Japanese Wedding Kimono Iro Uchikake Red Silk w Gold Cranes

This is a gorgeous Japanese wedding kimono, referred to in Japan as an “Iro Uchikake”.  This Japanese wedding kimono is made of red silk with a pattern consisting of cranes and, I believe, ponds, the cranes being hand embroidered in metallic gold thread using a technique called “shusu”, where the metallic thread is “couched” onto the fabric using silk threads, this because the gold thread is too thick to be stitched through the base silk fabric.  The cranes are also hand embroidered with white, blue and green silk thread as well as with red on the crown of their heads and black for their eyes.  The ponds patterns are created using the “surihaku” technique, where metallic foil leaf is applied to the fabric with the use of stencils in combination with hand embroidery.  This Japanese wedding kimono has long “furisode” sleeves and the hemline of the kimono is padded.  Aside from white used for Shinto ceremonies, red is a popular colour for Japanese wedding kimonos and cranes are used because they are known to mate for life.  This Japanese wedding kimono is very long, so would trail at the back.  It is lined in red silk.  There is no obi with it.

Sizing: This Japanese wedding kimono should fit a large size, but usually these are used as decorative wall display - should you wish to wear it, please rely on the following exterior measurements for fit, taking the style of the kimono into account (compare measurements with a similar kimono that you presently own or to your own body measurements, taking the cut of the garment into account):

Shoulders: 25 1/2” across the top from shoulder/sleeve seam to seam, but note that the shoulder seam is “dropped”, so would fall on the upper arm

Sleeves:  13” long from shoulder/sleeve seam

Sleeve drop:  41”

Bust:  54” around, taken under the arms, with a normal overlap at the neckline closure, 27” across pit-to-pit

Overall length:  70”, measured flat at the back from the neck seam to the hemline

Condition:  This Japanese wedding kimono is in excellent condition with no wear, tear, staining or odour except for some fading to the interior lining at the bottom left, most likely due to light exposure (see last close-up photo).  Otherwise, this looks to have seen maybe one use and was well stored over the years.

This is a gorgeous Japanese wedding kimono - the amount of work involved to create this boggles the mind.  IMO, these Japanese wedding kimonos are undervalued given the amount of labour required to create such beauty - fabulous display piece!