Kimono as transnational Culture Essay Series : The Legacy of the MacArthur Dynasty on KTC & The Problem with the 'Traditional Garment' Argument
The problem with arguing that the Kimono is a 'Traditional ethnic Garment' is that that assertion is in itself, arguably Ethnocentrism, which to clarify is the imposition of in this case, American values onto Japanese cultural values, belaying the 3 pronged pitchfork of idiocy.
I should clarify that the Traditional Garment Argument is that the Kimono is only an ethnic Japanese dress and not a transnational garment which has many historical caveats, astrix's and design alternatives. The argument essentially says that the Kimono should only be worn as traditional attire in appropriate ceremonial or historically appropriate settings rather than treating the Kimono as a social construct, like money, which is liable to change vastly depending on who and what it is being used for.
The pitchfork of 3 pronged idiocy:
- American Ethnocentrism
- Japanese Ethnocentrism
- The good ol' 'Dying Industry' known otherwise as racialist ignorance
American Ethnocentrism
This is the idea that becuase America likes to hold 'developing nations' GDP potential hostage whilst going on Military-Industrial-Complex spending sprees, it tends to hold QUITE the sway over over nations national interests. By extension, American values, under Pax Americana, began to proliferate over nations less well militarily endowed than itself, this included apparently grafting American vlaue systems such as the Kimonope or those 1$ Made in China 'Geisha Outfits', a white Invention (Frederik Blekman, Loti or Long take your pick) as being 'Japanese'.
The Kimonope being a
"kimono [... which is] a garment worn by infantilised, submissive, child-heavy, no-backtalk [sprinkled] with the odd 'exotic' cultural marker such as Samurai, Bushido, Mt.Fuji and Ikebana [...] and we have established the Kimono[pe] as a cultural marker in line with the subservient 'Asian woman' trope. [...] The Kimono suddenly became an American garment, [...] acceptable to put onto the stage, into the hands of GI's in the 1950's and [for] feeding the problematic 'dying industry' narrative we have around Kimono wearing today we find in films like Memoirs of a Geisha."[1]
Indeed reading that is rather triggering for anyone familiar with the Anti-Asian rhetoric since the Atlanta Shootings of Asian-Americans. However it is the ugly truth. Kimonope allows Chinese-Americans to operate in the film industry under White Male Gaze fantasies, whilst ignoring Chinese concerns about stories portraying 1930's Occupational Japanese forces. It proliferates and bolsters racist ideas of what Kimono is and was, now packaged for American theatre goers, movie watchers and what occupied Japan is and was, which I shall explain in greater detail in the Dying Industry section, because oh boy, American racism is a hell of a construct.
"Kimono are also inherently, as with all objects, dynamic and use multiple sources of influence and inspiration. Particularly within the broad scope, fashion and history of Kimono as a garment, and narrowing who, why, how and when Kimono is considered appropriate to be worn by, when the answer from [the] Japanese audience is generally ["]anyone [can wear one]" can be taken as cultural appropriation rather than appreciation in itself."[1]
By this I mean that it shows the level of consideration that was taken into account when Kimono Wednesday protestors began denouncing that 'Westerners' were allowed to wear Kimono. To clarify, the 'Kimono' (Kosode) has been born by 'Westerners' since before 1613.[9] Not to mention that the narrowing of the definition of who can and should wear Kimono is an ugly relic of 1930's Japan which modern day Japanese domestic audiences completely disagree with Japanese-Americans about, but by the by.
The Kimono, like themselves, is a transnational being. The notion of being Japanese-American and trying to find your place in a society which frequently from an outsider looking in perspective denies your humanity and culture and rejects your 'biracialness' and identity, must be an unruly beast to tackle with. However, seeing the Kimono in as simple a term as 'Japanese', is doing the Imperial or White Mans (in the Kipling sense) work for him. The Kimonope is the ugly, racialist flip side of the coin of how American KTC operates, that is as simultaneously attractive and somehow inferior, when in reality, the Kimono is a social construct which people have projected their own experiences, values and ideals onto, like money, another social construct. Instead, understanding some of the wider assumptions in American KTC (such as presumptions about 'real Japanese culture', which is a murky enough thing in itself) would greatly put people in touch with more realistic notions of global KTC and how American KTC and indeed foreign global policy operates and influences other countries and social constructs like the Kimono.
