Editing Japanese clothing (section)

=== Heian period (794–1185) ===
During the [[Heian period]] (794-1185 CE), Japan stopped sending envoys to the Chinese dynastic courts. This prevented Chinese-imported goods—including clothing—from entering the [[Heian Palace|Imperial Palace]] and disseminating to the upper classes, who were the main arbiters of traditional Japanese culture at the time and the only people allowed to wear such clothing. The ensuing cultural vacuum facilitated the development of a Japanese culture independent from Chinese fashions. Elements previously lifted from the Tang Dynastic courts developed independently into what is known literally as "national culture" or {{nihongo|"{{transliteration|ja|kokufū}} culture"|国風文化|kokufū-bunka}}, the term used to refer to Heian-period Japanese culture, particularly that of the upper classes.<ref>[https://www2.nhk.or.jp/school/movie/clip.cgi?das_id=D0005310767_00000 平安時代の貴族の服装] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819153341/https://www2.nhk.or.jp/school/movie/clip.cgi?das_id=D0005310767_00000 |date=2021-08-19 }} [[NHK]] for school</ref>

Clothing became [[junihitoe|increasingly stylised]], with some elements—such as the round-necked and tube-sleeved {{transliteration|zh|chun ju}} jacket, worn by both genders in the early 7th century—being abandoned by both male and female courtiers. Others, such as the wrapped-front robes, also worn by men and women, were kept. Some elements, such as the {{transliteration|ja|mo}} skirt worn by women, continued on in a reduced capacity, worn only to formal occasions;<ref name="Dalby Fashioning Culture"/> the {{nihongo||裳|mō}} grew too narrow to wrap all the way around and became a trapezoidal pleated [[Train (clothing)|train]].<ref name="Fgarments">{{cite web |last1=Badgley |first1=Joshua L. |title=Women's Garments |url=https://sengokudaimyo.com/garb/womens-garments |website=Sengoku Daimyo}}</ref> Formal {{transliteration|ja|hakama}} (trousers) became longer than the legs and also trailed behind the wearer.<ref name=Foutfits/> Men's formal dress included {{transliteration|ja|agekubi}} collars and very wide sleeves.<ref name="LtK"/>

The concept of the hidden body remained, with ideologies suggesting that the clothes served as "protection from the evil spirits and outward manifestation of a social rank". This proposed the widely held belief that those of lower ranking, who were perceived to be of less clothing due to their casual performance of manual labor, were not protected in the way that the upper class were in that time period. This was also the period in which Japanese traditional clothing became introduced to the Western world.<ref name=":4" />{{dubious|date=October 2021}}

During the later Heian period, various clothing edicts reduced the number of layers a woman could wear, leading to the {{transliteration|ja|[[kosode]]}} (lit., "small sleeve") garment—previously considered underwear—becoming outerwear by the time of the [[Muromachi period]] (1336-1573 CE). 
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File:Genji emaki TAKEKAWA.jpg|In the late Heian period, the {{transliteration|ja|[[jūnihitoe]]}} consisted of many layers ({{transliteration|ja|hitoe}}) worn over a plain {{transliteration|ja|[[kosode]]}} and {{transliteration|ja|[[hakama]]}}<ref name="Bardo">{{cite book |last1=Fassbender |first1=Bardo |last2=Peters |first2=Anne |last3=Peter |first3=Simone |last4=Högger |first4=Daniel |title=The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0198725220 |page=477}}</ref> ([[The Tale of Genji]], 12th century).
File:Genji emaki YADORIGI 2 (cropped to center).JPG|The courtiers in the foreground are wearing their {{transliteration|ja|hitoe}} off-the-shoulder, showing the {{transliteration|ja|kosode}} beneath.
File:Genji emaki 01003 009.jpg|{{transliteration|ja|Tarikubi}} collars on husband and wife, in their home. Note red {{transliteration|ja|[[hakama]]}} of standing woman.
File:Fujiwara no Michinaga 2.jpg|{{nihongo||[[wiktionary:指貫|Sashinuki]]}}/{{transliteration|ja|nu-bakama}} and {{transliteration|ja|agekubi}} collar in men's court dress
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