Obi (sash)


An is a sash for traditional Japanese dress, keikogi, and part of kimono outfits.
The obi for men's kimono is rather narrow, wide at most, but a woman's formal obi can be wide and more than long. Nowadays, a woman's wide and decorative obi does not keep the kimono closed; this is done by different undersashes and ribbons worn underneath the obi. The obi itself often requires the use of stiffeners and ribbons for definition of shape and decoration.
There are many types of obi, most for women: wide obi made of brocade and narrower, simpler obi for everyday wear. The fanciest and most colourful obi are for young unmarried women. The contemporary women's obi is a very conspicuous accessory, sometimes even more so than the kimono robe itself. A fine formal obi might cost more than the rest of the entire outfit.
Obi are categorised by their design, formality, material, and use. Informal obi are narrower and shorter.

History

In its early days, an obi was a cord or a ribbon-like sash, approximately in width. Men's and women's obi were similar. At the beginning of the 17th century, both women and men wore a ribbon obi. By the 1680s, the width of women's obi had already doubled from its original size. In the 1730s women's obi were about wide, and at the turn of the 19th century were as wide as. At that time, separate ribbons and cords were already necessary to hold the obi in place. The men's obi was at its widest in the 1730s, at about.
Before the Edo period, which began in 1600, women's kosode robes were fastened with a narrow sash at the hips. The mode of attaching the sleeve widely to the torso part of the garment would have prevented the use of wider obi. When the sleeves of kosode began to grow in width at the beginning of the Edo period, the obi widened as well. There were two reasons for this: firstly, to maintain the aesthetic balance of the outfit, the longer sleeves needed a wider sash to accompany them; secondly, unlike today married ladies also wore long-sleeved kimono in the 1770s. The use of long sleeves without leaving the underarm open would have hindered movements greatly. These underarm openings in turn made room for even wider obi.
Originally, all obi were tied in the front. Later, fashion began to affect the position of the knot, and obi could be tied to the side or to the back. As obi grew wider the knots grew bigger, and it became cumbersome to tie the obi in the front. In the end of the 17th century obi were mostly tied in the back. However, the custom did not become firmly established before the beginning of the 20th century.
At the end of the 18th century it was fashionable for a woman's kosode to have overly long hems that were allowed to trail behind when in house. For moving outside, the excess cloth was tied up beneath the obi with a wide cloth ribbon called shigoki obi. Contemporary kimono are made similarly over-long, but the hems are not allowed to trail; the excess cloth is tied up to hips, forming a fold called ohashori. Shigoki obi are still used, but only in decorative purposes.
The most formal of obi are about to become obsolete. The heavy and long maru obi is nowadays used only by maiko and brides as a part of their wedding outfit. The lighter fukuro obi has taken the place of maru obi. The originally everyday Nagoya obi is the most common obi used today, and the fancier ones may even be accepted as a part of a semi-ceremonial outfit. The use of musubi, or decorative knots, has also narrowed so that women tie their obi almost solely in the simple taiko musubi, "drum knot". [|Tsuke obi] with ready-made knots are also gaining in popularity.
Tatsumura Textile located in Nishijin in Kyoto is a centre of manufacturing today. Founded by Heizo Tatsumura I in the 19th century, it is renowned for making some of the most luxurious obi. Amongst his students studying design was the later painter Inshō Dōmoto. The technique Nishijin-ori is intricately woven and can have a three dimensional effect and can cost up to 1 Million Yen.
The "Kimono Institute" was founded by Kazuko Hattori in the 20th century and teaches how to tie an obi and wear it properly.

Women's obi

The wide women's obi is folded in two when worn, to a width of about to. It is considered elegant to tie the obi so that the folded width is in harmony with the wearer's body dimensions. Usually this means about a tenth of her height. The full width of the obi is present only in the decorative knot, musubi.
A woman's obi is worn in a fancy musubi knot. There are ten ways to tie an obi, and different knots are suited to different occasions and different kimono.
There are many different types of women's obi, and the usage of them is regulated by many unwritten rules not unlike those that concern the kimono itself. Certain types of obi are used with certain types of kimono; the obi of married and unmarried women are tied in different ways. Often the obi adjusts the formality and fanciness of the whole kimono outfit: the same kimono can be worn in very different situations depending on what kind of obi is worn with it.

Women's obi types

When worn, a fukuro obi is almost impossible to tell from a maru obi. Fukuro obi are made in roughly three subtypes. The most formal and expensive of these is patterned brocade on both sides. The second type is two-thirds patterned, the so-called "60% fukuro obi", and it is somewhat cheaper and lighter than the first type. The third type has patterns only in the parts that will be prominent when the obi is worn in the common taiko musubi.
The Nagoya obi is relatively new. It was developed by a seamstress living in Nagoya at the end of the 1920s. The new, easy-to-use obi gained popularity among Tokyo's geisha, from whom it then was adopted by fashionable city women for their everyday wear.
The formality and fanciness of a Nagoya obi depends on its material, just as with other obi types. Since the Nagoya obi was originally used as everyday wear, it can never be part of a truly ceremonial outfit, but a Nagoya obi made from exquisite brocade can be accepted as semi-ceremonial wear.
The term Nagoya obi can also refer to another obi with the same name, used centuries ago. This Nagoya obi was cord-like.
Formal obis worn by men are much narrower than those of women. The men's obi is worn in much simpler fashion than women's: it is wrapped around the waist, below the stomach and tied with a simple knot in the back.

Men's obi types

A netsuke is an ornament suspended from the obi worn by men.

Children's obi

Children are dressed in kimono especially for the Shichi-Go-San celebration, when girls aged three and seven and boys aged five are celebrated. Children's kimono outfits resemble those of adults and their parts are basically miniature versions from adult's pieces. The youngest children wear soft, scarf-like obi.

Children's obi types

Many Japanese martial arts feature an obi as part of their Gi. These obi are often made of thick cotton and are about wide. The martial arts obi are most often worn in the koma-musubi knot; in practice where hakama is worn, the obi is tied in other ways.
In many martial arts the colour of the obi signifies the wearer's skill level. Usually the colours start from the beginner's white and end in the advanced black, or masters' red and white. When the exercise outfit includes a hakama, the colour of the obi has no significance.

Knots (musubi)

The knot of the obi is called. These days, a woman's knot often does not keep the obi in place as much as it functions as a large decorative piece in the back. The actual knot is usually supported by a number of accessories: pads, scarves and cords. While putting on the obi, especially when without assistance, there is a need for several additional temporary ribbons.
There are hundreds of decorative knots and they often represent flowers or birds. As everything else in a kimono outfit, the knots are regulated by a number of unwritten propriety rules. Generally the more complex and showy knots are for young unmarried women in festive situations, the more subdued for married or mature women or for use in ceremonial situations.
In earlier days, the knots were believed to banish malicious spirits. Many knots have a name with an auspicious double meaning.

Types of knots

There also exists a half-length version of the darari musubi, the so-called handara musubi. According to tradition, a minarai wears her obi in this style. Maikos wear this knot for specific dances.
Nowadays the taiko musubi is usually associated with the taiko drum, but the origin of the name does not relate to the instrument. The knot was created at the time of the festive opening ceremony of the Taikobashi bridge in Tokyo in 1823. Some geisha attending to the event tied their obi in a new, conspicuous way that was thought to resemble the shape of a karuta playing card. The knot was a variation of a simple men's knot used then. The knot worn by trendsetting geisha was later adopted by other women. By the creation of the taiko musubi, the [|accessories] obiage, obijime and obimakura were also established. These accessories belong to most kimono outfits used today.