Do you know what you would not find while walking around the imperial court in Heian period Japan (794 - 1185)? Women. Well, noblewomen. You’d have better luck finding meaning in your life.
Proper ladies of the court stayed at home, indoors, almost all the time. Even if a male friend or family member visited the house, he wouldn’t have caught a glimpse of her face because she would have stayed behind a protective barrier of screens, curtains, and social anxiety. The normal way to talk to a noble lady was to send her letters.
Now, one of the peculiar quirks of human brains is that the harder it is to see something, the more we want to see it. This applies to locked rooms, your parents’ love, and yes, even sleeves.
If a man was lucky, he might catch a peek of a woman’s kimono sleeves. This would have titillated him like a schoolboy seeing a tit. A silk hem? Be still, my inappropriately beating heart.
If a woman wanted to flirt in person, she would have scandalously fluttered her sleeves past the edge of her screen. And if you’re not already hot and bothered, get a load of this. Women did not just have one sleeve.
Knowing the power of these pieces of fabric, you best believe women put a lot of thought into them. Heian women wore many layers of kimono, each with different arm length, so that when they laid their sleeves out, it cascaded like a layered waterfall. Each layer had a different color or pattern that said something about herself or sent a message to her suitor.
Seeing this erotic display, a man might analyze her sleeves and guess their meaning: “A crimson cherry blossom pattern? She definitely wild under the futon.” It was a silent conversation through sleeves.