The Kimono as an Invented Tradition: Class, Gender & Nationhood
Abstract
The kimono has been a site of political
Interest since feudal times.
When the bakufu (government)
instituted regulations on clothing
color, cut, pattern, materials
& when they can be worn for
members of each class. Today’s kimono
originated from the samurai
class, as evidenced by its stiffness,
the many parts required for
a complete ensamble & its association
with formality.
Kimono has also come to be the symbol
for wafuku (wa, japanese; fuku, clothes),
although many working-class traditional
garments are still worn today,
many more forms of wafuku have been
de-legitimatized in Japan’s nation-building
(& history-making), which focused
on the cultivation of samurai (middle
class) tastes & values.