ひらがな | Hiragana | Text | Pattern series #20

Hiragana whilst a seemingly unlikely contender has been a motif used on kimono for centuries. Text on Kimono is used often to add poetical effect to an image, in imitation of the Heian period motif of Ashida-E. Most motifs which include this in 17th century Kimono are very large often draped across the shoulder expressively on what at the time was the new silhouette of furisode, whilst modern Kimono only use this motif in smaller fonts and styles a stylistic motif to marry images and texts.[1] For example, having a waka or haiku across the front of a masters craftsmen work are some I have seen used myself, but this is an exceedingly rare and unique motif in Kimono generally speaking. Different stylsitic writing styles are used to get across different aesthetics and meanings within the space they use, as will all graphic design processes.

Hinagata-Bon showing Hiragana on Kimono design (c.1667, PD) Japan  

Historically, Ashida-E (reed writing) were a sort of insider message to those who knew the reference which the text and image correlated with during the Peace Epoch. Distinctive and 'gaudy' Kimono became the rage by the 1670s among the middle classes of Edo and Osaka due to the side effects of Tokugawa Sumptuary Legislation which saw a rise in coinage, leading to urbanisation and local industry, whose more profitable industry leaders desired exciting new ways to show their wealth due to the sumptuary legislation of their day increasingly curtailing their spending and extravagances. They got around this by buying their Distinctive gaudy Kosode made by local Machi-Eshi (Town artists) like Yuezen Hiinakatta who imitated Kakemono scrolls by writing on Kimono, a now vital trend of Genroku KTC.[2][3] This trend continued until the 18th century, but fell out of favour with new money as it was regarded as tacky, becoming instead a smaller variation by 1800 and falling out of use by 1900. Some modern kimono may use it as an advertising motif or for poetical connotation, but this is rare.

Bibliography

[1] See Bijin series #15

[2] See Essay series #8

[3] See The Bijin has Arrived in Bijin #15

Apologies that this is up a day before it should be, but honestly, I am frazzled with stress at the moment between juggling my current schedule and switching over to a new one which has been frustrating to say the least as most of the stuff that is affecting my life is out of my hands. On the plus side, it means I have more control over my schedule in the future and that I will be reopening the shop at some point in the near future, somewhere between applying for my first real career role, volunteering, part time work. full time studying, learning Japanese and slowly going absolutely insane over the absolute hair pulling out exercise that is trying to get people in cushy offices to actually answer their GODDAMN EMAILS. Either way, I am getting rather burned out and need a day off before I have to start making more phone calls, emails and frustrated page scrolling to do these peoples jobs for them and apparently also everything else that involves which is *testing* my soul. Either way, heres to the future! Sorry about the rant, I just like to be organized and this has been the month from hell for me. Toodaloo~!

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西川 祐信 | Nishikawa Sukenobu | 1671-1750 | Bijin #13

Nishikawa Sukenobu (active 1690/1700-1750) was a Ukiyo-E designer of illustrations for books who is mostly known for his at the time, unique, depictions of women. His repuatation in posterity is his Appreciating 100 Women (1723) which illustrated 100 different types of women in Edo period society. He was rather unusal for his time as he was based in Kyoto, away from the epicentre of popular Ukiyo-E, Edo. He was said to have been inspired by the Bijinga of Hishikawa Moronobu, who died when Nishikawa was 23.[1][2] The Nishikawa school was begun by Sukenobu sometime in the 18th century.[4]

Nishikawa grew up in the times where conservative depictions of the human figure were giving way in popular culture to lascivious depictions of beautiful people doing beautiful things, otherwise Abuna-e and the like. Indeed, keeping in mind high art depictions of worldly bodies were Matabei's experimental portrait in 1650, perhaps inspired by the Kano schools fascination with the exotic beginning in the 1590s, the outcome by the 1680s of the accepatability of 'Urban activities' (having coetus) being shown in books was quite a leap. All male Kabuki, Chonin-Komin relationship and Sumptuary laws defined whatever education Nishikawa may have recieved.[3] This primary education was most likely with Tosa Mitsusuke (1675-1710) & Kano Eino (1631-1697) between 1680-1700.[4]

