In this article, you will learn about the samurai costume and the customs in the education of future soldiers. The material will be useful to boys who are interested in Japanese culture. After reading, mothers will be able to sew a samurai costume with their own hands or a beautiful kimono bathrobe for themselves.
Who are samurai?
First, tell your child who samurai are. The information below is useful to parents of both boys and girls. Make the child interested in Japanese culture, and who knows, perhaps in the future your family will have a real Japanese scholar and a Japanese language expert.
The word "samurai" from ancient Japanese means "one who serves a person of the highest rank." These are warriors who played the role of a bodyguard of their master. In everyday life, they also played the role of a servant.
Education of fighting spirit and willpower of samurai
The training of future samurai began at eight years old, and ended at 16. The boys, who were to become samurai in the future, were brought up very harshly. Education was based on the following principles:
- respect for parents;
- devotion to the emperor;
- respect for the teacher;
- Buddhist neglect of death.
The latter had a huge role in the life of the future warrior. The Japanese say: "The parent is the one who gave life, and the teacher is the one who brought up man." Fearlessness was raised in the boys. The father could send the child to the cemetery at night. Children were taken to public executions, forced to look at severed heads.
In order to develop stubbornness in the warrior, the guy was forced to do heavy physical work, often not to sleep at night, walk barefoot in the snow, neither light nor dawn would wake up . Future samurai could not be fed for days, considering the hunger strike very useful.
Children were brought up restrained and emotionally cold. If the child was hurt and cried, then the mother could only look reproachfully at him.
At the age of 15-16, the guys were considered full-fledged warriors and they were given real weapons: katana and wakizashi. The guy was given a real samurai costume: wide trousers of hakama and kimono.
Kimono Features
Translated from Japanese "kimono" - any type of clothing. Even a beginner can carve out this wardrobe item. Kimonos in the land of the rising sun are worn by everyone: men, women, children. By tradition, this thing was 9 meters wide with a width of 30 cm.
Kimono is loose clothing that does not have strict sizes. On the back, a dressing gown is usually cut 60 cm wide. The shelves have an odor allowance. In a modern stylized version, it is required. Historically, the costume changed, and there could be no smell.
Kimonos can be worn in many ways. They cut it, as a rule, a little longer than the growth of the owner required. A kimono can always be made visually shorter due to the folds under the belt.
The collar in the original kimono is a very voluminous detail. It is cut out of a rectangle and reaches either the waist or hem. When looking at an old multi-layer kimono, you may notice something resembling a figured neckline of a skirt in the upper layers of a suit. This is the edge of the gate, which was huge in the classic old kimono.
Croim kimono
In the photo below, you see how to cut a kimono, saving fabric. The width of the fabric for the dressing gown should be 110 cm. Cut the material along all solid lines. The pattern is given with all allowances for seams, except for the bottom of the product. Add yourself a few centimeters to the hem of the kimono. First sew the backrest over the bottom seam, and then cut the neck.
The pattern that is presented here is classic, because the back and shelves are two separate parts. If you wish, you can make them all-cut.
Sewing a kimono
Work overlock the edges of the fabric. First of all, you need to connect the two elements of the back. Now you can cut the neck. When marking, do not forget about the seam allowance.
Stitch on the shoulders front and back. Do not forget to stitch extensions to the right and left shelves.
Fold the sleeves in half. Focus on the dashed line. Stitch fabric from shoulder to wrist. You will get two pipes. Stitch the sleeves. To do this, connect the middle with the shoulder seam. Stitch the sides.
Put the kimono on the model. Spread the product on the shoulders and back. Smell a stylized bathrobe. Now on the shelves you need to bend the triangles for the collar. It will start from the back of the neck to the bottom (set the level of your own free will). Remove the suit from the model and secure the sewing elements with pins. Stitch three parts of the gate in one lane. Fold it along and sew it. Next, it needs to be turned out and ironed. You will receive a tape whose width is 5 cm.
Sew on the collar, cut off all the excess. Now you need to cut the entire product on the bottom. According to this pattern, you can sew both a samurai costume for a boy and a beautiful kimono for a girl or woman. Moms can make a delicate, feminine bathrobe for themselves according to this pattern. The kimono can be used as a New Year's samurai costume for a children's matinee in kindergarten or a carnival at school.
Hakama
Now we need to complement the samurai costume with hakama pants. These are very wide, almost dimensionless, pleated trousers with slits from the waist to the thigh and ties. Both men and women wear them. Female hakama are tied high under the chest, male - at the waist level.
We cut Japanese trousers
For an adult, take a fabric 110 cm wide. Below is a hakama pattern. Cut the fabric along the specified lines. Add a few centimeters below for hemming.
Sew Hakama
If the material "pours", then it should be overlocked. It is necessary to sew in pairs the elements of the front and rear halves of the hakama. You should get four details.
Take the front elements and grind them together along the middle seam, stepping back from the top edge of 30 cm. We process the outer upper edge: on the wrong side you need to bend a triangle 10 cm in size from one side and 20 cm from the other. Cut off excess material. Remember to leave a seam allowance.
We proceed to laying the folds. There should be 6 pieces in front of them (three can be made). They should be turned towards the center. Firmly smooth the folds; there can be no soft drapery. Now grind the sides from the cuts to the bottom edge and hem the trousers.
You can sew a samurai costume from cotton fabric, a dense curtain material.
Kimono can be decorated with embroidery. Samurai costume for New Year can be made of artificial silk.