にぶたにあっつし | Nibutani-attushi | Place where Wood Bark grows quickly Cloth | Fabrics #24

Nibutani-attushi is a fabric made from tree bark. Nibutani originates from the Ainu word (Niputai) translating to 'a land where the trees grow thickly' apparently.[1] The bark fiber is grown and harvested next to Biratori, Hokkaido by Ainu communities.[1] The bark is harvested and fiber contents scrapped from the interior layers of wild Manchurian elms in length strips. These strips then are left to dry and boiled with wood ash. The contents are removed in a sinewy like density, into thin strips of fiber content from the boiled bark and left to dry for 2 weeks.[1] These fiber contents are then left into very thin sheets and turned into 2mm threads. These tiny fiber contents are then woven into thread using a Attushi Karape which is a type of weaving loom perhaps, which uses a lot the dynamics of gravity to put weight on the warp and weft threads when weaving.[1] This is different from Honshu looms, as 2 people are required to operate the weaving process, and is a descendant of the Koshibata (back strap loom).[1] This craft has been produced as a traditional heritage craft since the early 20th century, around the first quarter of the 1900s.[1] The fabric is used for Kimono, Hanten (short coats), aprons, and accessories.[1]

Ainu craftsman in Nibutani at work (2014, CC2.0) Robert Kroos

Nibutani-attushi was originally made as a durable fabric for family members of the Ainu, this is most likely centuries before the 18th century when the first recognition of the craft was known to local literary languages. Later on down the line, Japanese merchants adopted the fabric and it became known throughout Honshu by the 18th century.[1]  Formal written records date this to around 1792.[1] By this time, the Ainu seem to have been due to a lack of access to the sea perhaps, going to the land to produce goods to sell to make their living.[1] This state of affairs would continue into the 20th century, when the craft was recognised by the Heritage Craft associations of Honshu, and then began to boom as an artisan production by the middle of the century. Nibutani crafting became a viable business in the 1950s and the craft went into mass production. These fabrics were some of the first tangible properties in Hokkaido to be designated as such in 2013.[1]

Bibliography

[1] https://kogeijapan.com/locale/en_US/nibutaniattoushi/

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ミス・ユニバースとキモノペ | Miss Universe and Kimonope | 1959-2021 | Essay #16

This essay will explore how Beauty Pageants, principally Miss Universe, has engaged with KTC. While there may be real Kimono worn by Japanese and Japanese adjacent contestants in the 'National Costume' category, I will be focusing on the Kimonope worn by contestants. The idea of Kimono as a 'national costume' sparks interesting conversations on what 'national costumes' are, their target audiences, and how we form ideas about these things to begin with.

Akiko Kojima with Linda Watamaru in 'Oriental Dress' (1959, PD) Associated Press

Background on Miss Universe

Miss Universe began in 1952 as a marketing ploy by a California company Catalina to sell swimsuits and has continually run for 71 years now as an international arm of the Beauty Pageant Industry. Beauty Pageants such as Miss Universe have gone through many scandals, mostly regarding their lack of diversity, criticism from feminist groups, problems regarding eating disorders, ownership by the fart himself and denying full dignity (in the legal sense) to the incredibly intelligent and hard working women who take part in them.

Contestants today are judged on their looks, personality, aesthetics, knowledge, volunteer work and community based work as well. The Modern Miss Universe often provides opportunities such as modelling contracts, material goods and educational scholarships to winners.

Catalina Advertisement (1955, PD) Photoplay Magazine

Of Nations

Whilst it is rather semantic, a country it must be noted, is not a nation. Just as England is a country, the United Kingdom is the Nation. This I bring up to make note of why the first half of 'national costume' comes into play. The term 'Nation' as we understand it, derives from 18th century German philosophy (a very nasty headspace indeed; see Scientific Racism and Benjamin Rush for our Statesians friends) when the Holy Roman Empire was split up, creating Germany in its wake by 1815 (when your degree is actually useful XD). The idea of nation differs from country in that nation does not require the ownership of land to exist. A country does. It is in this fire and brimstone of the European republics phase that the term 'Nation' or 'Nation-state' came to be defined a group of people with shared attributes. 

The National Costume Narrative

Firstly when we are talking about National Costumes, we must remember that in English we are talking about the historically European tradition of giving 'National Costumes' to certain groups. This began in the 18th century as a way to define what a country was and took off in the 19th in the advent of European Colonization which saw a desire to pseudo-classify and catalogue everything in existence.[5] This saw series of illustrated books drawn by many European and later American and Asian artists depicting the 'National Dresses' of certain groups to quell the thirst of the public appetite for 'rational' 'native' outfits which continues as National Costume Colouring books today. Albeit the focus is more on folklore, shared cultures and mainstream ethnicities today, an example being the controversial Han-fu for China, when instead more people are familiar with the Qipao of the Manchu.

