Product Code Database
The sokutai is a traditional outfit worn only by , Aristocracy and the emperor at the Japanese imperial court. The originated in the Heian period, and consists of a number of parts, including the (outer robe), shaku, a flat ritual baton or sceptre, and the kanmuri, a cap-shaped black lacquered silk hat with a pennon.
The exact composition of the differs from person to person, and depends on a person's rank and whether they are a civil or military official, with military officers wearing the garment's outermost layers with split front and back panels, and civil officials having fully sewn panels. Colour also varies by rank, with colour symbolism having held great importance in Heian period Japan.
No longer worn as everyday clothing, the is preserved as formalwear worn by male members of the Imperial court, including the Imperial family and government officials, such as the Prime Minister. The is typically reserved for the most formal occasions, such as and enthronement ceremonies. On such occasions, women such as an empress or princess wear a , the 's female counterpart.
The Japanese emperor's court dress is made up of loose-fitting white trousers and a loose yellow outer robe that is styled after a Chinese robe but is tucked in at the waist, and decorated with the textile pattern consist of Fenghuang, Paulownia, Bamboo and Qilin. When wearing the sokutai, the emperor carries an ivory tablet, inspired by the Chinese Hu, which was carried by Chinese emperors as a symbol of imperial power.
Persons without rank typically wear mud brown or light yellow; the darker, fuller shade of yellow was reserved for the emperor. Though exact shades varied highly, with a number of colours detailed as having minuscule shade differences and thus different names, the highest-ranking shades were all achieved through dyeing fabric with the gromwell plant, an expensive and prolonged process that could take over a year to achieve. Due to the difficulty of obtaining a number of dyestuffs used to produce the purple and maroon colours worn by the highest-ranked officials, these colours were changed to black sometime during the Heian period.
A () was worn over the top of the as an upper garment; a number of layers of were worn above the , the exact number and fabric of which varied based on the season. The , a shorter white hakama with an open fly, was worn above the , tied off to the right. The , a typically white garment with the characteristic "tail" of the , was worn on top of the , covering the upper body of the wearer. The —a sleeveless vest often featuring embroidery—was worn over all these layers. The final outer robe—the —was then worn over the ; this outer robe followed the design of the Chinese in its cut, but with a distinctively Japanese style, with the robe tucked at the waist, such that the hemline ends midway between the knees and floor.
|
|
