Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/125

 on the sleeves, the back, and the shoulders. It is a curious fact that costumes brocaded with gold or silver were popularly called "passara style," an expression obviously derived from the language of some country westward of China.

Again and again legislative attempts were made to check luxurious tendencies in matters of dress, the gist of these enactments being to limit the use of pure silk to lining purposes. The Taikō extended official restrictions as far as foot-gear. Even his great power failed, however, to make these rules effective. His order that trousers and stockings must not be lined, and that sandals must be of plaited straw, not leather, was observed in Kyōtō and Osaka, but did not carry much weight in fiefs remote from the capital.

Leather socks had been in use from the twelfth century, women using them as well as men. The common leather sock was brown in colour, but those worn by great folk were blue, and had decorative designs—which ultimately took the shape of family badges—embroidered in white thread. To this latter kind the name "brocaded sock" was given, the brown variety being called "authorised leather" (gomen kawa), since ordinary people might not use it without official permission. Women wore leggings when they went on a journey, and it may be said that the costume of females in these days was much more practical than that of their successors in the Yedo epoch.