Spanish Beauty [of Havana] (1796, PD) James Gillray, Hannah Humphrey, British Musuem

Whilst the image depicts a Theatre Socialite in Western Europe in 'Roman' dress no less, it is notable that the background highlights Havana, a trope used to denote which part of the world she would have been considered to have her 'heritage' from. This is typical of especially British 18th century ideas about 'nationality', which somewhat remain in Britain today and highlights the uptick in interest of this nature.

The Kimono as a National Costume brings up a series of interesting debates about national identity. That is how to define National Costume. For some countries, it is their traditional dress in a postcolonial world, others their folklore or mythological dress, some unofficial ceremonial garb, particular silhouettes, some particular colours and others types of lavishly decorated fabrics. These things are all subjective though when we consider that Nationality like money and gender, is a social construct; one that at times gatekeeps other ethnic identities from exerting any kind of power and suppresses more diverse national stories.

In Britain for example, there is no such definitive thing as a Kimono to call a National Costume. Instead we are often represented by tacky costumes only fit for Halloween which riff on the idea of what it means to be 'British', which axiomatically is a million and one things. British contestants for example since Kim Carlton (the English semifinalist) dressed up as a Beefeater (Yeomans Warder) in 1962.[1] Other examples include the 1968, 1971, 2010 and 2015 Beefeater costumes.[1][2][3] Other editions draw on the more vague Britannia, Monarchy-adjacent, Union Jack attire, with the latest by Jeaneatte Akua in a bid to the Pearley Kings and Queens of working class London culture.[4]

Pearly King of Upminster in his Skeleton suit (2011, CC2.0) William

In fact Welsh and Scottish (Kilts and Betgwyn) national dress only arose in response in the 19th century as part of the Celtic revival to prevent them from becoming extinct, and to save them for posterity in lieu of the English wool suit. It is in this sense we can see why 'National Costumes' carved out a space for themselves, as a need to make space in a dominant cultural identity which threatened to wipe their own out. Tartan in particular was originally banned by the English in the 1500s, along with the Celtic languages as a way at the time for King Henry VIII; originally Welsh himself; to get England into the Continental European spotlight by pushing a narrative of England first (sound familiar?).[12] It is for this reason I in particular do not refer to Kimono as a National Costume or Dress, as it a patriarchal paternalistic notion of hegemonic cultural/White supremacy that Kimono are distinctly outdated womens attire, only fit for the 'lesser race' (in the words of Leonce Benedite[11]) which I shall hereby Christen : Macarthism.[13]

*C*o*o*l* Japan

When it comes to the Kimono as a National Costume, there are some interesting theories about 'Cool Japan' (japanese conservative soft power push). It is interesting how the 'Dying Kimono' trope works, as it is a principle example of Macarthism at work at pushing the idea that traditional Japanese culture is inferior to the superior Western culture.[13] When we examine Akiko Kojimas original use of Kimono at the Miss Universe pageant for example, whilst she may have done (I cannot exclusively find evidence) she wears Kimono as everyday or at least casual wear, not as a traditional 'Oriental costume'. Kojima wore Kimono to hand accept and handover the 1960 crown, on tour as Miss Universe, to get married and in domestic commericals for example.[14][15] It seems therefore that generally civilian Japanese had not got the message yet about Americas superiority complex. 

This had all changed however by the 1960s when Japan, as it had 100 years before, had to take on another great 'Modernization' period once more to reclaim its own position as great power once more. This internalized Macarthism is reflected in the way Ms. Akiko was represented in American society. In the same year that saw Donyale Luna, she and Akiko entered the pages of the previously all Hwight Harpers Bazaar, a magazine that refused previously to run models of 'color' in its pages. Akiko was presented in Western dress, not Kimono. This is striking as it tells us of the fact that Kimono was not considered fashionable enough to be considered as fashion in its own right, instead Akiko wore *acceptable* white brands such as Sarff-Zumpano Inc.[16]

It is interesting to note though that this comes with the caveat of internalized inferiority dealt with the idea that 'Japan lost the [Pacific] war'. This attitude in Japan commonly refers to the postwar generation of Japanese Teeners (I recently studied the etymology of teenager, never using that one again) who felt the burden of growing up in the shadow of Macarthism, in a world which saw the subjugation of Japanese culture as 'feudal', saw Japanese people as 'savages' for fighting on the wrong side of WWII and the unlawful incarceration of Nissei Americans (1942-1947). When 'Sukiyaki' was released to Western audiences it gave notions of Beef dinner, to a Japanese Teener, Ue o Muite Arukō (I look up as I walk) was reminiscient of the frustration of dealing with American occupation in the Anpo protests (1959-1970) and the Sunagawa Struggle (1955-1956). Its culmination being the murder of Chinese-American Vincent Chin in 1982 at the hands of Statesian men who thought he was Japanese.

