The earliest representations of dress styles in Japan are to be found in 3rd- to 5th-century ce clay grave figures (haniwa), a few of which show men and women wearing meticulously detailed two-piece costumes consisting of crossed-front jackets that flare out over the hips, the men’s worn over full trousers, which, banded above the knees, hang straight and loose beneath; women’s jackets were worn over pleated skirts.

Two-piece costumes appear to have been worn regularly during the 7th and 8th centuries, the jackets of this period being called kinu, the men’s trousers hakama, and the women’s skirts mo.

However, during the Nara period (710–784) Japanese court circles adopted Chinese court dress, the most characteristic feature of which was the long kimono-style pao garment. It is clear that emblematic colours and patterns as well as the pao style were borrowed from China because modern court dress in Japan, which has been little changed since the 12th century, has many purely Chinese characteristics.

The most important court costumes of Japan are the sokutai of the emperor and the jūni-hitoe of the empress, which are worn only at coronations and at important ceremonial functions. Similar costumes are worn by the crown prince, by princes and princesses of the blood, by high officials, and by ladies-in-waiting.

The sokutai ensemble begins with a cap-shaped headdress of black lacquered silk (the kammuri), which includes an upright pennon decorated with the imperial chrysanthemum crest. The voluminous outer robe (ho) is cut in the style of the Chinese pao but is given a distinctively Japanese look by being tucked up at the waist so that the skirt ends midway between the knees and the floor. This ho robe is yellow (the colour worn only by emperors and their families in China), and it is patterned with hō-ō birds and kilin (Japanized versions of the mythical Chinese fenghuang and qilin). The outer and most important of three kimonos worn under the ho is the shitagasane, which has an elongated back panel that forms a train some 12 feet (4 metres) long. The shitagasane is made of white damask, as are the baggy white trousers (ue-no-hakama) that are a characteristic feature of the sokutai costume. All these garments are purely Japanese in style. However, the ivory tablet (shaku) carried by the emperor when wearing the sokutai was undoubtedly inspired by tablets of jade that Chinese emperors carried as symbols of their imperial power.

The outermost garment of the empress’s jūni-hitoe costume is a wide-sleeved jacket (karaginu) that reaches only to the waist and has a pattern of hō-ō bird medallions brocaded in colours of the empress’s choice. Attached to the waist at the back of the karaginu is a long, pleated train (mo) of sheer, white silk decorated with a painted design. The outer kimono (uwagi) is very large to accommodate the many layers of kimono worn under it, and it has an abnormally long skirt that is worn swirling out around the wearer’s feet. This, too, is made of rich brocade, its design and colours being a matter of personal taste. Under the uwagi is a plain purple kimono, and under that is a robe known as the itsutsu-ginu. The itsutsu-ginu has multiple bands of coloured silks (usually five) attached at the edges of the sleeves, at the neckline, and at the hem, giving the appearance of several robes worn one over another.

No special interest attaches to the hitoe kimono worn under the itsutsu-ginu or to the kosode worn next to the body, but the divided skirt (naga-bakama) that completes the costume is an extremely picturesque garment. Made of stiff, red cloth and fastened high up under the breasts, the naga-bakama covers the feet in front and is carried out in a train in back. Worn with the jūni-hitoe is an elaborate coiffure known as suberakashi, and affixed directly over the forehead are special hair ornaments consisting of a lacquered, gold-sprinkled comb surmounted by a gold lacquered chrysanthemum crest.

Other types of dress formalized in the 12th century were the noshi (courtiers’ everyday costumes) and the kariginu, worn for hunting. Both of these garments were voluminous hip-length jackets worn with baggy trousers tied at the ankles. As political control shifted from the emperor to the newly formed shogunate, it became necessary to devise special costumes for the samurai, the caste from which the shogun drew his power. The hitatare, the formal court robe of samurai, and the suo, a crested linen robe designed for everyday wear, were characterized by V-shaped necklines accentuated by inner-robe neckbands of white.

Several centuries later the samurai adopted the kamishimo, a striking jumperlike garment, with extended shoulders and pleated skirt-trousers, which was worn over the hitatare. This costume probably inspired a later fashion of wearing skirt-trousers (hakama) over a full-length black kimono, which, together with the short black haori coat, was until fairly recently the approved formal attire for Japanese men.

The basic kimono style adopted by Japanese women during the Nara period has remained amazingly close to that of the pao robes worn by the women of Tang China. The practice of wearing a short-sleeved kimono (kosode) as an outer garment and belting it in with a narrow sash (obi) originated during the Muromachi period (Ashikaga shogunate; 1338–1573), when samurai women began to wear a voluminous outer kimono (uchikake) as a kind of mantle. Eventually, the kosode came to be worn only by married women, the long-sleeved furisode being reserved for young unmarried girls. The wide obi, tied in a variety of ways and fastened with an often intricately carved toggle (netsuke), was adopted in the early 18th century, and it was at this time also that women first began to wear the short haori coat, which has come to be an important feature of Japanese women’s dress.

The yukata, which is worn by both men and women, is a cotton kimono with stencil-dyed patterns (usually done in shades of indigo) that was originally designed for wear in the home after a bath. Because it has become accepted practice to wear yukata on the street on warm summer evenings, the cottons designed for them have become increasingly handsome.

Traditional Japanese footwear includes sandals, slippers, and wooden clogs (geta) worn with the tabi, a sock with a separate section for the big toe.

