#Funazokosode

[tanuki-kimono]

Quick sleeves style overview, a handy reference chart by Edo-lover Nadeshico Rin :D You can see from left to right, top to bottom:

Hirosode 広袖 - wide sleeves opened on their full lenght (cuff sometimes closed by drawstring). Inspired by Chinese attires, they started to be used by Japanese nobles during Nara era. Those can be found on court attires such as hô 袍, kariginu 狩衣, suikan 水干, hitatare 直垂, etc

Makisode 巻袖 - work clothes used by men and women alike, worn by farmers, fishermen etc. Sleeves are cut diagonally offering freedom of mouvement.

Zenimarusode 銭丸袖 - lit. “round coin” sleeve, a man style popular in second half of Edo period. Name come from the fact round part of the sleeves was made using shimonsen coins.

Tetsubôsode 鉄砲袖 - “gun barrel” sleeve, work clothes worn by men from Meiji period. Note the underarm gusset for freedom of mouvement.

Furisode 振袖 - long dangling sleeves, which became popular in early Edo period and got longer and longer as time went by. In the past, those sleeves were worn both by girls and boys (before their mariage/genpuku ceremonies). This style is now mainly worn by girls+young women.

Tomesode 留袖 - “cut” sleeves, style worn by married women during Edo. Name comes from the fact it was customary to shorten one’s furisode sleeves when married. This style is now the sleeve style found on women kimono

Tsutsusode 筒袖 - tight tubular sleeves, work clothes worn by men and women alike since Kofun period. Tightness means there is no tamoto 袂 (”pocket”/drop part of a kimono sleeve).

Funazokosode 舟底袖 - “hull” sleeve, a work clothes style found on men and women clothes. The lower part is nicely rounded like the bottom of a boat.

Genrokusode 元禄袖 - Genroku round sleeve. Early 20th brought back some Genroku era fashion including this sleeve style (compare with squarer tomesode).

[tanuki-kimono]

Do you think you could share more child kimonos? Or do they tend to not have as detailed designs on them?

Hi :) It's true I don't post many children kimono here. It's mainly because:

Children kimono often have kids in them (duh xD), and tbh I am not super confortable sharing kids pictures on the net. Many Japanese people anonymize their private pictures, but still reposting kids pics truly feels like intruding their privacy. This leave mainly photoshoots as a source.

Children don't often wear kimono nowadays. You can sometimes catch cute jinbei/yukata with modern/novelty patterns during summertime. But most of the time, kimono are worn for formal event such as miyamairi and shichigosan and the patterns/styling are often super classical (and a bit meh to my taste :S).

Follow those links to get a better idea of the different looks 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 .

Kids' kimono materials and patterns can be as plain or as luscious as adult's ones. Main differences between adult vs kid kimono are some tailoring points :

the sleeves, especially tighter/rounder funazokosode or genrokukosode sleeves (which won't catch and tear easily, see shapes here),

the tsukehimo (sewn-on ties for easy dressing)

the various -age tucks, accomodating a kid's growth into an adult size kimono

I sometimes come across fun photoshoots, I'll try to look for some more :D In the meantime, enjoy those past notes 1 / 2 / 3 / 4