Talking about department stores in Kyoto, probably you think of Daimaru and Takashimaya.Did you know that both Daimaru and Takashimaya originated from a kimono shop in Kyoto?
Kyoto Daimaru
In 1717, it was founded in Fushimi as a kimono shop, “Daimonjiya,” and was famous for “Dandara Haori,” which Shinsengumi made as a military uniform.
In 1907, the name was changed to “Daimaru kimono store,” and in 1928 it became a department store under the name of Daimaru.
Kyoto Takashiomaya
In 1831, it was founded in Karasuma Matsubara as vintage clothes and cotton dealers under the name of “Takashimaya”.
In 1919, the store was opened in Nagahoribashi as “Takashimaya Kimono Store Co., Ltd.”, and the current Osaka store was opened in 1932.
The name “Takashimaya” was derived from the fact that the founder’s parents were from Takashima City, Shiga prefecture. The Shinsengumi “Makoto” flag was produced by Takashimaya. Also, Takashimaya is famous for “rose mark” of wrapping papers now.
This time I would like to talk about Dandara Haori of the Shinsengumi’s military uniforms.Shinsengumi ran through Kyoto at the end of the Edo era 150 years ago.
Surprisingly, it seems that there aren’t many things related to the Shinsengumi in today’s world.In fact, there is no even the Dandara Haori left.
There were various theories, but there was a story that in the late Edo era when Shinsengumi was formed, Toshizo Hijikata gave an order to Daimaru, which was originally a kimono shop in Kyoto (currently Kyoto Daimaru).
At the end of Edo era when there was the Shinsengumi, unlike the times when people can enjoy wearing clothes of their favorite brands like present times, at that time, the clothes gradually took on a role, “symbolizing their status” after the occupation and social status became clear among the general public.By combining various “codes like symbols” incorporated in colors, shapes, materials and how to dress, the clothes were fulfilling a function to convey “what kind of person you are” to the public people visually.
The Shinsengumi was famous for its Dandara Haori, which was light green and had white mountain-shaped patterns on the sleeves and bottoms and a military flag with the Makoto character. The Dandara patterns imitated a stage costume of “Chushingura” depicting Ako Roshi. Ako Roshi was famous as a samurai who had been loyal to his master, and seemed to have put the meaning of “loyalty” on their uniforms.
The reason why the military uniforms were light blue is that the kamishimo worn by the samurai who did “hara-kiri” was light blue or white.
In fact, the light blue color, Asagi was the color of the back of the kimono worn by a poor samurai in the countryside, and when people made fun of the poor samurai, they called them the “back of Asagi”. Also, the color expressed the lowest color in the class system of Aizu Domain.
From the desire to create new valuable things in Kyoto after more than 100 years and to leave the history of the Shinsengumi’s Dandara Haori in the future, the Dandara Haori of Shinsengumi was made again after 8 months by the long-established store of Kyoto Yuzen 〈Chiso〉, which has a history of more than 450 years, and 〈Somenotsukasa Yoshioka〉, which has a dyeing technique that has continued since the Edo era, with lots of cooperation they gain.
Using the materials and techniques of the Edo era, “Restoration Shinsengumi Dandara Haori” seemed to be produced with “Kusaki-zome”, which was dyed only with natural materials in order to make it light blue.
Now, I am just writing down this article while looking at the Sanjyo-Ohashi Bridge.This bridge has been at the same place since the Era of Shinsengumi.This Sanjyo-Ohashi Bridge, which has been built since the Muromachi era 500 years ago, makes me feel deeply moving when I think that the bridge has gone through many times with fashion and been passing a long history.