Japan
1950
-2000
Red
womans
Japan
[Silk with Metallic Embroidery]
Overview: The ornate red silk uchikake is decorated with machine-made embroidery of long-tailed birds, flower petals, and clouds. The underlying brocade depicts the Japanese double happiness character. Uchikake are generally worn in winter seasons for celebrations or anytime of the year for weddings.
Construction: The garment is mostly made by machine including the embroidery. It is fully lined in red silk. See supplemental pages for additional information.
Trim: The machine-made embroidery is silver, gray, and white silk threads that create a pattern depicting long-tailed birds (perhaps cranes or pheasants), leaves, flower petals, and cumulus clouds. The silk brocade pattern is a depiction of the Japanese character for double happiness. See supplemental pages for additional information.
Provenance: Donated to the Department of Dramatic Art by Tom Hardison in summer of 2008. He collected the garment while living in Japan during the late 20th century.
Damage: It was worn for several wedding and/or celebratory occasions so there is some fraying on the padded roll hem. The silver and white embroidery threads show some signs of wear.
