The Japanese specialist discovered that ‘war’ kimonos were produced over a fifty-year period from 1894 to 1942. At that time, Japan was involved in three different periods of conflict: with China (1894-95), with Russia (1904-05), later followed by a second conflict with China and the Pacific War (1937-45).
War images can be found on men’s kimonos worn either for formal occasions or in daily life. Motifs were printed on the juban (an under-kimono) or inside the haori (a jacket often made of black silk), so they were not directly visible. Discretion was part of the traditional culture of kimono wearing, said Inui. However, the war motifs were in plain sight on the kimonos of young boys.