but with less flesh. The usual length is about four feet six inches for the average Japanese whose height is five feet three or four inches. The two body pieces are first placed side by side and sewn together half the length, the edge sewn in being about half an inch; and then at the end of the seam the pieces are cut two inches and a half and folded down at that width all along to the free ends, so that when they are spread out, there is a channel five inches wide along half their length. They are then folded in two so that the free halves are exactly over the sewn halves. The outer edges are then sewn from the end up to a point a foot and five inches below the fold. The sewn halves form the hind part and the free halves the front of the _kimono_. Next, the pieces for the gores are sewn on from the end along the free edges of the body pieces. The skirt is stitched, and the _kimono_, which is now an inch or so less than five feet, is tucked in to the required length at the hips where the tucking would be concealed under the _obi_, or sash. The edge of each gore is stitched to a certain height which depends upon the length of the _kimono_, and from this point to the top of its juncture with the body piece the gore is turned, and the triangle thus formed is folded again and again so as to be enclosed in the band which is next sewn on over the folded edges of the gores and round the breast and neck of the body pieces. The band itself is made by folding the band piece lengthwise into two and turning in the edges. The upper band which serves as an anti-macassar is then sewn over the main band around the neck. The sleeves have in the meantime been sewn into oblong pieces a foot and seven or eight inches long by ten inches wide. The outer edge has been sewn together for nine and a quarter inches from the bottom, the remainder being hemmed round to allow the hand to pass through; and the inner edge, of which two and a half inches have been stitched at the lower extremity, is now sewn on to the body piece.

The dress is now complete. Sometimes when the cloth is slightly short of measure, it cannot be made in the way just described. The body pieces are taken at lengths which admit of but little tucking at the hips; and the gores are cut slantwise, leaving no triangular pieces to be folded in. But in that case, when the dress is remade, the same parts of the gores will be exposed, whereas if the gores are oblong, they can be reversed so as to expose the parts which were formerly folded in and are therefore practically new.

These dresses can be taken to pieces and remade so long as the cloth is not worn out; and as they can be made to fit most persons by judicious tucking in or letting out, they are often washed and remade for others than the original wearer. As the maximum length of the body pieces is about ten feet, a cloth of the usual length would be too short for those who measure more than four feet ten or eleven inches from the nape of the neck to the ankles. A spare person, five feet eight inches in height, might just manage to make himself a dress out of a cloth of the usual length; but a man of a greater stature or of the same height with more flesh would have to get a cloth specially woven for him or buy a double length. Moreover, if a cloth is too short for the height, it would also be in all probability too narrow for the sleeves, which would then require a strip to be sewn on to cover the arms.

The unlined dress of coarse bleached cotton, known as _yukata_ or bath-dress, is the simplest and most comfortable for summer wear. It is worn immediately next to the skin without underwear of any kind, and is washed whole every few days in midsummer. It is commonly white or blue with stripes, spots, or other simple designs. If the dress is of silk, hemp, or of a better kind of cotton, an underwear of bleached cotton is put on. This resembles the _kimono_ in form, only that it is much shorter, coming down only to the thighs, and has open sleeves and no gores. The unlined _kimono_ is worn when one goes out in summer; the _yukata_ is mostly for home wear or put on for a walk in the evening. The unlined clothes are worn through midsummer from the middle of June until the latter half of September.

The lined _kimono_ differs from the unlined in having a lining, which is usually of dark-blue silk or cotton. The lining is first made separately from the covering, and its pieces, which are similar to those of the other with a slight shrinkage in the measurement to allow for its being the inner side, are stitched together, except at the edges of the sleeves, skirt, gores, and the inner border of the body pieces, which are sewn on to the corresponding parts of the outer cloth. The band of the latter covers both cloths; and at the opening of the sleeves a stiff piece of cloth trims the edges as that part is apt to be rapidly worn out from the movement of the wrist. The underwear is the same as in the case of the unlined _kimono_. The lined _kimono_ is worn for a shorter time than the unlined, in fact, for about a month at the transition from the unlined _kimono_ to the wadded and _vice-versa_. The lined _kimono_ was not recognised by the old-time etiquette which did not sanction any intermediate dress between the unlined and the wadded; but of its comfort as a _demi-saison_ costume there can be no question.

