倉澤フデ子（長野）

About this photo

From inside an oval frame, she looks at the camera with one hand resting lightly on her obi. Her hair is gathered into a round shape on top of her head, a fine pattern is scattered all over her kimono, and round floral motifs line her wide obi. The name under the photo reads "Kurasawa Fudeko (Nagano)." It is one of the photos in Nihon Bijincho (Album of Japanese Beauties, 1908), a photo album based on a contest that gathered photos of women from across the country.

A kimono with a fine pattern covering the whole cloth like this looks like komon. Komon was originally the pattern of the kamishimo (a set of a stiff-shouldered top and hakama) worn by samurai in the Edo period, and each daimyo chose a pattern of his own. From around the Genroku era it spread to the stylish clothes of townsmen and townswomen, and from the Meiji era it came to be used mainly for women's kimono.

Komon is still worn for a wide range of occasions, from everyday wear to somewhat formal events such as tea gatherings. The reading of the name is our best guess.

Glossary