0.1 Girl’s meisen kimono 28
0.2 Inset showing visible hand-stitching 29
0.3 Child’s kimono made from synthetic fabric 30
0.4 Visible hand-stitching on child’s kimono 31
1.1 Image of two young women in monpe taken in 1934 48
1.2 A February 1941 photograph of marching women dressed in monpe 51
1.3 An intoxicated Gonsuke attacks Oshin in the snow 58
2.1 Kimono as katami: Iwahashi Mimori in kimono and obi for Coming-of-Age Day 69
2.2 Details of Iwahashi Mimori’s Coming-of-Age Day obi bow 70
2.3 Inside a traditional gofukuya store 78
2.4 Luxury kimono in a gofukuya 80
2.5 An example of kimono made from Ōshima tsumugi 90
3.1 A young Sata Ineko in kimono 95
3.2 An older Sata, aged 67, also wearing kimono 96
3.3a Rangiku patterned book cover 99
3.3b Rangiku patterned book cover – opposite side 99
4.1 Courtesans and their attendants from the Edo era pleasure quarters 105
4.2 The August 1920 swim-suited form of Kobayashi Seiko (1902–1996) 109
4.3 Taishō era kimono fabric with western-influenced florals and traditional Japanese mode 111
4.4 Kuki’s hexahedron, often featured to demonstrate this thinker’s theory of iki 117
4.5a Muted bolts of tortoise-shell Ōshima tsumugi 124
4.5b A closeup image of the distinctive six-sided Ōshima tortoise-shell pattern 124
4.6 Three of the four real-life women on whom the sisters in Tanizaki’s novel, Sasameyuki, were based 126
5.1 The Tantansha poster for Yuriko, dasuvidāniya 132
5.2 Hamano Sachi’s 2022 publication, Onna ni narenai shokugyō (The Occupation That is Not for Women) 134
5.3 “Taishō chic” style garment worn by Yuriko (left) with Yoshiko (right) in more muted attire 140
5.4 Yuriko (left) in rich purplish shades with lighter swirls while Yoshiko (right) wears subdued navy 141
5.5 Yoshiko (left) and Yuriko (right) writing in scholarly mode on separate projects 142
5.6 Yuriko (left) and Yoshiko (right) in the garden of Nogami Yaeko (centre) 146
5.7 Yuriko (left) in western attire with Yoshiko (right) in muted stripes 148
5.8 Both women in western attire as a frenzied Yoshiko (right) violently stabs a futon 149
5.9 Yuriko (left) approaches Yoshiko (right) to kiss her companion 151
5.10 Yuriko (far left) leaves the breakfast room once Araki (second from right) arrives 153
5.11 A flashback scene in which Sei (right), Yoshiko’s previous lover, serenades Yoshiko (left) 155
5.12 Yuriko’s kimono-ed mother, Yoshie (left), with Yuriko (right) in high-end western style 157
5.13 Yuriko (right) expressing distaste at Araki’s excruciatingly awkward embrace 158
5.14 Yuriko (far left) in mid-length necklace with Yoshiko (second from right) in coat and tie 160
6.1 Cover of the 1984 Fuji shuppan revised and expanded edition of Komashaku Kimi’s Majo no ronri, which first appeared in 1978 165
7.1 The Spinners (1644–48, Las Hilanderas) by Diego Velázquez 184
7.2 Gustave Doré’s illustration of Arachne for Dante’s Purgatorio 185
7.3 An autographed photograph of acclaimed dancer, Azuma Tokuho 194
8.1 Gazing and being gazed upon 208
8.2 Yae and Mytyl in nature’s embrace 215
8.3 The “modern” pink and white chequered kimono 217
8.4 Sayo illuminated by the light of the moon 218
9.1 Kyōgen woman player as old woman wearing mask and hood-style headwear 230
9.2 A wawashii wife concealing her identity with kosode kimono 231
9.3 Performing a woman’s role in binan-kazura headwear 232
9.4 Minimalist Noh stage background for an “alienated” kyōgen performance 237
9.5 The kyōgen player’s fan – an indispensable prop 238
9.6a+b Decorative embroidery on nuihaku kimono with inset detail below 244
10.1a Author in Prunus kabazakura kasane style 252
10.1b Mannequin model highlighting the many layers of Heian era women’s formal wear 253
10.2 Contemporary oiran figure in an oiran parade 257
10.3 Young woman in furisode – long trailing sleeves – declaring her single status 259
10.4 Weaving the type of fabric that is the hallmark of less formal kimono 263
10.5 Weaving was traditionally regarded as women’s work 265
10.6a The author with Tanabe Keiko 268
10.6b Tanabe Keiko at work 269
11.1 Nōhime cosplay from Samurai Warriors 3 292
11.2 Vye as Ultimecia from Final Fantasy VIII in 2015 295
11.3 The fantasy, on-stage world created by Rinoa Lewis as Ultimecia from Final Fantasy VIII 296
11.4 Dalfe (left) and Tessu (right) as Shiro and Botan 299
11.5 Nobunaga and Nōhime from Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence 302
12.1 Shirasu Masako in the postwar era in a tweed-type jacket and slacks, two types of western attire that she notes in the essay translated here were her clothing preferences 308
12.2 Kabayama Aisuke, Shirasu Masako’s father, in his usual western attire as discussed in her essay 308
12.3 Two varieties of kasuri, a weave admired by Shirasu Masako. The bottom left bolt is Bingo kasuri from eastern Hiroshima Prefecture. The age of the fabric is evident from the phone number, 330 309