In the past, Japanese samurai brides often wore plain white kimonos on their wedding day, but at some point, they changed into something much more colorful and decorative. Here’s an example of such a bridal kimono – vivid color, beautiful print that makes the bride’s back worth staring at during the whole wedding ceremony, and deeply symbolic images. This garment is 100 years old, although it’s so lovely many brides even today would agree to wear it to the wedding.
All of the photos are from The Met Museum in New York
This is a Japanese outer robe called “uchikake”. It’s from the early 20th century. The uchikake kimono is a very formal garment, often worn for ceremonies and similar occasions, like weddings.
This particular kimono was created about 100 years ago as wedding attire for a bride. The phoenix birds symbolize prosperity, longevity, and good fortune. The paulownia trees symbolize good luck and are considered the trees of life.
The back of this kimono is so decorative that the wedding guests can observe the bride’s back with pleasure during the wedding ceremony when the couple stands with their backs to the crowd.
This uchikake kimono is in such a wonderful shape despite its age because it was probably worn just once, for a wedding. And isn’t it beautiful?
