livery; servant's uniform provided by employer
Historical term for clothing given to servants by their master, especially in the Edo period. Often associated with the practice of providing seasonal garments. The prefixed form お仕着せ is more common in modern references.
See also: お仕着せ
In the Edo period, merchant houses provided their servants with livery twice a year.
This museum displays livery from that era.
Polite prefixed form; more commonly used in modern Japanese to refer to the historical practice or metaphorically for something imposed by authority.
employer-provided uniform; company-issued clothing · something forced on one; something imposed
Standard kanji spelling for this historical term.
Ateji spelling; phonetic representation, not standard.
Variant kanji form; rarely used.
Abbreviated variant; uncommon.
Compound of 仕 (し, 'to serve') and 着せ (きせ, 'to clothe'), referring to clothing provided to servants. The ateji form 四季施 reflects the seasonal nature of the provision.