Kimono. Tsumugi silk woven with selectively resist-dyed yarns (kasuri). The kimono is of plain weave (tabby) silk, cut in the usual style. It has a small all-over geometric design produced by resist dyeing both the warp and the weft in white, brown, black and a browny red. This characteristic colouring may mean that the kimono's place of production was Amami Oshima, an island situated between the Ryukyu Islands and Japan proper. The background checks seem to be woven in the usual Oshima method i.e. patterned-dyed threads would have been produced by weaving an expendable textile first, subjecting it to the dye bath, and then unpicking the gassed cotton used as a resist. This pre-weaving process would have to be repeated many times to build up the required motif. The red/brown element may be a separately prepared thread. The whole may than have been tied up except where the dark black design is. This would account for the way the darkest part of the design looks superimposed.
This type of silk weaving from Amami Oshima is called tsumugi after the thick slubby yarn from which it is generally made. The silk in this kimono however has no slubs but may be made from silk dyed in the gum as it does not have a glossy appearance.
The top of the garment is lined with two shades of blue cotton, the lower section with a finer green cotton, and the sleeves with a cream cotton and a band of cream silk on the inside sleeve edge.