Anti-Eisenhower Demonstrations (1960) British Pathe

Anpo Protests (2015) TuCraiN

It is in this cultural hegemony that we see the 'Dying Kimono' trope appear, because casual wear of the Kimono becomes a thing of your mothers generation by 1975, and your grandmothers by 1995. That is, the idiotic idea that Japanese=bad, American=good. When the next winner of Miss Universe wore Kimono, it was as a 'National Costume' in 2007 by Riyo Mori who wore an altered Kimono.[6] Ever since this time it has been commonly accepted that Japanese pageant goers wear Kimono to the National Costume section of the event. It is this internalized effort to become 'global' which has made the Kimono into 'vintage' exclusive fashion, if fashion at all, as Japan has attempted to claw back the image of the Kimono as fashion since the 1990s when it sees a revival amongst young people.

'Cool Japan', a sort of right wing Japanese politicians wet dream of global Japanese hegemony on par with the 1902 Russo-Japanese win in their books, has attempted to adopt the Kimono as a National Costume as well which is a strand of Japanese paternalism which in itself is just a strand of 1690s Iki ideas about the 'correct way' to wear Kimono (all 52 colourways and seasonal motif Houmongi or Komon included) mixed with a dash of inferiority complex, has thankfully yet to make any headway, but is certainly a proponent of the issue of bringing KTC into the global world as global fashion under Macarthism's influence.

It is in this climate that Ayako Hara wore an upcycled (?) Kimono to Universe 2012.[8] Yukimi Matsuo wore a Furisode to Universe 2013.[9] The cringe worthy conservative political version of 'Cool Japan' fosters a disturbingly ethnocentric idea of Kimono, which is also another thorn in the side of KTC. This thankfully saw a divergence when Miss Japan wore a bedazzled Seifuku (Sailor Uniform), influenced by Cosplay and Sailor Moon in 2018.[9] This move into national costumes like the Seifuku is particularly reassuring as it is the Death of the 'Dying Kimono' trope, in saying that Kimono is current and alive, and that culturally Japan has more to its 'national' culture than just reasserting 'Wafuku'. Wamono in this sense has shifted to a more inclusive contemporary understanding of the national, away from the stereotypical Longingism of 'coolies' and 'Geisha-girls'.

Kimonopes

It is in this strand of Kimono as national costume we come to the rather comical if mix of cultural Acculturation and Appropriation. They point thankfully to the more widely accepting side of global fashion which post 2005 began to accept Kimono as a global fashion garment. Post the John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen acceptance of KTC (lets be honest, who remembers half of the shows before the English swooped back in to finish Charles Worth's legacy) we recieve a number of reactions from the Western world which are tantamount to the grey area KTC exists in majority white spaces.

We see the confused 'National Costume' of Emiri Miyasaka who wore a Kimonope to Universe 2009.[7] This particular Kimonope appears to only worn in Summer, as the bottom half of the Susoyoke (Skirt Juban slip) is completely gone with only pink Panty and Stockings left. Designed by a French woman at the Miss Universe offices, a telling piece of Cultural Appropriation.

The absolute corker though that is Juri Watanabe's distinctly Kimo-nope to Universe 2021 is well ... there.[10] The ode to 'Harajuku fashion' (my 15 year old Textile class literally did better) that is that evening dress is stunning in its bid to be fashionable. Certainly more Cultural Acculturation than the mess that was Miyasaka's Kimonope, it still manages to be more Halloween than Ballroom gown. Topped with pink space buns, as you go down, the neckline falls away to reveal the Nihon Kanji etched in Sharpie and a sequined crossover pink cocktail dress with a train (right over left because we are dying of laughter), stretchy yellow polyester belt and 'Kimono' sleeves. Pink go-go boots and two moving beckoning cats complete the Camp.[10] Designed by the Israeli designer Aviad Herman, this Kimonope whilst horrifyingly bad, is a step in the right direction to curb the Dying Kimono trope of Macarthism, in displaying that KTC has made a comeback as global contemporary fashion.

Conclusion

In total we can how the context for many national costumes depends on how we define national culture. Kimono and other 'traditional' garments are often seen as 'national dress' due to the decline of their wear after the introduction of Western power structures, colonization and efforts to 'modernize' under globalisation. After 1955, this evolves from Macarthistic policy, which becomes internalized in Japanese culture by 1970 becoming the 'Dying Kimono' trope, which precipitates that old 'feudal' Japanese culture has been shed off becoming 'modern' Japan. After 1990 though, KTC was revived domestically and has since re-emerged as casual clothing once more both in Japan and globally with the rise of the digital age.

