The Kimono is ubiquitous in Japanese history, culture, and tradition. To the Japanese it means simply "thing worn" or "clothing". It is the only garment worn throughout history by the people of Japan for as long as most of the rest of the world has known them. The predecessor to the present day Kimono is the "ko-sode", meaning "small sleeves", referring to its narrow arms. The Kimono we now tend to associate with Japan is the "furi-sode" with its wide open sleeves.
The Kimono is a functional garment in that it is of a single size which is adjusted for length at the waist by the "obi", or sash and in that it is intended to be worn by both men and women. Whereas in early Japan a dozen or more layers of kimono of different colors would be worn they are now normally worn as a single layer over a slip garment. One can only wonder at the practical challenge in adjusting the obi to accommodate a dozen or more kimonos.
A "tan", or bolt of cloth measuring about 9 m by 30 cm is used to make one Kimono. The cloth is cut into four patterns, one each for the back and front and one each for the sleeves. When buying fabric for making one kimono one buys a tan. There are sixteen parts to the overall pattern, such as "yuki" for sleeve length, "sode" for sleeve, "eri" for collar, "tamoto" for sleeve pouch and so on. The traditional silk fabrics of the kimono have given way to rayon, cotton, and other low maintenance fibers with the exception of the traditional wedding kimono which is still made of silk.
The history of the kimono included a fling as fashion statement during the Heian period (794-1185) with the introduction of the historical beginnings of class consciousness as Japanese women began favoring the look of up to a dozen layers of kimonos of different shades which would show in the sleeve edges and collars. In more affluent households even more layers were worn, as many as could comfortably be accommodated. The degree of comfort and the number of layers worn reflected the fineness of the silk and the affordability of one's time and the assistants needed to don them. A poor peasant girl attempting to do the same with the simple hemp styles her family could afford could certainly not present herself very well.
This early manifestation of style consciousness naturally led to the establishment of a class hierarchy as expressed in the style and pattern of one's clothing, during the Edo period, also known as the Tokugawa period (1603-1868). This was a development predicated by the adoption of the predominant Confucian philosophy of that time which stressed practicality and the functional organization of society and family, in which a clearly defined stratification of class determined one's status as a matter of course.
As Japan developed industrially the demands of the industrial era meant that a more practical style of clothing was in order. The only practical style of clothing which this new economic model demanded incorporated only a few necessary elements, the first being sensible foot-ware and the second a transition from the pants that were being worn under the kimono by this time to their replacing the kimono altogether. The people of Japan had no trouble adapting to the demands of modern style as over the centuries they had acquired an enviable skill in the manufacture and tailoring of a wide variety of fabrics. This relegated the kimono to ceremonial occasions like weddings and in the more traditionally cultured families to the wearing of kimonos while in the comfort of their homes. Ceremonial kimonos are generally rented these days by most people ever since the horrendous aftermath of the great Kanto earthquake of 1923 in which most of the homes in Japan were destroyed, taking their precious collections of traditional family kimonos with it. That was truly the saddest time in Japan's rich cultural history.