A Dying Industry
The greatest problem with the Traditional Garment Argument is that in arguing it is 'cultural appropriation', also fit neatly into the 'Dying Industry' Narrative.[3]
Let me be dead clear, KTC is not dead. To give a brief overview, Kimono became established as even a thing becuase of contact with the west, otherwise it was just known to the Japanese in Japan as 'thing-to-wear'. Due to heavy industrialisation brought under Japan Inc., silk production shot through the roof and during the Taisho period Kimono had a sort of mini-design-Renaissance, and this continued, albeit with in my opinion less appealing designs (nationalism leaves a bad aftertaste) until 1945. From 1945-1952, heavy Japanese industry was dismantled under SCAP and diminished because Japan was in recovery from the 'Pacific' War. With this came American influence and Kimono became, 'traditional garments' between 1955-1980. With the subsequent Japanese miracle however, Kimono became popular once again among the newly rich Japanese and traditional crafts were taken up again, and a handful of these still survive today which is perhaps were most of the honesty in these ridiculous DI stories comes from, as the traditional crafts are beginning to fade away due to lack of investment. With the 1990s bubble crash, new kimono production dipped, but this lead an unforeseen consequence that like the 1950s, old Kimono became exceptionally cheap and began the new trend of upcycling in Japanese street fashion, and with the introduction of the WWW in 1993 (it really is that old) better known as the internet, Kimono began to be bought and sold overseas, causing a boom in KTC globally as with Lolita.
Silkworm Production in Toyama (1909)
What I find insidiously worrying about that process though, is how the historical record and 'Dying Industry' arguments line up to prove that White Supremacy is alive and well however. And this is where it all gets a bit complicated so stick with me.
If White Supremacy is commonly defined as:
the belief that white people are superior to those of other "races" and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of white power and privilege.[4]
I say this becuase the American shogun of Japan, Generalissimo Arthur McDouglas, was himself the grandson of a bonafide white supremacist, Arthur MacArthur Jr (yes thats a real name), no less the 3rd Governor-General who oversaw the American colonisation of the Phillipines from 1900-1901 in which Filipinos today are only escaping the 'colonial mentality' of Americanization.[5] During the American colonisation of the Phillipines from 1898-1903/1948, under the American Imperial 'guiding hand of Beneficial Assimilation' a policy of American expansionism, otherwise known as imperialism, the USA 'succeeded soveriegnty' in the total 'domination' of the Phillipines, killing 500,000 Filipinos and preventing people from speaking Tagalog, Kipling wrote the White Man's Burden for this very conflict. Arthur MacArthur Jr himself contributed to the genocidals slaughter of Native Americans and Filipinos, and an added bonus fought on the Confederate Side during the American Civil War.[6][7] It was this arsehole who Douglas MacArthur greatly admired when it came to his turn to take the guiding hand of white America.
Douglas MacArthur himself was at first admired by the Japanese and Filipinos themselves for having helped to get Japan 'back on track', if you ignore that under his abysmal tutelage Japanese civilians starved to death form 1945-1947 due to food shortages he was in charge of. Initially disinterested in the whole ordeal, MacArthur eventually was given the go ahead to 'reinvigorate' the Japanese economy, only because America was scared the Cold War would break out and so turned to making Japan a new American home away from home, which given the Okinawa camp bases has proven to pass, and is questionable given that any 'protection' the US is meant to offer did not prevent North Korea from landing a Nuke off the Japanese coast in 2017.