In context therefore, we see how the Kimono has become regarded as a 'National Costume' for Japan, but that when we explore how we get to the notion of certain modes of dress being 'Costumes' we can see how this can be a negative reinforcement of existing power structures through lenses such as Macarthism. The Kimonopes which exist in these spaces are often attempts at cultural appreciation, but more often are regarded as objects of cultural appropriation by many. Thankfully, we can also see post 2005, a resurgence in the pageant and fashion worlds of KTC as influential global fashion (for example the 2016 Furisode for Miss Mexico at Miss Latina USA designed by Sueko Oshimoto).[17] This sees the Kimono as a modern incarnation of fashion, part of its revival in the contemporary world we live in and allows Kimono to be seen as desirable in the current beauty standards we ourselves hold, unravelling the work of hwight supremacists. Thus seeing the reemergence of KTC as living, contemporary fashion, as seen in high fashion, beauty pageants and street fashion.

Bibliography

[1] https://kiddolovesit.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/always-the-bridesmaid-but-never-the-bride-the-curious-case-of-the-united-kingdom-in-miss-universe/

[2] https://metro.co.uk/2010/08/17/tara-vaitiere-hoyos-british-bid-for-miss-universe-dresses-as-beefeater-482213/

[3]  https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/beefeater-a-yellow-tree-and-an-entire-hockey-game-miss-universe-s-bizarre-national-costumes-9999220.html

[4] https://www.insider.com/miss-universe-wildest-national-costumes-from-pageant-2021-5#miss-great-britain-jeanette-akua-channeled-bridgerton-with-her-royal-ensemble-complete-with-a-glittering-tiara-and-extravagant-cape-18

[5] https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=National+costume&year_start=1500&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=0&case_insensitive=true

[6] https://richardsamuel888.wordpress.com/2021/01/14/riyo-mori-miss-universe-2007-wore-sytlish-kimono-during-the-pageant-beauty-that-year/

[7] https://japantoday.com/category/national/barrage-of-complaints-force-miss-universe-japan-to-change-costume-for-finals

[8] https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/miss-universe-2012-national-costume-show-photos-415485

[9] https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/miss-universe-japan-picks-%27sailor-moon%27-ninja-transformation-dress-as-national-costume-for-2018

[10] https://soranews24.com/2021/12/15/miss-universe-2021-japan-entry-slammed-for-wearing-dead-persons-kimono/

[11] Allegorizing Aryanism: Fernand Cormon's The Human Races, Maria P Gindhart, 2008, Volume 9, Online Edition, The Journal of the History of Art (Aurora), WAPACC Organization

[12] http://www.britainusa.com/sections/articles_show_nt1_d_0_i_41110_L1_41013_L2_41013_a_28485.html

[13] Allied Occupation of Japan, Eiji Takemae, 2003, pp.6-7 | See https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Ba5hXsfeyhMC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=Macarthur+boy+of+12+japan&source=bl&ots=zCWRz2JKwM&sig=ACfU3U2yVzbxXPKhsxIIudaoSyEeGqVQRg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjp0b7IhZ_6AhWEnVwKHRmVBVoQ6AF6BAgUEAM#v=onepage&q=Macarthur%20boy%20of%2012%20japan&f=false

[14] https://www.insider.com/most-iconic-miss-universe-looks-of-all-time-2019-12#akiko-kojima-of-japan-wowed-in-a-traditional-outfit-before-winning-the-1959-event-23

[15] https://summerballads.wordpress.com/2020/10/02/akiko-kojima-wanita-asia-pertama-yang-menjadi-miss-universe/

[16] https://www.vintag.es/2022/07/akiko-kojima.html

[17] https://www.facebook.com/Kimono-SK-180754161968429/photos/kimono-dress-for-miss-mexico-at-miss-latino-usa-fashion-show-produced-by-virgeli/1201928273184341

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巴蜀錦 | Bashu Jin | (Ba)Shu (-Jiang) Brocade | Fabrics #14

Apologies this is up on a Monday, I had to do overtime at my day-job this Sunday.

