Super detailed summer weave chart, now in two sizes

[IG Team]

Peccantis

edit//PLEASE NOTE! I brainfarted while doing these, the last month at the right end of the table is October, not December! Of course, don't let this keep you from wearing hitoe further into the autumn if it's too hot for you ^_^;

So a certain wonderful someone sent me the Summer 2009 edition of Utsukushii Kimono, and I thought I'd share the amazing super-detailed summer weave usage chart found inside. Prepare yourself for a million usumono terms!



Here be a ~10Kb version for modem users.

Notes for most exotic terms:
透ける織物, literally "see-through weaves"
献上 kenjô
塩瀬 Shioze (a kind of taffeta?)

I found a lovely picture that shows some fabric types! Click to see.

List of terms used and what they are/mean/I think they are, in alpabetical order:

Asa - hemp. Also used for many other non-silk fibres (linen, flaxen) other than wool.
Hitoe some/ori - unlined, patterns dyed/ patterns woven
Namatsumugi - means "raw tsumugi". A picture I found. It looks like rough tsumugi.
Ra - a kind of mesh. As far as I know, it looks like "silk kôbai" in the picture linked to above, but patterns are sewn on like in embroidery. A picture is posted below.
Ro - ro, cloth with horizontal lines of tiny holes (or vertical, if it's "tatero")
Ro chijimi - ro crepe: crepe cloth with horizontal lines of tiny holes
Ro shioze - a type of ro fabric. Shioze seems to be a fine, plain, unpatterned type of silk cloth (a picture of a man's han'eri I found)...
Ro tsuzure - it seems to be a kind of non-fancy weave (click for picture or "tsuzure"). Again, with tiny holes.
Sha - like ro (with tiny holes in the fabric) but the pattern is like a grid.
Sha awase - lined with sha fabric (see keyword)
Sha kenjô - it seems to be a kind of weaving used in hakataorimono, where the pattern is formed by weft that is left unwoven for certain lengths. With tiny holes.
Sha tsumugi - tsumugi, with leeeeetle holes
Sukeru orimono - literally "see-through weave", I think it covers every other type of tee-through fabric there are


Pictures of: ro, ro tsuzure, sha, sha tsumugi, ra, sha kenjô, asa, ro shioze.

[IG Team]

Yohmama-san

That is super-awesome, Peccantis! I just printed it out and now I will have hours of fun trying to figure out what the different terms mean. :)

But I have already found out that I can wear my pretty asa obi all the way through the end of September (which I didn't know).

On the subject of summer fabrics - I have a kimono that is clearly meant for summer, but is a sort of fabric I have never seen before. It has a dark colored "base" weave, and then certain parts have a light colored weave. This makes for a kimono that looks like it is gray with a dark design, but the gray parts are opaque and the dark parts are sheer and see-through. Does anyone know what this is called?

[IG Team]

rubyminky

Is that sukashi, Yohmama? I have seen some sukashi haori that sound like your description.

[IG Team]

yohmama-san

I don't know what sukashi is, rubyminky. It reminds me of a fabric we call "burn-out velvet", except that the solid parts are not velvet, but a flat weave.

[IG Team]

Takenoko

Peccantis, that is the best summer wear chart I've seen - many thanks! I must go through the list of fabrics and see what I don't have already... some additions to my wish list will be inevitable...!

Re sukashi, doesn't that have more of a lacy look? The kind of fabric described would be devore (sorry, I can't type the accent here), whether velvet or a non-pile fabric. I think it is made by burning out one fibre against another - for devore velvet, isn't one fibre silk (i.e. an animal protein fibre) and the other either a plant fibre or a synthetic (depending on what is used to burn out the design)? DIY instructions here.

[IG Team]

Kokoro

Here´s another chart (from auberginefleurs Japan Blog) and hitoe end around the first week of October


http://blog.livedoor.jp/auberginefleur/ ... 79632.html

[IG Team]

Chiisana Hato

Kokoro - usu mono kimono - fading out thing? Is that ro I'm guessing? Maybe just any form of sheer kimono?

I dunno. Personally I'm loven' the hitoe going through the beginning of December! :) I'm always freaking hot. But I bet you are right about it being a typo. It would then match the other chart. *Sigh*

Thanks for posting.

[IG Team]

Kokoro

Chiisana Hato, Mayu is right, theses charts are japanese and even there some of the dates are dictated by society and nor the weather. It´s like she said, your home climate is important :)

Usumono referes to special fabrics worn in the hottest time of the year like ro, sha, hemp etc.
We have a threat about it
Question about usumono
and claw789 has posted a detailed chart about it:
[Knowledge] Awase/Hitoe/Usumono Year Chart

:)