{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O93960"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O93960/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PH7678/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PH7678/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PH7678","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX0925","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK5214","copyright":"©Monika Bincsik/Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto/Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AN1380","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX0923","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX0924","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX0926","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX0927","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O93960/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O93960","accessionNumber":"T.87-1968","objectType":"Kimono","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This is a summer kimono, or katabira, the cool linen-like cloth being highly suitable for Japan's humid weather. The iris and bridge motif relates to a famous passage in the 10th century Tales of Ise, one of the most famous works of classical Japanese literature.  In the ninth chapter the hero Ariwara no Narihira comes to a place in Mikawa province noted for its eightfold bridge and irises and composes a poem using the syllables of kakitsubata, the Japanese word for iris, as the first syllable of each of the lines.  The crests, or mon, across the shoulders are those of the Tokugawa, the military family who ruled Japan in the Edo period (1615-1868).","physicalDescription":"Woman's summer kimono (katabira) of ramie with a design of irises by a bridge executed in blue on the undyed ground using a freehand paste-resist indigo dyeing technique (chaya-zome) with embroidery in orange, purple and green silks in satin, stitch and couched gold-wrapped thread.  Five crests (on centre back, back sleeves and front shoulders) of the Tokugawa family","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"C168"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Ramie, resist-dyed and embroidered","categories":[{"text":"Embroidery","id":"THES48960"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"},{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2025PH7678","2019LX0925","2006BK5214","2006AN1380","2019LX0923","2019LX0924","2019LX0926","2019LX0927"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES404226"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Kimono","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Japan","id":"x29399"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1800-1850","earliest":"1800-01-01","latest":"1850-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Miss G. Saumarez ","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"18","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"repeat","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"9","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"repeat","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"46","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"repeat","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"22.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"repeat","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"62.5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"collar to hem","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"158","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"collar to hem","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"66","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"including sleeves","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"167.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"including sleeves","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"30","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"under arms","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"76.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"under arms","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"18.5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"silk","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"47","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"silk","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This kimono was given to the museum by Gladys Saumarez whose father James, 4th Baron Saumarez, was a captain in the Grenadier Guards before joining the Diplomatic Service in 1867. In 1875 he was posted to Japan so it may have been him who originally acquired the garment. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Summer kimono (katabira), plain weave ramie with freehand paste-resist dyeing, stencil imitation tie-dyeing, and embroidery in silk and gold-wrapped silk threads, probably Kyoto, 1800-50","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk","id":"AUTH407397"},"details":"Jackson, Anna (editor), London: V&A Publications, 2020","free":"\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"bridge","id":"AAT7836"},{"text":"flowers","id":"x35571"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":["The Tales of Ise"],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Kimono with patterns below the waist would have been worn by samurai women on less important ceremonial days. This is an unlined summer kimono made of ramie, a linen-like fabric well-suited to Japan's humid climate. The design alludes to a famous episode in the 10th-century Tales of Ise. The kimono bears the crests (mon) of the ruling Tokugawa family.\r\n","date":{"text":"29/02/2020","earliest":"2020-02-29","latest":"2020-02-29"}},{"text":"Summer kimono for a woman (katabira)\r\n1800–40\r\n\r\nKimono designs, particularly those on garments for women of the samurai elite, often alluded to well-known literary sources. The irises, bridge, black court hat and fan on this summer garment relate to a passage in the 10th-century Tales of Ise. The Tokugawa crests (mon) across the shoulders indicate that the kimono belonged to a woman from Japan’s ruling family.\r\n\r\nProbably Kyoto\r\nRamie with freehand paste-resist dyeing (yūzen) and stencilled imitation tie-dyeing (suri-hitta); embroidery in silk and metal-wrapped threads\r\nGiven by Miss G. Saumarez\r\nMuseum no. T.87-1968\r\n","date":{"text":"04/11/2015","earliest":"2015-11-04","latest":"2015-11-04"}}],"partNumbers":["T.87-1968"],"accessionNumberNum":"87","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":1968,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-27","recordCreationDate":"2004-02-25","availableToBook":false}}