Furisode

A 19th-century furisode in olive green silk with gold-wrapped thread, now in the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Hung flat, a furisode shows what street photos hide: the deep sleeves, and a design that runs across the back like one continuous painting. Here blossoming branches, a garden bridge and a pair of roosters fill the lower half, the kind of large scene that sets a young woman's formal kimono apart from the small repeats of everyday wear.