Created in October 2022

Recently , "Karu-san" has become very popular among customers who try on bottoms at Ishiteshiro Clothing Store .

For those of you who patronize Ishitoshiro Clothing Store, "Tatsuke" and "Hakama" are probably familiar to many, but there is not much information available about "Karusan," so he may be a mysterious figure.

In fact, tapered pants called "Karusan" are easy-to-use pants that combine the best features of slim pants called "Tatsuke" and wide pants called "Hakama."

So today, we will introduce the story of how "Karusan" was born and our recommendations for this winter .

One of the people who has been helping us in Itoshiro is Toshiharu Uemura. Toshiharu is currently 80 years old. He is very knowledgeable about the clothing traditions that have been passed down in Itoshiro, and he always teaches us all sorts of things.

"There are tatsuke pants in this shape," he said, showing me the pants worn by Toshiharu's grandmother, "Matsu-san." For Matsu-san, tatsuke pants were too thin and hakama pants were too wide, so she tried to create a shape that was just right for her, and this shape was born.

We tried making our own pants based on the ones made by "Matsu-san." We were able to vividly understand the feelings of the old lady at the time.

It's very comfortable to wear, and there's no tightness. It's loose, but easy to move in. The hem is narrow, so it's easy to move in , and the pants are loose from the waist to the thighs, so you can relax in them.

The trousers that Matsusan was making, between the "tatsuke" and "hakama", originally did not have a specific name.

There were some elderly people in Itoshiro who called hakama "karusan bakama," so we decided to call Matsu's pants "karusan."

Then, one day, a customer told me that "Karusan" means "wide pants" in Portuguese. I had heard that "Castella" was a word of Portuguese origin, but it seems that during the same period, Portuguese missionaries wore "puffy pants with narrow legs" and hence the word "Karusan" came to mean "hakama."

Itoshiro is a village deep in the mountains, but it has flourished as a base for worship of Mt. Hakusan since ancient times, and many people from outside have come and gone. It is possible that artefacts from overseas have also made their way here. I was impressed that learning from ancient wisdom is not just about a small area of ​​Japan, but that we can also learn from exchanges with foreign countries from long ago.

It took a lot of trial and error to revive "Karusan." Unlike "Tatsuke" and "Hakama," there is no one left who knows how to make these clothes. After carefully observing "Matsusan"'s pants, we tried and tested a method to cut them without waste.

Thus, after arranging "Matsu-san" and going through much trial and error, we came up with "Karu-san."

We have developed "Karusan" in three sizes so that it can be used by people of all sizes, from small to large. We hope that everyone will love it, just like "Tatsuke" and "Hakama".

Now, let me introduce two "Karusan" products that I recommend this winter.