Bashu brocade is a type of brocade which originates from the Sichuan area of modern China. It is known as the 'mother of Chinese brocade' and is known for being an important non material part of Chinese Sericulture, which played a key role in the development of Kinu in Japan.[1][3] It is known in China as a 'national intangible cultural property'.[2] In its heyday, it was a prized Nara textile worn by the upper courts in Japan and has a fuzzy edge to it.[6] Bashu brocade requires complex antiquated hand machinery operated by two weavers known in English as a 'Tower Loom'.[3][4] Due to this complex process, only 6-8cm of Bashu brocade are made in a day.[4]

'[Ba]Shu' Brocade (2010, CC1.0) Gary Todd

Bashu brocade is made by weaving using a Chengdu machine which is made from hundreds of Bamboo rods, whose material successor was the Ming Loom.[1] The background of the Brocade is first interlaced with the pattern woven into the brocade using a series of looms along a wheel or Axle by the upper weaver who pulls on the warp threads making the background, often red, brown or black.[1][3][6] The weft are pulled taut by the lower weaver, and the correct warp strings divided up and a hook is run over them. Silk threads are laid by the planned design, and corresponding silk threads are placed on the hook and pulled through the brocade to be pulled down into place by the lower weaver to make the brocade.[2] The lower weaver must know over 120 stitches to do this Embroidering.[4] The ends of the warp threads are knotted off and the weft threads pulled taut.[2] The Axel also helps to keep the threads taut as the upper weaver pulls them through the loom. When the pattern is complete, it is removed and washed in running water.[3]

Tower Loom Upper Weaver (1991, CC1.0) Gary Todd

Bashu began in China around 3000 years ago. Bashu culture is considered one of 3 of the birthplaces of Chinese culture, particularly Sericulture.[1] Beginning by 221 BCE, the industry of Sericulture for the Shu kingdom was an important facet of Chinese culture.[1] By 220 CE the formation of regulation began to take hold of Bashu sericulture.[3] This formed the beginning of the famed Southern Silk 'Road' routes to countries like Mongolia, India, Persia and Japan (via Ryukyuu) which spanned the Eurasian continent and surrounding archipelagoes.[1][8]

Silk was first produced in Neolithic China (10,000-2000BC), and introduced to Japan by 300 AD [of Hemp and animal fibers].[3][4]

Bashu brocade was then introduced into Japan by 618 CE when it reached a new golden age, becoming worn by people like Emperor Taizong (598CE-649CE).[4] It was a pivotal Chinese export during the Tang dynasty until its collapse in 907 CE and this is reflected in the Japanese imperial courts styles, which may have been worn by the likes of Empress Suiko (554CE-628CE) who wore them, probably more so as a gesture of goodwill after she sent the letter declaring 'Wa' to be their own sovereign country from the great 'Celestial Empire'. If you are to look in the Shosoin Repository for example, you can see the influence of the Chinese bureaucrat Zhang Yanyuan (815-877CE) who introduced the paired animal motif into brocade.[7] Extant examples being Crane and Sika Deer for example.[1] It is said therefore that this has inspired some Nishijin weaves motifs in Japan as 'traditional' motifs.[8]

Between 1000-1800, Bashu brocade remained a traditionally prized craft and was thus unaltered and fluctured in popularity as an export as it was overtaken by other more popular Indian and Persian samite silks overseas. By the late 1800s, Bashu brocade was a highly specialised craft worn only by the rich, and was at risk of becoming a lost art. During this time, it became synonymous with Chinese painting styles and attracted many painters to make designs in Chengdu.[8] By the 20th century, efforts began to be made to save the craft and were exhibited internationally.[6] Over in Japan, the intricate designs whilst not as popular after the introduction of Zen Aesthetics in 1200CE-1650CE, are still used today in Kitsuke and apparel designs like Zori ( Wedged Sandals | 草履 ).[5]

Overall, Bashu or Shu Brocade was the predominant Chinese silk export until 900 CE until Ms.Suiko sent that letter, but was certainly regarded as a form of High and refined culture in Chinese and neighbouring countries from the Golden Age of Chinese culture, the Tang Dynasty (I recommend the Empress of China 2014 Fan Bingbing Drama if you want more context). Whilst having a complicated relation from 607 on, Bashj brocade was worn by court nobles in Japan from this time until the Nara period when Japan begaan making its own Kinu.[4] After this the motifs and styles remained influential on modern Kimono design as part of the 'Shu brocade' motifs of complex ornamental and animal motifs on red and brown backgrounds.[9]

Bibliography

[1] https://artsandculture.google.com/story/shu-brocade-the-earliest-brocade-in-china/hwKC7Tji8PKvJw

[2] Craftsmen of Shujin Brocade | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMy0Ve8pKMg

[3] https://www.chinadiscovery.com/sichuan/chengdu/shu-brocade-embroidery-museum.html

[4] See Fabrics #3

[4] https://www.2021chengdu.com/activity/news/newsDetail?id=11440&lang=en&cid=jd_ms

[5] https://shop.japanobjects.com/products/shu-zori-slippers

[6] https://www.chinatravel.com/culture/chinese-brocade

[7] The Significance of the Central Asian Objects in the Shōsōin for Understanding the International Art Trade in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries, William E. Mierse, March 2017, p.267, Sino Platonic Papers | http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp267_shosoin.pdf

