By contrast, the Romanian culture developed in a territory positioned between the Orient and the Occident. For economic and political reasons, for centuries, traders and invaders crossed Romanian territory, leaving their mark on the culture. People living in remote areas, however, developed a textile home production based on available natural resources, including wool, hemp, linen, and stinging nettle.

In typology, the Romanian costume is aligned with that of the territory surrounding Romania, while the particularities of the costume defined it as Romanian with main characteristics by region, age, and occasions. The Japanese costume, on the other hand, developed on an island, with some early influences from its neighboring countries although hundreds of kilometers away, with textile fibers limited to its natural resources—ramie, hemp, and coarser fibers like wisteria, straw, and alder tree. Silk is still the predominant fiber used in Japanese costume. Sericulture originated in China and traveled across the Asian continent through Korea reaching Japan in the 5^th century. Costumes developed particularities by season, marital status, age and occasion.  

The categories of social class in both countries were traditionally structured almost similarly, except for the samurai class in Japan, but there were major differences in the way these social classes related to each other, and thus in their impact on the code of dress.

In Romania, the ruler and the aristocracy, as well as the wealthier people of the country differentiated themselves from other social classes by wearing luxurious materials produced in specialized centers outside the country, such as expensive silk fabric from Venetian or Bursan workshops.

Craftsmen were a specialized group who made costume items and accessories such as these made of metal and leather. The largest population—free peasants, wore costumes made entirely in the home textile industry, from fiber production to the final products. Rarely producing costumes for other social classes, they assured the best costume production for their family. Holiday costumes particularly were done with great care.

In Japan during the Edo period (1603- 1868)—a feudal society under the Tokugawa shogunate—to promote social stability, the population was divided into four rigid occupational orders that were hereditary: shi-no-ko-sho. And today, even though for almost 3,000 years the Emperor and Imperial Court have been rulers without power, and political affairs have been governed by the administration, as in most cultures, the heritage remains.

The top governing class was the samurai or military, bound tightly by rules, respected but not wealthy. Many worked on the farm in peacetime. The majority of Japanese society, farmers, fishermen, and outdoor workers, were in the second rank. Sometimes they were drafted as low ranking solders when war broke out. They paid tax in the form of their harvested rice or grains. The third rank, craftsmen—productive highly-skilled specialists—were responsible for textile production. Merchants, lowest in rank, were the wealthiest. In this divided society, people made clothing symbolic of their rank and type of work. Everyone raised silkworms. Women commonly did the weaving at home. Farmers made working wear out of straw.

This exhibition is co-curated by Florica Zaharia and guest curator, Midori Sato. The objects belong to the Muzeul Textilelor, Băița, and to the collections of Midori Sato, and Kristine Kamiya in New York.