Overview
The kosode became the everyday kimono of all classes. The women’s obi grew from a narrow tie into a broad, elaborately knotted sash; long-sleeved furisode marked unmarried young women, and men wore kimono with haori and hakama, the kamishimo serving as samurai formal dress.
Key garments and style
Dyeing and design flourished: yuzen paste-resist painting (late seventeenth century), shibori tie-dyeing and stencil komon patterns. Repeated sumptuary edicts against luxury turned merchant taste toward restrained indigo and brown palettes and hidden linings — the aesthetic of iki — and ukiyo-e prints spread the latest looks like fashion plates.
Transition
The yukata, a cotton bathrobe, moved into summer streetwear. With the Meiji opening, Western dress would arrive and reshape everything.