Overview
The Gishi Wajinden, the account of the Wa in the Chinese Records of Wei, is the earliest written description of Japanese clothing. It reports that women passed the head through a hole in a single cloth (the kantoi), and that men draped and knotted a broad length of cloth without tailoring.
Key garments and style
Backstrap-loom weaving of hemp and ramie spread, and sericulture and early silk appear. Garments were still mostly wrapped and tied rather than cut and sewn, and dyeing with plant colors began.
Transition
Continental contact deepened in the Kofun period, when tailored two-piece dress — a jacket with trousers or skirt — took hold.