It is a mystery. How people took threads of silk and steeped them in poetry, passion and pride. How the line between art and life blurred in the weaver's hands. How, in short, Japanese artisans created garments that went far beyond fashion to enter the timeless realm of beauty.

Some of the finest examples of textile art can be admired in "Masterpieces of Japanese Dress" at the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum in Shinjuku. This is a rare display of treasures from the collection of Asia's leading fashion institute. Besides their sheer good looks, the garments are full of allusions to Japanese history and literature.

Four categories of dress are displayed: kosode ("short sleeved") kimono of wealthy townspeople; costumes from the noh theater; dress of the military classes; and attire of the Imperial court. Most date from the late 18th century, and all have been carefully preserved.

The Edo Period kosode were originally owned by the Mitsui family, whose fortune was founded in textiles. These fine garments reflect the brilliance of Edo culture, when the simple shape of the kimono became a canvas for the artist. Many of these garments were designed by artists of the leading Maruyama school. One kimono, covered with an elegant design of various bamboo plants, has been preserved with its original design on paper.

Referring to a famous painting by Maruyama Okyo of an old pine tree in snow, chief curator Mihoko Domyo says, "I can't help thinking that Okyo himself was interested in designing for the kimono shape."

It was certainly a challenge, to create a wearable piece of art on a fixed shape. Yet artists and craftspeople responded with tremendous verve and originality. Exhibit number seven, for example, is a marvelous evocation of a windy day in early spring. From shoulder to hem, veranda blinds are tossing in the breeze, while the scent from a thousand embroidered plum blossoms seems to fill the air.

Another design evokes a shadowy grove of bamboo. The stems are picked out in "fawn-spot" shibori (tie-dyeing) and gold thread, and leaves are embroidered a glossy emerald green against a rich brown background of silk damask. Look closely, and one can appreciate details such as knotted stems and spindly twigs. This blend of realism and abstraction, color and texture creates a remarkably harmonious, compelling design.

Adventurous, abstract designs are distinctive of the Edo Period. One of the boldest is the uchikake (loose outer robe) on display, which has a strong diagonal composition that recalls the art of the Rinpa school. Here, a design of gold and black bamboo blinds slashes right across a silvery-white damask. On the main body of the garment, butterflies dance among scattered sprays of wild flowers, exquisitely embroidered to suggest movement and life.

Most of the motifs have literary or cultural associations. The fine bamboo blinds, for example, conjure up the aristocratic world of Heian Kyoto and the "Tale of Genji." Seven centuries before these garments were made, court ladies spent their days hidden behind blinds and curtains of state. And court gentlemen spent many an hour sitting on drafty verandas, trying to peek beyond.

Interestingly, it was the wealthy merchant class who preferred these aristocratic motifs, whereas the real aristocrats, as we can see in the gallery of court attire, wore classic floral and geometric designs.

One of the rarest kosode incorporates a sophisticated zigzag patchwork of Indian chintz, which frames a silk panel of irises, floating in a golden mist. The leaves are painted, the flowers embroidered in subtle colors, and gold dust applied with rice starch. When this was made, Japan was in its period of isolation, so these pieces of Indian chintz must have come through the Dutch traders in Nagasaki. Curator Toshiko Ueki says they would have been extremely expensive, rare and stylish.

Also, she explains that the zigzags recall the "Yatsuhashi" pattern of wooden bridges across the marshes, and "the exile of Narihira, in the 'Tale of Ise,' who had so many bridges to cross."

The spirit of handsome Narihira, hero of poetry, romance and drama, is invoked again in the next gallery, devoted to the noh theater. What drama could be more austere than the noh? Yet how extravagant are its costumes.

At first, performers wore standard courtly clothing, but as the dramatic art advanced rapidly in the 15th century, so did its costumes. Certain costumes came to denote character types, and some were specific to particular roles, in particular plays. The motif of peonies in costume number 23 denotes a shishi (supernatural lion), traditionally depicted among peony flowers. Together with the upper garment and its motifs of Buddhist altar fittings, this is a suitably dramatic outfit for the dance of the sacred lion in the play "Shakkyo."

In the play "Izutsu," the ghost of Narihira's lover returns to glimpse his fleeting image in the reflection of a well. For this moving drama, the subdued colors and autumn grasses of the costume reflect the central, melancholy awareness of life's passing dream.

The restrained clothing of Edo Period military men is familiar to us from television drama and films. But here we can see another side of the story: flamboyant jinbaori capes inspired by early Portuguese visitors who landed in Japan in the 1500s. Peacock feathers embroidered on bright red felt, collars of rich Chinese-style brocade and other exotic embellishments show that military men the world over cannot resist tassels and braid.

In that long era of peace and prosperity, armor took on more ceremonial functions. Even so, the designs speak of military valor. For example, there is a suit of padded silk armor, which was originally used when sleeping or off duty. Tigers, dragons and other powerful motifs feature in the decoration, including, on the front, a dragonfly, which was a "victory insect" as it always darts forward.

The padded blue and white suit, with a lively decoration of fleeting clouds, was worn in case of fire, and is displayed sitting on top of its original storage box. These suits not only provided protection from the flames, but also immediately identified the wearer as a VIP. Incidentally, upper-class ladies had bright red kimono on standby for similar emergencies.

The final gallery of court attire reveals the extremely important role costume has always played in delineating earthly power and its links to heaven. There is a photograph here of courtiers attending the enthronement of the Emperor Showa in 1926 and their whitened faces and extraordinary costumes take us back to the Heian Period, 1,000 years before. Since the fall of the shoguns and restoration of Imperial power in 1868, there had been a revival of traditional court ceremonial.

Young princes wore items 44 and 45 at coming-of-age ceremonies, where pale gold silk is exchanged for dramatic black, white and red. Designs of fleeting clouds and cranes are reserved for princes, and the accessories such as lacquer shoes, jade belts and braided sashes again reveal superb craftsmanship and ancient symbolism.

Imperial princesses are still rendered almost immobile by the many-layered junihitoe costume for weddings and other important ceremonies. But the light summer kimono of Princess Kazu, with embroidered flowers on a white ramie ground, strikes a refreshing note, revealing once again the magical threads that bind Japanese textiles to art and life.