katabira 帷

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Art History
Crafts

Also written 帷子. An unlined garment worn in summer since the Heian period. For court nobles, it was woven with cotton, hemp, or ramie. Since the early Edo period, unlined *kosode 小袖 woven with cotton, hemp, or ramie were also called katabira. Aristocratic women wore katabira woven with *jōfu 上布 from Echigo 越後 and Satsuma 薩摩 Provinces (now Niigata and Kagoshima Prefectures), or narazarashi 奈良晒 (bleached cloth) and decorated with chayatsuji 茶屋辻 (indigo-dyed patterns and embroidery). Because the katabira were worn in the summer, designs usually suggested coolness. The name katabira was also used for the curtain hung from aristocrats' sleeping platforms *chōda帳台 or cloth screen, kichō 几帳, made with raw silk for summer and glossed silk for winter.