[8] http://www.csstoday.com/Item/3557.aspx

[9] https://inf.news/en/culture/2e8d83ca5020b771bee089116aee7cd7.html

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浅井 了意 | Asai Ryoi | 1612-1691 | Essay #13

This essay will explore the legacy of Asai Ryoi on KTC. Who was Asai Ryoi you may ask? Only one of the most important writers for the Ukiyo genre. Asai Ryoi ( active 1661-1691 | 浅井 了意 ) was a prolific Ukiyo-zoshi ( Books of the floating world | 浮世草子 )  or Kana-zoshi  ( Heimin Japanese Books | 仮名草子 ) writer.[1] His leading 1661 publication, lambasted and satirized Buddhism and Samurai culture of restraint in favour of the Chonin lifestyle of worldy excess.[1]

Ukiyo

Kanazoshi celebrated contemporary urban life. It was Ryoi's Ukiyo Monogatari ( Tales of the Floating World | 浮世物語 | 1661 ) which saw Buddhism infused using the Kanazoshi genre. The writing term Ukiyo, ( Transitory World | 浮世 ) describes the homophone allusion to the Buddhist Ukiyo ( The Sorrow filled World | 憂き世 ) which describes what Buddhist call Dukkha ( Suffering ) under Impernance ( Mujyou | 無常 ) due to the ongoing nature of change in human lives.[2] This was essentially a tongue-in-cheek way of pointing out how in this transitory world of suffering due to change in human lives, and therefore you should live a decadent lifestyle to cope with all of the Dukkha. Buddhists would say otherwise though, as they generally lived as Ascetics, not as Decadents.[1] 

Ukiyo Zoshi

The Ukiyo-Zoshi genre came about due to Ryois 1661 Monogatari which questioned the real value between leading an ascetic lead and decadent lifestyle and as to how best understand the meaning of the mortal and immortal realm of what Buddhism termed the ultimate goal of reaching the Pure Land or Buddha-field ( Jyoudo | 浄土 ).[3] It is important to understand the man, because it was this framework which launched this genre, Japans first major popular genre of literature.[4]

This framework was a lauded response to the major problems faced by Japanese society at the time. After the tumultuous period of civil war which Japan had just left, the Japanese found themselves in a new era of peace. As Sankin Kotai had moved the Heimin, created the Chonin, and uprooted the Samurai, Japanese society had a more stable economy and thus more leverage as a society for great numbers of people to have a greater quality of life. As such, decadence became more prevalent. It was in this newly peaceful world that values began to brought into the spotlight and new ethics and morals brought by emigrant Heimin; and more available to us, Chonin; who decided which of these where more important than others.

As such, Ukiyo-Monogatari reflects this new impetus by a form of archival liberation[5] of the Buddhist teachings. Ryoi attempts to reflect on what would later be codified as the Mono-no-aware theme which reflects on the beauty found in the passing of time and its transitory nature. His main character even through his decadent lifestyle, still finds Enlightenment by the end of the tale. It was this which gave the impetus for kindling the 'rightness' we can say, of the Chonin in their ways and wiles as being as valid as the ascetic monk and the upright retainer. It was this narrative of Enlightened Chonin pockets, that Saikaku would run with by creating the formal conventions of the genre on the back of Ryois and earlier trashier works 'critiquing' womens appearance between 1640-1650, by 1685.

Kambun Komin KTC

As part of Kambun KTC, we can also see the emergence of the material effects of the rise of the living standards for Chonin. As the Stabilisation policies brought economic prosperity to those previously living in poverty, they and their children enjoyed increasingly the fruits of this closed economy. This included an increased patronage of 'Japanese' artists such as the Machi-Eshi for those with means, and Komin or artist-craftsmen for the rest. This development came after 1639 through Sakoku, and saw a shift from dirty 'foreign' styles towards conservative styles, in painting this was the Fuzokuga-E depictions of Buddhist scenes for example rather the Kano Byobu of the Nanbanjin traders (made from 1590-1630).[6] 

The 1650s in particular saw a rise in art patronage of worldly pursuits.[6] That decade was defined by the struggle between the Komin like Iwasa Matabei (1578-1650) who existed between the brush and reality, and the samurai ruling class who sought to impose their moral codes onto the new money crowd. By the Kambun era though, the pursuit of erotic Kabuki dancers, the newly established Yuujo quarters all wrapped up in a Kimono Obi was a public affair as it seems the Chonin had become increasingly tired of hearing how salvation (Buddhahood) only came to the wealthy military elites. Over the period, the hypocritical nature of this state of a hyperfocus on the elite courts practiced since the Heian period began to shift in favour of creating a standard for the everyday person. And as the saying goes, you write about what you know first.

