Sokutai

The is a traditional Japanese outfit worn only by courtiers, aristocrats 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), , a flat ritual baton or sceptre, and the , a cap-shaped black lacquered silk hat with an upright pennon decorated with the imperial chrysanthemum crest.

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 weddings and enthronement ceremonies. On such occasions, women such as an empress or princess wear a , the 's female counterpart.

Colour symbolism

Similarly to the , the uses colour symbolism, though unlike the , colours are more restricted, specifically denoting court rank:

# First rank: purple
# Second rank: purple
# Third rank: purple
# Fourth rank: maroon
# Fifth rank: crimson
# Sixth rank: dark green
# Seventh rank: light green
# Eighth rank: dark blue
# Basic rank (ranks below eighth): light blue

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.

Composition

The innermost layer of the was the , a white garment that covered the wearer to knee level. This was worn with a pair of , a pair of long red worn on top of the and tied off to the wearer's left. Similarly to the , which used a white and a pair of red as a base layer, both of these would have been worn as both undergarments and sleeping clothes.

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 skirts ends midway between the knees and floor.

References

External links

The Costume Museum , The Heian PeriodEncyclopædia Britannica:

Japanese full-body garments
Robes and cloaks
Court uniforms and dress
Japanese words and phrases

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