Overview
The Nara court wrote its clothing down. The Yoro Code’s clothing ordinance defined what officials wore, in what grade, on which occasion, on a Tang Chinese model — and one administrative order of this period settled a rule that every kimono still obeys.
Key garments and style
The code distinguished three registers: raifuku, the most formal ceremonial dress; chofuku, ordinary court dress; and seifuku for officials on duty, with robe colour assigned by rank so that a court gathering displayed the hierarchy at a glance.
The lasting rule is the fold. An order of 719 required the garment to be closed left panel over right, following continental practice, and that convention has governed Japanese dress ever since — right over left is now used only to dress the dead, which is why the rule is still taught to anyone putting on a kimono.
The material record is exceptional. The Shosoin repository at Todai-ji preserved eighth-century textiles, garments and accessories in their thousands, sealed and largely undisturbed, including dyed and woven silks, so Nara cloth can be examined directly rather than reconstructed from paintings.
Transition
When the embassies to Tang ended in the following century, this borrowed court dress began evolving into the distinctively Japanese layered costume of the Heian court.