Their later Kambun beauty standards, as espoused in the Kambun Bijin, were in flux between this convergence of reconciling conservative Japanese Buddhist and Confucious values, with the new money lifestyle which the elites practiced themselves only to deny the Heimin. In this light, the Heimin seems to have seen fit to find Enlightenment in the arms of their Kagema or Wakashu in Yoshiwara, just as the lord found his in his Wakashu. The Heimin art of this period is truly a wonderful mess, like a teenager trying to find their way through puberty, it reflects a series of confusions of intentions, directions and solidarity of style. However by the middle of the decade, Kambun style begins to emerge in the hands of Komin-Chonin of publishers and illustrators like Hishikawa Moronobu (1618-1694), Kambun Master (act. 1661-1673) and Yoshida Hanbei (c.1664-1692).[7]

With Heimin now running the show as the merchant classes, their handiwork began to rewrite the beauty standards and it is during the Kambun period with which the rules for KTC begin to be liberally  rewritten. Their earlier incarnation, the Dress Manual, often gives away the acceptability politics game wealtheir Chonin played by, and other more artistic ventures done by the Komin-Chonin types reveals this shift towards Heimin worldview as the new standard. This standard often incurred the pursuit of those erotic Kabuki dancers and the Yuujo, particularly Tayuu as models. The fashions worn by these androgynous figures however, were made by those Komin-Chonin figures such as Hanbei, Moronobou and Asai Ryoi.

The Ryoi Enso

Enso are those non-complete Zen calligraphy circles you find labelled in pretentious Japanese art collections which simply put are an appreciation of when the hand has been allowed to wander in a circular form void of all worldly thought. The Ryoi Enso is that by the time society had come to grasp the inherent dual nature of Ukiyo Monogatari, the ineffable nature later to be called Mono-no-Aware had coem to be attached to many material things as an extension of the appreciation of transience in the human life. Objects had being given new meaning and understanding. Just as finding in watching passing Blossoms fall that this was beautiful, Objects had come to be appreciated as part of this new moral understanding of the physical world. The Japanese public had by 1670 also realised that Worldly material objects were also Mujyou, and this was celebrated.

As a material object, Kimono were also Mujyou, and thus the Kosode as an art object was born. Finding beauty in the transitory nature of textiles gave designers, craftsmen and artists overlap as was only seen before for the patronage of the Machi-Eshi. This work was now in the worldly domain of the Komin, such as Ryoi who interpreted this new Mujyou Art Object as it was now understood, through their Heimin lifestyles. Work was commissioned by Ryoi's own patrons in his own hand for his Shinsen O-Hiinagata, which captures the prototypes of what these Ukiyo or Urban lifestyles offerred. Artists saw Kimono now as an extension of their own imperment lives, a Mujyou canvas so to speak.

Shinsen Hiinagata (1667, PD) Asai Ryoi, British Library

Red Striped Shibori Zodiac Pattern

Shinsen Hiinagata (1667, PD) Asai Ryoi, British Library

Chrysanthemum Pattern

These art Kimono obviously still reflected the transient nature which had preceded them of course, and this is what I mean when I refer to the messiness of the Art Kimono. The Art Kimono, like Aesthetic dress, had to conform to the pre-existing silhouette at first, however the fabrics and aesthetics such as Ma in composition, and devlopment for Kimono of motifs as an extension of Mujyou, show us how the Art Kimono of the Kambun period came to be. As we see in Ryoi's work, the two-tone is still clearly prominent given the date, but the designs displayed are pushed to the right, a sign of good luck, and incorporate tacky motifs such as calligraphy and oversized motifs in the case of the Chrysanthemum.[9]

Examples of Pattern Books

Kosode Hiinagata (1667, PD) Anonymous, Meturo

Contemporary Kimono Patterns (1677, PD) Hishikawa Moronobu

Examples of Dress Manuals

Onna Shorei Shuu Tagasode (1660) Anonymous, NYPL

Dress and Table Manners from Rules of Etiquette for Women (1666) Yamada Ichirobei

Into the future

This lifestyle of Ukiyo or Chonin decadence had by this time moved over into money laundering schemes to combat sumptuary laws making art Kimono. Art Kimono can be pinpointed to the late Kambun era specifically as it is in this juncture when we see the greatest proliferation of Kosode sample books, Hinagata Bon and how existing Kimono design shifts to favour popular designs made popular by the masses rather than the ruling military elites who would have been the only group to have access to funds to make wide reaching purchases of lavish materials and skilled workers beforehand in any realistic amount. Fashionable Kosode for Heimin before this time, consisted of two tone patterns. By 1672, this had changed to favour styles like the Osaka Genroku Bijin, which saw drastic changes to the composition of Kimono, acceptable aesthetical influences, motifs, colours and techniques to design KTC with.