The wadded _kimono_ is the most important of all as it is worn for a longer period than the others. It is simply the lined _kimono_ wadded, and is made similarly to it. When the two halves, the outer and the inner, have been stitched separately, they are first joined together at the skirt, turned inside out, and spread on the floor. The wadding is then put on the outer half, the lining is brought over and sewn on, and finally the whole dress is turned back the right side out. The lining is made narrower than the covering as it remains inside, but is slightly longer to allow for the bulge of the wadding. The wadding may be of floss-silk as when it is desired to keep the dress thin and light; or it may be of ginned cotton with a thin coating of floss-silk; the floss-silk is needed because if the wadding were only of cotton, it would fall in the course of time and gather at the skirt, whereas the floss-silk adheres to the cloth with such pertinacity that part of it oozes out through the texture of the cloth and forms little white lumps on the outside.

The wadded clothes are worn double in midwinter. The under-dress is of slightly smaller dimensions than the upper. It is usual to make its body of a less stiff material than the other, for if it were as stiff or thick, it would be uncomfortable to wear. Hence, the gores, the skirt, the band, and the wrist-ends of the sleeves, that is, the visible portions, are made of stiff stuff; but the rest is of softer silk or cotton.

Under the lower _kimono_ is worn a doublet, thickly wadded and coming down to the knees. It is made of inferior silk and has a black silk band. Under this is the same underwear as in the case of the lined _kimono_. The doublet has sleeves like the _kimono_. The merino undershirt is now frequently worn instead of the Japanese underwear; it is certainly warmer than the other which lets the wind and cold enter through its open breast and sleeves, but it cannot be said to add to the picturesqueness of the national costume. Merino drawers are also worn; they are useful as the skirt is often on a windy day blown aside and exposes the legs to the cold.

The _obi_, or sash, is about four inches wide and varies in length from twelve feet and a half to fourteen. It is usually of the same material on both sides and can be worn either side out. It is stitched along one edge and stiffened with a padding. This is the regular sash, commonly called the square _obi_; but when we are at home, go out for a walk, or visit an intimate friend, we prefer another kind of sash, which is a piece of white crêpe, about ten feet long and varying in width from a foot and a quarter to two feet, and stitched at the ends to prevent their fraying. It is much more comfortable than the other.

The _haori_, or outer coat, is worn over the _kimono_. It comes down only to the knees or a little lower. It has no gores in front like the _kimono_. The neck-band runs down to the skirt. The _haori_ is open in front and the band falls straight from the shoulders on both sides, so that there is no need for gores in front which are required only for folding over; but there is a narrow gore on either side coming down from the lower extremity of the sleeve to the skirt. The sleeves of the _haori_ are just large enough to enclose those of the _kimono_. At the skirt the body pieces are turned in and form the lining of the lower part of the _haori_; and so the full length of a cloth, that is, about thirty-five feet, is taken in the same way as in the making of the _kimono_. The upper part of the _haori_ and the sleeves are lined with another material; that for the upper part is often of bright colours or embroidered; it is, in fact, the only portion of the male dress where the usual rule of sober colours is not strictly adhered to, and people who aspire to be chic sometimes use for the lining a more expensive material than the outer cloth. Unlined _haori_ which are made of silk gauze or similar thin stuff for summer wear, are woven shorter than the others to dispense with the skirt-lining. The _haori_ for winter wear is sometimes wadded with a thin layer of floss-silk. About fifteen inches down the neck, a small loop of the same material as the _haori_ is stitched on to the band on either side, and to this a silk cord is fastened and tied in the middle to keep the _haori_ from slipping off. Sometimes the cords are made in a knot or a bow and fastened to the loops by hooks at the ends.

The _haori_ worn on a visit or on formal occasions is usually black and adorned with the family crest. The crest is found on three or five parts of the _haori_, one in the middle of the back over the seam, and one each on the back of the sleeve, and if there are five crests altogether, one each on the breast of the body piece between the band and the sleeve. The crest is of various forms and is about an inch from end to end. It is invariably white; the white cloth is specially dyed for the purpose so that the crest is the only portion left undyed; but sometimes ready-dyed cloths with white disks for the crests are bought, when the crests have to be drawn on them, or if they have no such disks, the crests are sewn on.

