著者

岩崎 雅美 田中 陽子

出版者

社団法人日本家政学会

雑誌

日本家政学会誌 (ISSN:09135227)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.45, no.10, pp.945-957, 1994-10-15

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In 1987 a man's shirt with a standing collar was introduced into the teaching syllabus for elementary schools as the first teaching material for Western sewing. An apron, a bib, a cap and drawers were subsequently added to the syllabus. The five garments were all Western clothing, however their designs were slightly modified or simplified in several editions of the textbooks. For example, fabric was cut down without paper patterns, and courved lines were never used for cutting fabric, which is distinctive characteristic of the Japanese kimono. The ways Japanese people wore the Western clothes in everyday life were different from the ways Western people did. A shirt and drawers were worn under the kimono, although an apron and a bib could be worn over the kimono. Also a cap could be worn with a kimono. These ways of wearing the Western clothes show that they were well suited to kimono. In addtion to the fact that Western clothing was suited to the kimono, there were other reasons why these items were selected as teaching materials for Western sewing. In this paper the reasons attributable to social and educational factors of those days are discussed as follows : (1) During the Sino-Japanese and the Russo-Japanese wars a large quantity of Western clothing including shirts and drawers had to be supplied for military purpose. (2) Some Westerners pointed out that the neckline, the wide-open edge of the sleeves, and the front opening of the Japanese kimono were not suitable for wearing in the cold season. (3) Educators tried to modify the child kimono into western-style clothing for children's use. (4) Some family magazines contained information on how to use a sewing machine and how to sew shirts and drawers for beginners in order that housewives could make those clothes more economically than purchasing them. The original properties of the Western clothes designs are to fit and be becoming to each individual wearer, to express his/her personality, and to help a wearer develop his/her self-concept. These factors seem to have hardly been taught in those days of Japanese elementary schools, since the major aim of the early teaching materials for Western sewing was on how to make them.