帯

The Japanese word obi (帯) means simply 'sash' or 'belt,' but this plain definition conceals several centuries of extraordinary elaboration. The obi's origins lie in the narrow cords that tied Heian-period court robes, which were themselves descended from Chinese court dress of the Tang dynasty. The transformation from functional cord to elaborate sash occurred gradually between the Muromachi period (1336–1573) and the Edo period (1603–1868), as the kimono's design became increasingly elaborate and the need for a counter-balancing accessory became aesthetically urgent. By the mid-Edo period, the obi had grown from a narrow sash to a band twelve to thirty centimeters wide, and its tying -- the musubi -- had become a separate art form with dozens of recognized knots.

The formal obi -- fukuro obi or Nagoya obi -- is a masterwork of weaving. Nishijin-ori weavers in Kyoto produce obi fabric using techniques inherited from the Heian court, with gold and silver threads, raised brocade patterns, and designs drawn from classical literature, seasonal motifs, and Buddhist iconography. A single formal obi can take three to four weeks to weave on a Jacquard loom and sell for tens of thousands of dollars. The most prestigious obi are woven with threads finer than human hair, creating patterns that shift with the light. This is conspicuous craftsmanship -- the obi is placed at the back, where it will be seen by anyone the wearer passes, making the back of the kimono-dressed body the primary site of display.

The way the obi is tied communicates social status, occasion, and age. The taiko musubi (drum knot), a flat rectangular knot, is the standard knot for most adult women. Young, unmarried women wear the furisode kimono with more elaborate hanging knots -- the bunko, the cho-cho (butterfly), the tachiya -- that convey youth and availability. Geisha and apprentice geisha (maiko) wear the darari musubi, a long trailing knot that hangs nearly to the hem, its extra length serving as a canvas for the obi's design. In a culture of codified dress, knowing how to read an obi knot was a form of social literacy.

The obi's cross-cultural impact has been surprisingly wide. In the West, it entered fashion consciousness through Japonisme and was directly referenced by designers including Paul Poiret and Madeleine Vionnet, who found in the obi an alternative to the corset -- a way of cinching the waist that worked from the outside in rather than from the inside out. The wide fabric belt became a recurring fashion element in Western dress throughout the twentieth century, periodically reinvented without acknowledgment of its Japanese origin. Contemporary Western designers including Alexander McQueen and John Galliano have made obi-inspired belts central to their collections, while in Japan itself, the traditional obi-dressing arts are maintained by a dwindling number of specialists who train for years before they can dress another person correctly.