_Haori_ for common wear have no crests and are plain, twilled, or striped and of sombre hues, though not necessarily black. Those for home wear are often much longer than ordinary _haori_ and are thickly wadded with cotton. They are also without crests.

The _hakama_ is a sort of loose trousers. Either leg is made by joining along the nape five pieces of cloth about a yard long, four of which are of the full width of the cloth and the fifth of half that width. The skirt is sewn by turning in the edge three times to stiffen it. The two legs are joined in such a manner that the half-width pieces form the inner side and the lowest point of the fork is about twenty-two inches from the skirt. In front a longitudinal plait is made an inch or so to the left so that its edge is in the middle; two more plaits are made to the left and two to the right, and a third on the latter leg under the middle fold. A similar but deeper plait is made behind on either leg, that on the right having its edge in the middle. These plaits are not stitched, but merely hot-pressed so that they can be opened at will; and as they are much deeper at the skirt than at the top, they give free play to the legs when walking and make the _hakama_ appear to fit more closely than it would without them. The upper half of the _hakama_ is open at either side, the fork at which is of about the same depth as that in the middle. The top of the front half which is about a foot wide, is sewn on to the middle of a band which is folded and turned in to the width of half an inch and is about eleven feet long, thus leaving a free end five feet long on either side of the front half. The back, the top of which is narrower than that in front, is surmounted with a piece of thin board on which the cloth is pasted with starch mucilage. This board has also a narrow band, two feet long, on each side. The _hakama_ is lined or unlined, but never wadded.

Socks are made with a thick cotton sole and a cover of common cotton or calico, black or white, which comes up only to the ankle-bone. They are split between the big toe and the next for holding the thong of the clogs. They are kept from coming off by two or three small metal clasps catching a cord behind the heel.

Now the Japanese suit is complete. In summer we wear the _yukata_, or the coarse unlined cotton _kimono_, at home, or an unlined dress of cotton or other material with underwear when we go out. We always put on our clothes by folding the left over the right. The clothes are folded one by one, that is, the underwear is first folded left over right, over it the doublet, and lastly the _kimono_ which, if double, are folded in pairs. The principle in putting them on is that their bands shall alternate right and left and the folds form gradations widening with the outer garments, so that from the bands one can tell the quantity of clothing a man has put on. We wind the _obi_ over the _kimono_. If it is the unlined crêpe, we merely wind it round and either tuck in the ends under the folds or tie them behind; but if it is the square _obi_, we leave behind one end about ten inches long and winding the _obi_ twice round, fold the other end, the tip of which is tucked under the fold, at such a length that a foot or so of the doubled end is left over. The two ends are tied together in a double knot with the two extremities slanting upward one on each side of the knot. The knot is tied behind over the spine, the _obi_ being wound just above the hips. Over the _kimono_ we wear the _haori_. The _haori_ is neither a greatcoat nor a coat properly so called; for we wear it on all occasions and indoors, and yet we may on informal occasions take it off without breach of good manners. Indeed, a man who walks abroad without a _haori_ would be in an entirely different position to one who goes about in shirt sleeves. The crested _haori_, which is invariably worn on formal occasions, is a ready means of identification; and accordingly, when we are unwilling to attract attention or to risk recognition, the uncrested is commonly put on. The _hakama_ is worn when we have to be properly dressed, on occasions, that is to say, when one would wear a frock-coat or an evening dress; at schools and in government offices the _hakama_ is indispensable when Japanese clothes are worn. In putting on a _hakama_, the front band is first brought flush with the upper edge of the _obi_ and the ends are each passed once and half round the body and tied behind under the knot of the _obi_; and then the board at the back is perched over the same knot to prevent its slipping down, and the ends of its bands are tied in front.

The socks are worn with all clothes except the _yukata_; but many people go about barefooted, save in winter. The white is the colour worn on formal occasions; but the black is popular as it wears better than the other and does not betray the dirt when it is soiled. Only young children wear socks of other colours, such as red and yellow.