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- the traditional garb of each region. In Japan, the kesa was usually worn over a long-sleeved robe known as koromo.
The original Sanskrit name, kasaya, actually means turbulence and refers to the process of dyeing fabric. It was colour distinction that set the robes of the monks apart from the garments of the ordinary people, which in ancient India were white. By the time the mantles reached Japan the word no longer implied just the colour distinction but also the name of the garment. Red or yellow were the predominant colours but blue and black were also appropri�ate. In the old texts there is no consensus as to the correct colours as each Buddhist sect had its own belief as to which colours were appropriate for kesa. It might even be that the act of dyeing a fabric in itself was sufficient for making it suitable for a kesa.
The earliest existent records on kesa are Chinese translations of Indian texts dating to the first centuries of our era, but the information is rather contradic�tory due to the various Buddhist sects. The Japanese word, kesa, is the pronunciation of the two Chinese characters jia sha, which were in them�selves a transliteration of the Sanskrit word kasaya (turbulence). Another Japanese word used in conjunction with kesa is fukuden-e (meaning coat of auspicious ricefield). There are many texts which relate the story of Buddha asking his disciple, Ananda, to design a monastic habit based on the composi�tion of a ricefield. Another term, funzo-e, might have been derived from the Sanskrit pamsula and refers to coats made of discarded cloth or rags. It is this concept of being dressed in rags that closely relates to the Indian ascetics and shows a persistent influence of the Indian origins of Buddhism. There are a number of other Japanese terms referring to a kesa which are of a more poetic nature and include muso-e, meaning formless coats; niniku-gai, mean�ing endurance armour; mujo-e, meaning supreme coat; and nyorai-e, mean�ing coat of Buddha.
Kesa can be divided into three types by the number of columns or bands in its construction, which is always an odd number and ranges from five to twenty-five. The number of columns of the kesa inform everyone of the cos�tume's function and the wearer's rank within the hierarchy of the monastery. The five column type called antaravasaka (ando-e in Japanese) is the working mantle for everyday use. It was made up of one short and one long cloth panel for each column. The column panels were separated by strips of cloth both vertically and horizontally, and a border with mitred corners surrounds the columns. In some cases a simplified five column kesa called a kara or rakusu has halter-like straps.
The seven column type called uttarasanga (uttaraso in Japanese) is worn at assembly or religious gatherings. With the seven column kesa, the wearer can also drape a matching long, narrow stole called an ohi, in Japanese, over his free arm.
The large mantle known as samghati (sogyari in Japanese) is used for travel outside the monastery when amongst the laity and during solemn ceremonies attended by practitioners. It was composed of nine columns with two more columns added for each advance in grade and with twenty-five columns representing the highest rank in the clergy. Therefore, there were
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