Figure 1.--The children in this Japanese family were photographed in 1890. Note they are all wearing traditional costumes. It is a little difficult to see gender differences in the traditional garments, but the hair styles are apparent.

In the years right after the end of Japan's isolation in 1868, Japanese boys continued to wear traditional attire. We do not know a great deal about the traditional garments yet. We do not yet know about specific children's garments or gender differences yet. It is a little difficult to see gender differences in the traditional garments, but the hair styles are apparent (figure 1). With the opening to the west, western clothes were introduced. Western clothes gradually became associated with progress and modernity. Notably at first it was more common to see men and boys in western clothes than women and girls. The ascendancy of military values in the latter 19th Century and the building of a public educational system on German lines, boys overwhelmingly came to be dressed in school uniforms and the Japanese militarists chose the uniform of the Prussian army cadets. Prussia had succeed in forging German Empire which was beginning to dominate Europe and the Japanese were impressed. Japan began to rapidly modernize after the Menji Restoration. Some Japanese in the cities began to wear Western dress. We believe this was at first largely the urban elite. Western dress continued to be relatively rare among the common people through to the the turn of the century.

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Created: 6:48 PM 10/11/2006
Last updated: 6:48 PM 10/11/2006