[Before] the Kambun era (1661-1673) Kosode were generally two colours and woven with metallic thread and goldleaf. During the introduction of foreign textiles and rise of the new middle classes from the import of cotton and sarasa, tastes, colour schemes and bank balances changed. B[etween 1665-]1684, the colour schemes of Kosode worn by the townspeople and [elites] became darker at the bottom, lighter at the top, to show off wealth as darker Kosode meant more dye, which required deep pockets [...] worn by Chonin wives, well paid Kabuki performers, and the Tayuu which became 'Iki' (1680s sexy). Popular dark dyes included Beni reds (amongst samurai) / Nise-kurenai (fake/ Dutch reds for the rest) and purples. [...] Regular women would simply don striped variations, or indigo Kimono [with] singular motifs, and both would go decorate their Kosode with wordly scenes, so scenes of the city. [...] Provincial districts and merchants now set the new standard, with Osaka frequently overtaking Kyoto artwares as fashionable. The Kosode of the Genroku Bijin [...] would often have use[d] new technologies to create vivid, wordly scenery on their kosode [with] Onnagata and Tayuu were often seen in these styles. Younger and poorer women [were found] sticking to older Kosode fabrics such as hemp, striped cottons, linens, ramie, plant fibres or indigos with layered recycled fabrics involving the Sashiko stitch (Stab stitch). They indeed often made their own Kosode, and by the middle of the 17th century weaving was a valuable skill for rural women. [8]

Aesthetical Enlightenment

This we can contextually see, resulted in what may be termed the Mono-no-aware Kimono. I dont say Kosode, but rather to refer to this being how we result from the pre-Kambun two tone Kosode to by the end of the era, the polychromatic and compositionally shifted Art Kosode as a reflection of a journey in the shift in though which Ryoi begins in his Ukiyo Monogatari. That is an awareness in Kambun KTC for the need to have a change in physical appearance to reflect Buddhist sensibilities in dress, in showing the transition of dress as a practicality in the Sengoku Jidai, to one of fashion for everyday people in these times of stable prosperity. 

Kosode were created in response to the dawning realisation that Buddhist aesthetics under Japanese notions, stressed the issue of Impermanence. Kimono were seen as an extension of the human existence, as they were tangible objects created around humans. They were therefore part and parcel of Dukkha, and should be experienced as such as part of this. Artists gave rise to this in their creation of Mujyou inspired designs in their Pattern Books, which inadvertently created fashion contrary to that of the stingy conservative Dress Manual. It was this shift in thinking about material life and objects, which saw the transformation of Decadent textiles into the Kosode as Art by appreciating that textiles were also Mujyou, and that each component of their construction and use was also Mujyou in creating the Kambun KTC Art Kimono, based on the Asai Ryoi Ukiyo framework to reach Englightenment.

Bibliography

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asai_Ry%C5%8Di 

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impermanence and also see the Glossary

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_land 

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukiyo-z%C5%8Dshi 

[5] See the Glossary

[6] See Bijin #9

[7] See Essay #8 

[8] See Bijin #3 

[9] https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2020/02/exquisite-patterns-japanese-textile-design-books.html 

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The Legacy of the MacArthur Dynasty on KTC & The Problem with the 'Traditional Garment' Argument | 1899-1952 | Essay #3 |

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

建前

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'. 

 'Geisha Halloween Costume' (2004)

Im sure Long and Loti would be proud | THE KIMONOPE

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.

Racist crap (1920) | More of that (1925)

ItS AlMoSt LiKE tHEy ArEnT The SAMe THinG ~!

Kimono Coat Fashion (1956) | Vietnam festival in Tokyo (2016)

Under this notion of the Kimono, which is what Japanese-Americans were protesting, the abuse of a cultural marker and therefore defamation of their cultural heritage, a principle more than justified in the US context, becomes the Kimonope, not the same as the Kimono. It is the conflation of the two which has rubbed people who operate and dip around Kimono Textile Culture the wrong way (that is small business owners, up-cyclers, tourists etc etc).

"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.

Oh History You Rapscallion You (1707)

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]

The Burden must have run in the family

Arthur MacArthur Jr (c1899) | Douglas MacArthur (1945)

OH WHATS THAT? AMERICAN IMPERIALISM! NEVER! (1900)

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.

Japanese Cinema, or the Uneasy Mess that was postwar Japan (1947)

Do you think they'll notice the Nankai Earthquake, assassinated Prime Minister or the Train Derailment and Communist Takeovers Mr.Dog? No me neither! 

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."

It was said MacArthur congratulated himself when people began stealing Money as it was finally worth something (1948-1953 Banknote)

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. 

The National Diet (1945) The Menu here wasn't Onion Soup

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] 

Boxer Codex (1590) | Offbrand Tang (Old)

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.

BLEH

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

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