National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

Kosode is a lined kimono with small wrist openings that contains a thin layer of floss silk between the outer fabric and the lining. The front and back parts made of nerinuki fabric, which is a plain fabric woven with raw silk thread as the warp and processed silk thread as the woof, are sewn together at the shoulders to form a set of bold purple diamonds (matsukawabishi). The body part of the fabric is dyed purple and white. A thick and powerful bamboo trunk and a young bamboo stretch from the right bottom and cross toward the shoulders and the large leaves of the young bamboo hang at the shoulders and bottom. Bamboo is tie-dyed (hitta shibori) while the tie-dyed trunk and leaves are outlined with thin sumi and painting is applied to part of them. The crest design is three leaves of hollyhock, which is represented by tie-dyeing and sumi lines and placed at five locations. A red surihaku (a technique to impress gold/silver leaf paste on a design) obi with a chrysanthemum and paulownia motif currently exists as an accessory to this kosode. According to an attached document, Ieyasu gave this to the head of the Sagi school of Kyogen (Noh farce) in 1610. Since there is a record that Ieyasu loved Kyogen and performed it himself, some claim that this kosode could have been made specifically for Noh performance.