With this reinvigoration, MacArthur, himself a great of Caucasity went about turning Japan into an offbrand American, even though Japanese politicians and civilians were the ones doing most of the actual work like pushing for the JSDF instead of being armed, and then in 1950 took credit for his supposed success story. The reality was much more complex, and stories abound of the humilation and starvation of Japanese civilians who described the lifestyle as the 'onion life', the act of peeling away one layer after another of precious wartime goods for sale to an American GI for chocolate or clothes, many of these items being Kimono, many heirlooms. Under further inspection, we also see how MacArthurs hatred of all things 'native' reared his ugly head when he was fired in 1951 for misconduct. One of his famous quips from the time was
"Measured by the standards of modern civilization, [Japan] would be like a boy of twelve as compared with [the Anglo-Saxon] development of 45 years."
Nobody quite missed him when he left and any Japanese support he had garnered was left for his tail to hit the door on the way out of his being fired. Under this influence Americanization in Japan took place, and all things Americana became popular. Kimono became under the (keyword) Eurocentric worldview that the 'Far Eastern' Japan being an 'Oriental country' had its 'Oriental native dress'. This caused KTC and wearing Kimono to decline in Japan from 1950-1990.
That, Kimono Wednesday protestors, truly is the Orientalism of the Kimono as an institution under a White Supremacist Regime which caused the deaths of ordinary people who went hungry whilst the wartime leaders of Japan Inc, another proponent of racial superiority got away scot free.
So MacArthur, surprise surprise it runs in the family, Caucaustic Douglas was kicked out. Onion lifestyle gave way later on to the thrift lifestyle, it was said Tokyo changed more from 1950-1960, than America. This gave birth to the 'Dying Industry' Narrative, which if I must explain, is White Supremacy becuase it is saying that Japanese people cannot wear define what Kimono is or does becuase only White Americans can decide that. Only White and American journalists, who write these stupid articles condemning the loss of 1 or 2 Bingata textile specialists (purely an example) frame the whole Kimono Industry and playing with Fashion in KTC, as a lost art of the Old Japan where the Geisha room and you may see where I'm going with this.
The humiliation of defeat coupled with the notion that once Japan must 'get with the times' and take the 'American way', known by any other name as a colonial mentality, relegated the Kimono over to the LDP, another proponent of Arthurs 'successes' which brings us to the final point, Japanese Ethnocentrism and how this ties in with Kimono.
Japanese Ethnocentrism
That the Kimono is a 'Traditional Ethnic Garment' also falls under the trap of promoting Imperial Japanese and extreme right-wing Japanese values, like Good Wife, Wise Mother. Sounds rather nasty right? Indeed it is, but an easy enough to fall into trap. Notions of the purity of the Japanese 'race' or the Yamato were abundant in 'Dai Nippon' and to some extent the right wing political though today. Couple this with the fact that Japan had a habit of Othering other groups in the 'Greater Co-Prosperity Circle' and promoting 'pure' culture, and we find a worrying copy and paste of the Huns German 'pure Aryan' ideology. This because of course it does extend by the 1930's to the Kimono as being a 'purely Japanese' garment which is just complete hogwash.[2]
Hogwash as if you read my silk post, you will see how fluid and transnational the concept of Kimono, a social construct really was, such as that the only really Japanese thing about Kimono is how the width of Obi were worn during Sakoku (1643-1868). I say this because the boxer codex (1590) testifies to the idea the Kimono itself was a local interpretation of Tang dynasty era clothing with a dropped waist for ease of movement, hairstyles were still fashionably influenced by Chinese chignon styles known as Kosode and the materials to create all of these? Imported from Korea and China between 300-800AD! Clearly not a purely Japanese driven Garment when the historical record is examined.
