A two-fold paper screen painted in ink and colour on a gold ground with numerous kimono placed on a rack.

Japan, Edo period, 17th century

This style of screen is known as Tagasode meaning “Whose sleeves?” The word was used often in Japanese poetry, particularly in the Fujiwara and Kamakura periods, as a “pillow-word,” or leading into a poem. Tagasode traditionally conjures up the image of a beautiful woman whose presence is missed; elegant kimono sleeves, and the fragrance arising from the garment, were believed to evoke melancholy thoughts of the absent loved one. The Tagasode theme also became a favourite among some late-fifteenth-century lacquer-makers, who depicted plum flowers and incense burners that suggest fragrant scents, and who cleverly incorporated the letters reading Tagasode into their pictorial designs.

While these paintings may be interpretations of a Heian literary theme, it was also ancient practice to drape beautiful kimonos over clothes racks and employ them as temporary, movable partitions, much as folding screens were used. At picnics colourful kimono were draped over ropes to create temporary enclosures. Apart from its utilitarian function, the practice of hanging or draping kimonos offered the opportunity for an ostentatious display of valued possessions, in the manner of a fashion show. Tagasode screens of clothes-laden racks thus bear a multifaceted symbolism; the kimono racks in the image represent temporary partitions, and the actual screens serve this purpose in real life.