The Role of Clothing at Kamakura-Fu, Described in “Kamakura-nenchuu-gyouji”

--With a Focus on the Clothing of Kamakura-Kubou--

Abstract

Kamakura-nenchuu-gyouji is a description of the clothing in various classes of samurai in East Japan. The clothes and accessories were different for each class. They were required by Kamakura-kubou to dress in different colors, shapes, and materials. This applied to every event and ceremony. There were also differences in vehicles. Mon, weaved into clothes, was also very important, because Mon was an expression of the Japanese sense of beauty. The giving a way of clothes after wearing them was also very important in the Muromachi period. The rules of clothing applied not only to daily clothing but also to armaments. Clothing always symbolized the classes and formality. In East Japan in the Muromachi period, the clothing of samurai were determined not by the scale of one's power but by the status of the Kamakura-Fu.