[Japanese Kimono Terminology Series#01] The Differences between ‘Wafuku’, ‘ Kimono’ and ‘Gofuku’
Hi, everybody! I am Clearwater (清水)！For most of the foreigners, Kimono is one of the cultural symbol of Japan. Even though you haven’t visited Japan before, you might come across some lovely kimono girls when you search ‘Japan’ in your Instagram search.
I know that some might find it weird when they first look at the title, just because they might never come across the other two terms ‘Wafuku’ and ‘Gofuku’. We used to call this traditional Japanese clothing as kimono. In Japan, this traditional clothing can also be called as ‘Wafuku’ or‘Gofuku’.
Even though these three terms can all be used to refer to the same idea , there are still differences between their meanings. Don’t worry, I am here to explain all these to you!
What is Wafuku(和服)?
In Japanese, Wafuku refers to all the Japanese traditional clothing. ‘Wa’(和) stands for Japan and ‘fuku’(服) stands for clothing. Before the Meiji period(1868–1912), the Japanese used to call all their clothing as ‘kimono’ (着物). However, after western culture entered Japan, the Japanese started to wear western clothing. In order to distinguish between western clothing and Japanese traditional clothing, the term ‘Wafuku’ was created.
What is Kimono(着物)？
Before the Meiji period(1868–1912）, the Japanese used to call all their clothing as ‘kimono’ (着物). At that time, ‘kimono’ means ‘ garments which people wear’.This word also represented ‘all the garments that Japanese wear’ at that time. However, after western culture entered Japan, the word ‘Wafuku’ (和服) was created to represent all the Japanese traditional clothing. Due to this reason, some people treat ‘kimono’ and ‘Wafuku’ as synonyms that represent the same idea. Although most of the Japanese treat them as synonyms, some point out that ‘kimono’ normally refers to ‘nagagi’(長着）.
What is ‘nagagi’?
Nagagi is a type of Japanese traditional clothing in which it is long till the ankle. It is derived from ‘kosode’, another Japanese traditional garment which used to be worn by people in Edo period (1603–1867).
What is Gofuku (吳服)?
There is another word ‘ gofuku’ which also represents Japanese traditional clothing due to its history. It was said that the fabric-making techniques of those garments were introduced to Japan from China‘s ancient kingdom ‘Go’. During the Edo period, garments made of silk were called ‘gofuku’ and were sold at ‘gofuku yan’. Garments made from cotton, hemp were called ‘futomono’ and were sold at ‘futomono yan’.
There are no more ‘futomonoyan ‘ in Japan nowadays, but ‘gofukuyan’ still exists and they now sell different Japanese traditional clothing of different fabrics , not only limited to silk, cotton or hemp. Because of this reason, Japanese traditional clothing can also be called ‘gofuku’.
Similar, but still different
It seems that all three terms can refer to the same meaning, but as what I have mentioned before, some Japanese thought that ‘kimono’ is different from ‘ Wafuku’.
Their argument is that ‘Wafuku’ refers to all the Japanese traditional clothing, while ‘kimono’ is usually used to refer to ‘nagagi’, a category of Japanese traditional clothing. Wafuku is not only limited to nagagi, but also includes other categories, like hakama or haori.
Two points of view
These arguments have lead to two kinds of points of view.
- No matter ‘ Wafuku’, ‘Kimono’ or ‘Gofuku’, they all refer to all the Japanese traditional clothing. This is also an idea that most of the Japanese come as a consensus.
- ‘ Wafuku’ and ‘Gofuku’ mean the same concept, but ‘kimono’ used to refer to nagagi, especially for those who wear them.
Then, which is correct? Two of them are also correct. But they might be different based on different Japanese. For the first point of view,the answer is correct based on Japanese history. For the second point of view, the use of the word’ kimono’ is used to distinguish it from other categories. But still, some will also use the word to stand for all the Japanese traditional clothing.