Returning to the 1930's, this came about by the outside pressure to define Japaneseness and combination of GW,WM with Yamato Nadeshiko from 1880-1920 became part of the national myth in the oncoming decade as Japanese nationalism began like Bushido to eat itself away and its attempt to become 'equal with the west', which meant that social factors like dress and nationality intersected and became weaponised for the 'good of the nation'. WWI conservative and patriarchal ideals such as the purity of the 'Japanese Yamato Woman' required her to wear Wafuku, Kimono by that time being a popular choice as other styles of clothing were available. This nationalist reaction therefore fostered a new relation with JKTC, which said that wearing Kimono was a act of patriotism, an act which by from 1938-1945 became understandably part of the hierarchical value structure in Japanese colonies derived from Japanese Ethnocentrism, that is the proliferation of the Kimono onto 'imperial subjects'.
Unfortunately this incredibly insipid right wing ideal that a Yamato Nadeshiko (not a bad thing by itself) must wear Wafuku is still kicking, and is heavily intertwined to conservative visual ethnocentric value systems. The wives of the LDP politicians, mostly conservative for example, still have to wear Kimono to the Diet as a mark of respect to Japaneseness. Arguing therefore under the, 'this is a Japanese only costume' logic is like saying to the Pedi Tribe of South Africa that they cannot wear a kilt because the Kilt has nothing to do with them, ignoring the shared histories, cultures and symbolism of how the Kilt ended up there as purely a symbol of 'Colonialism' or because the Pedi are not 'Scottish' or that it was cultural appropriation, which are by the by, the same kind of arguments made by white supremacists in the Transvaal (like James Hertzog) for the retention of their 'local indigenous culture' and why the whole business of labels and categorisation of culture can be incredibly tricky and far more complex than we at first expect things to be. Also fascism is a bloody tricky thing to combat.
Concluding
In conclusion, things are not always what they seem. Kimono KTC, is certainly a victim of White Supremacy, it came into being under the damn thing in the Meiji period, and it suffers the taint of nationalist favouritism in the modern day. However considering the history of Asian and American Ethnocentrism, and how this intersects with KTC, it surprises me that more Asian-Americans did not fully grasp what they were defending in the fateful days of yore in 2015. Rather, it is I would argue, a White Supremacist thing to say that culture is static, pure and relegated to the past (see the Boer argument for 'white rights'), rather than a living tradition of diversity, change and complexity (Afrikaans as a cultural marker for example is similar, a colonial mess but spoken by Black and Ex-Slave populations like Cape Malays). Complex because Kimono are also a symbol of oppression for some East Asians.[2]
So anytime someone tells you that wearing a Kimono is racist, even though you support local artists and secondhand sellers in Japan, are a supporter of small local/global businesses and help spread informative cultural etiquette, which I argue is a form of cultural appreciation, I would direct their attention to the leaving remarks and comments of the man America sent to 'civilise' Japan, or even Henry Long, or Pierre Loti, because oh boy, a foreigner in a Yukata at a Matsuri is probably not as influential or damaging, as the very thing that yes, does kill people, like going hungry because they cant afford to keep their businesses open because traditional crafts are dying out in Japan becuase American journalists framing the Industry as dead does not help put money in the cash register, nor does silencing or driving away Institutions trying to share international culture by screaming at strangers that they are oppressing you by wearing cloth for 5 minutes. Im still mad this happened 6 years on, can you maybe tell XD
In conclusion kids, do your homework before you say its something or other first. Please for the love of God.
Bibliography
[1] See Essay #2
[2] Kimono and Colony, Rie Mori, 2011, pp.85-91, Voices from Japan
[3] https://soranews24.com/2015/07/17/kimono-artisans-hope-to-revive-dying-industry-by-taking-kimono-to-new-york-fashion-week/
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_supremacy
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YupIdd5DMn0
[6] http://www.crcworks.org/sumangil.pdf
[7] https://fpif.org/the-racist-underpinnings-of-the-american-way-of-war/
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(pilot)#Establishment_of_an_English_trading_factory
Socialies
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KaguyasChest?ref=seller-platform-mcnav or https://www.instagram.com/kaguyaschest/ or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5APstTPbC9IExwar3ViTZw, or https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LuckyMangaka/hrh-kit-of-the-suke/
