A karaori is a noh costume brocaded with floral and other designs using floated wefts of various colors. It belongs to the “small sleeve” kimono (kosode 小袖) garment category. The karaori is worn as a main garment by female characters, as an over-garment by characters of women and sprites, and as an undergarment by characters of women and warrior courtiers.
Karaori are a standard garb for shite roles of women appearing in the first part of a noh and for many tsure roles. The shite of Izutsu 井筒, Kamo, Nonomiya, and Funa Benkei wear the karaori as an outer garment and draped “straight” with an open V over the chest (kinagashi). Crazed women, like Sakagami in Semimaru and women at work, like the tsure in Eguchi, have one sleeve slipped off (nugisage). Karaori draped over divided skirts and tucked up at the waist (tsubo-ori) are worn by high ranking women, like the imperial consort in Yōkihi, and by sprites like Shōjō. For the role of the dancer in Dōjōji, the karaori is tucked up at the waist and draped over another kosode garment. In addition, a karaori can be worn as an undergarment by warrior courtiers, such as Atsumori 敦盛 and Tsunemasa 経正.
Kinagashi 着流し
Nugisage 脱下
Tsubo-ori 壺折 on nuihaku
Tsubo-ori 壺折 on ōkuchi
Karaori in warrior outfit
The karaori textile consists of a ground twill (usually 3 harness) and supplementary weft patterning. The ground may be a single color or form a large checkerboard pattern known as dangawari, created by tie-dyeing the warp (ikat, kasuri) into bands of color. The patterning silk floss rises above the densely packed ground to create the effect of three-dimensional embroidery. Each repeat of the pattern unit distributes the colored threads differently, creating an effect of infinite variety. The incorporation of gold thread adds an extra layer.
The box sleeves of the karaori are stitched up at the outer edge till the wrist and are sewn to the body panels. Extra front lapels and a wide collar provide enough breadth to cross the front garment over the chest and secure it with sashes at the waist.
Karaori sketch at Sasaki Noh Costumes (Kyoto).
Karaori sketch at Sasaki Noh Costumes (Kyoto).
Seasonal floral designs predominate. Other motifs include imagery from the classics, like the Tale of Genji, or waka poems. These often appear as float patterns over a background repeat motif, such as waves, diamonds, running water, or lattices. Young women wear karaori that include red and are referred to as “with color” (iro iri) , while older women’s karaori have little or no red and are designated as “without color” (ironashi).
The pictorial karaori designs are all fashioned on the loom during the weaving process. Against a dense twill, thick weft floats of many colors create a raised design. The pattern repeat and limited color palette are rendered so the same color combinations of motifs never occurs twice. This creates an overall rhythm that draws the eye from one area of the robe to another.
In the example above, the warps have been pre-dyed in blocks of red, white and brown to create a checkered background that has an overall linked key fret pattern (manji tsunagi) rendered in gold thread. The pictorial design unit depicts birds among peonies. This unit is repeated three times from bottom to top of the back, covering four changes in color blocks. Using white motifs on a white ground, or red on red creates blank spaces that erase the uniformity of the repeat. Similarly, the gold key fret pattern emerges or recedes depending on how it contrasts with the background color block.
Finally, juxtaposing mirror-view renditions of the pattern on adjacent panels creates a sense of movement. The long-tailed birds seem to fly upward separating only to dive towards each other.
Contributor: Monica Bethe