Figure 1.-- This ambrotype of a boy wears clothes for a ground-breaking ceremony. The lid of wooden box case has a photograph master's stamp--he is Nishida Kiraku of Kyoto. It is not dated. Americam ambrotypes were mostly taken in the 1850s or early 60s, but Japanese ambrotypes seem to have been made in 70s and 80s.

We do not know a great deal about Japanese traditional dress. We have note some Japanese children wearing folk or traditional costumes. Japanese Folk costumes were everyday dress in Japan through the mid-19h century. Actual period photgraphs are limited. The earliest image we have found is an ambrotype of an unidentified Japanese boy( figure 1). It is undated, but could have been taken ias early as the 1850s. Japanese clothing began to change with the Menji Restoration, at least for men. Women continued wearing traditional dress as did most children at first. A good example is an unidentified family during the 1880s. We also note a Christian family about 1900. Before World War II some children still wore traditional clothes as part of their ordinary dress (figure 1). This was especially common in rural areas. This disappeared after World War II. Women continued wearing traditional dressed, but gradually shifted toward Western dress like men.

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Created: 6:19 AM 9/6/2007
Last updated: 6:19 AM 9/6/2007