Korea

Some of the basic elements of modern traditional dress in Korea, the chŏgori (jacket), paji (trousers), and turumagi (overcoat), were probably worn at a very early date, but the characteristic two-piece costume of today did not begin to evolve until the period of the Three Kingdoms (c. 57 bce–668 ce). During the early part of this period both men and women wore tight, waist-length jackets and short, tight trousers; and it is believed that the Koreans’ traditional fondness for white clothing dates from this period.

Korean records state that special costumes for court wear modeled after those of Tang China were adopted during the 7th century; but Chinese influence on Korean dress at this period is verifiable only in changes that occurred in the everyday costumes of the nobility. Noblewomen formerly had worn tight trousers and jackets (which continued to be worn by the poorer classes); now they began to appear in wide-sleeved, hip-length jackets, belted at the waist, and in full-length skirt-trousers. The corresponding dress for noblemen was a narrower, tunic-style jacket, cuffed at the wrists, belted, and worn with roomy trousers bound in at the ankles. The most striking evidence of Chinese influence at this time is to be seen in the style of the turumagi overcoat worn by noblemen, pictured in fresco paintings as a voluminous full-length garment made almost exactly like the pao robe of Tang China. One-piece robes were not worn in Korea until the late 13th century, when the court was forced to adopt Mongol dress; after Mongol domination ended in 1364, Koreans wore the one-piece robe only at wedding ceremonies.

In the 15th century, Korean women began to wear pleated skirts (chima) and longer chŏgori, a style that was undoubtedly introduced from China. Noblewomen wore full-length chima to indicate their social standing and began gradually to shorten the chŏgori until eventually it attained its present length, just covering the breast. This style made it necessary to reduce the fullness of the skirt somewhat in order to make it possible to extend it almost up to the armpits, which remains the fashion.

The adoption of Chinese-style mandarin squares as emblems of rank for civil and military officials (who wore them on their turumagi) appears to have been the only notable example of Chinese influence on men’s dress at this period. Otherwise, few changes were made until 1894, when class distinctions were relaxed by government decree. It was at this time that the turumagi was shortened and narrowed to its present form.

The most picturesque costume of modern Korea is that of men of leisure, yangban, who are past 60 years of age. The yangban wear white almost exclusively, their costumes consisting of full trousers tied at the ankles with ribbons, over which is worn a short chŏgori and a fitted vest and, over all, a loose turumagi, which falls just below the knees and is tied at the breast. The patriarchal appearance of the yangban (who is usually bearded) is accentuated by a black horsehair hat, its flat brim and high crown giving him somewhat the appearance of an American colonial Pilgrim Father. Younger men wear a similar costume (though not the hat) in gray, light blue, or light brown.

Women’s costumes feature a bolero-style white chŏgori, finished off at the neck by a figured band or ribbon that ties from left to right, and overlaid by high-waisted chima, which, in formal costumes, is a full, billowing garment made of beautifully patterned silk.

South Asia

The Hindu population of South Asia comprises about 2,000 castes, each of whose members wear distinct clothes and ornaments. Thus, the subject of dress cannot be dealt with satisfactorily in a few paragraphs. Some of the principal features of upper-class Hindu and Muslim dress and the history of their development can, however, be sketched briefly.

The ancient origin of two of the most characteristic garments of modern India, the dhoti worn by men and the sari worn by women, is verifiable in sculptured reliefs as far back as the 2nd century bce. Both men and women are pictured wearing a long piece of cloth wrapped around the hips and drawn between the legs in such a fashion that it forms a series of folds down the front. The upper bodies of both men and women were unclothed, though women sometimes wore a narrow cloth girdle around the waist. Men are pictured wearing large turbans, women with head scarves that fall to the hips. Women also wore a great amount of jewelry—bracelets, anklets, and girdles—but men’s ornaments consisted solely of bracelets.

No major change in costume appears to have been made until the 12th century, when the Muslims conquered northern and central India. In this part of the subcontinent, radical new dress styles were adopted to conform with Muslim practice, which required that the body be covered as completely as possible. Men’s costumes thereafter consisted of the jamah, a long-sleeved coat that reached to the knees or below and was belted in with a sash, and wide trousers known as isar. These garments and the farji, a long, gownlike coat with short sleeves, which was worn by priests, scholars, and high officials, were made of cotton or wool, silk being forbidden to men by the Qurʾān. Somewhat modified, these traditional styles continue to be worn by upper-class men of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Women’s garments consisted of wide-topped trousers snugly fitted around the calves of the legs, a long shirtlike garment, and a short, fitted outer jacket. Silk was not forbidden to women; and highborn women, forced to spend their lives in seclusion, devoted much time and money to their costumes. During the Mughal dynasty (c. 1526–1748), emperor Akbar’s Rajput wives became inspired by the profusion of luxurious fabrics available in India and designed a graceful new style of dress that Muslim women adopted forthwith. This costume consisted of an open-front pleated skirt, or ghaghra, worn with a long apronlike panel over the front opening, and a short-sleeved, breast-length blouse called a coli. The ghaghra and coli continue to be basic elements of Muslim women’s dress, the loose front panel replaced by the traditional sari, which is worn as an overgarment, one end draped around the hips, the other carried up over the shoulder or head.

Dress in southern India was little affected by Muslim rule in the north. The dhoti continued to be worn by most Hindu men (it was traditionally forbidden to some castes) and the sari by women. Some additions to these traditional costumes have been adopted. On formal and semiformal occasions many Hindu men wear a long, full-skirted, white cotton coat, which reaches to the knees and buttons down the front from top to bottom, over jodhpur-style white trousers; most Hindu women wear a short coli-style blouse under a sari or with a long skirt under a loose waist-length bodice.