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Medieval Japan: Dress and Decoration Isabel P. Reading Language Arts, Marking Period 4, Class ⅞ Mr. Keith Schoch June 7, 2012

Kon’nichiwa! My name is Natsuki and I am from Medieval Japan. Japan is located in Asia, east of North and South Korea. Medieval Japan started around 12,000 B.C.E. Believe it or not, Japan is an island! You’re probably wondering how people got to Japan if it was out in the ocean. Well, a long time ago, most of the ocean was frozen into ice which connected continents together! People just walked over the ice to get from country to country. Once the ice melted, people could not walk back over the water so they started a civilization. That is how Japan got started! Japan was best known for its celebrations and festivals. One of these celebrations was The Doll Festival which was Girl’s Day ([]). During The Doll Festival, dolls were shown wearing kimonos for people to appreciate them. What is a kimono? You will soon find out.

Kimonos were traditional Japanese clothing that anyone can wear. They were symbolic to Japanese culture. Kimonos would be worn on ceremonies such as weddings or births. Japanese dress was important because it symbolized a person’s status in life. For example, a newborn baby would wear a kimono that symbolized that they had just been born. Three kinds of Japanese dress are women’s clothing, men’s clothing, and accessories.

Newborn baby girls would wear a white undergarment and a brightly colored yuzen. On the “Coming of Age” day, a girl would wear furisode which was a kimono with flowing sleeves. The furisode symbolized that the girl wearing it was unmarried. A married woman would wear a tomesode which had a pattern only on the bottom portion of the kimono. On a special occasion, a brightly colored tomesode would have been worn.

For a newborn baby boy, a black kimono would be worn with the family crest on it. On the “Coming of Age” day, a boy wears a jacket called a sahaori and a split-leg attire with the family crest on it called a hakama. When a young man went to samurai class, he would wear broad shouldered robes called kamishimo.  What did we wear for shoes you ask? We wore high shoes made of wood with two straps. These shoes were called geta ( [] ). The sash that went around the waist of a kimono with a big bow in the back was called an obi ( [] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">). Kanzashi were traditional hair ornaments. When a person was feeling ill, the Japanese people would wear sticks in their hair as an amulet of protection for the person who was sick. This story contributes to the making of kanzashi ( <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">After thousands of years, the entire island of Japan had turned into a productive country of manufacturing. Today, Japan is known for its technology. People there have built robots, computers, cars, TVs, medicine, and space satellites! Right now, two men and a woman are being trained for the first Japanese manned-voyage! Traditions such as wearing a kimono have not been forgotten, though. On special festivals you will see geishas and maybe just ordinary people wearing beautiful kimonos. Medieval Japan has taught many different kinds of dress that are still seen being worn in Japan and many other countries too.