Chronology of Japanese Clothing Culture in the Modern Age

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The period of this chronology is from 1868 to 1945. This period, when kimono and western style of dress contended with each other, was a very important time for Japanese clothing culture. From this chronology, information of acculturation of costume during this period can be obtained.

This chronology is made by the three kinds of time.

1. The Events column only has precise dates that function like a general timeline.
2. The Contemporary Conditions column cannot be connected to exact dates including references to fads and fashion, etc. It includes texts and images from each year.
3. The Memoirs column is not more accurate than Contemporary Conditions regarding the subject matter. It is accessible by searching the 26 subjects.

Originally, this database project was jointly initiated by Daimaru laboratory and Kubo laboratory in the National Museum of Ethnology, and Takahashi laboratory in the Osaka-Shoin Women's University. Currently, it is inherited to and maintained by the MCD Research Project Team organized in the National Museum of Ethology.

The current sum total of the data including images is over 12,000 items.

This database is partially funded by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, which is part of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

Other related databases

• Clothing and Accessory Collection Database
• Publications Concerning Clothing Culture Database
• Image Database of Japanese Clothing Culture in the Modern Age

The copyright of this database belongs to the National Museum of Ethnology and MCD Research Project.