Sukenobu appears to have being considered a skilled artisan who operated just beyond the boundaries of the Emperors art court due to his popularity in Osaka and Kyoto. His style of melding, fusing and blurring styles with Ukiyo-E highlights and his connections to the court allowed to run a successful venture in painting and designing illustrated Ukiyo-e novels (Ehon Komin) by 1699. Other fun caveats are that he also produced Hinagata-Bon, and Shunga by 1711 in a softer or more refined nature than preious raunchier works.[3]

Bijin and the clock (c1708, PD) Nishikawa Sukenobu

Nishikawas Remix Bijin

The Nishikawa Bijin though can be said to follow quite a number of conventional attribution to its predecessor from the Tosa school such as small appendages, facial features and composition. What seems to be new from my understanding here is that of the focus of the image on the bodily form than on other items in the image. Sukenobus backgrounds are rather sparse and uncomplicated in their details, and seem to take after the backgrounds of Bijinga Kakemono which more often omit than include details. It is this melding of popular (Chonin), high (Court or Tosa), and fine art (Komin or Kano) features which make a Nishikawa picture.[3]

Nishikawas Bijin were particularly popular due to their many postures and clearly are something Nishikawa practiced a lot of, and this is reflected in his legacy around the Osaka-Kyoto area as many of his poses were copied for many years.[3] One such Artist who he left an impression on, being Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770) no less.[2]

The Bijin depicted above follows the regular conventions of the Yamato-E style, but again, fuses the figures in a new way. Small hands and feets for example are recognisably still in favour with Sukenobu at this juncture, but he also uses a more slender and elongated figure than was totally in fashion for the early 18th century. The wash of colours have the application of a woodcut block draftsmans hand, but the Bijin clearly follows conventional Kosode motifs for a Yuujo. What this image is essentially saying, is that by this time (around 1720) the Chonin had become familiar and comfortable with the fleshy body being displayed in art, unlike a majority of court art which still focused on Chinese and Buddhist themes.

Perhaps the popularity of Nishikawa was his use of colour, which showed the touch of an artist, rather than that of a woodcutter in his handling of the application of bold pallettes for the time. In the Western sense of the word, he can thought of as the Victorians did of Illustrators in the Golden Age of Illustration (1875-1930), that is as an illustrator first than painter first. Nishikawas Bijinga with brash reds, understanding of fabric draping across the body, and technology like European clocks all spoke to the more widespread acceptance of the exotic which the Kano school first adopted, and which GKTC reflected as part of townspeople culture.

Conclusion

In context, we see that Nishikawa was popular due to the makeup of Japanese society at the time, in the developing Komin-Chonin relationship as Merchants changed with their wallets the what the new taste for fashionable art could be between 1675-1725. Nishikawas ability to blend components such as Draped fabrics, a focus on the flesh and his background in Yamato-E clearly appealed as an exciting new 'Japanese' take of the exotic into the mundane. Nishikawa brought a refined painters brush to more risque elements of Chonin culture, making the brashness more respectable and closer to what the elites may have thought of as an acceptable Japanese aesthetic, buying into the Iki inclination of this time so to speak. Nishikawa brought together, as did Matabei in the 1640s, the world of High and Lowbrow art and their affiliated artforms and thus the Bijin-ga genre became an acceptable artform rathern than just what the elites may have thought of as the 18th century version of Waifu compilations on someones harddrive today.

Bibliography

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishikawa_Sukenobu

[2]  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nishikawa-Sukenobu

[3] https://www.viewingjapaneseprints.net/texts/ukiyoe/sukenobu.html

[4] https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG6262

Bijin Series Timeline

11th century BCE

- The Ruqun becomes a formal garment in China (1000 BCE) [Coming Soon]

8th century BCE

- Chinese clothing becomes highly hierarchical (771 BCE) [Coming Soon]

0000 Current Era

7th century

Asuka Bijin (from 600) [Coming Soon]

8th century

- Introduction of Chinese Tang Dynasty clothing (710)

- Sumizuri-e (710)

- Classical Chinese Art ; Zhou Fang (active 766-805) ; Qiyun Bijin

- Emakimono Golden Age (799-1400)

15th century 

- Fuzokuga Painting schools; Kano (1450-1868) and Tosa (1330-1690) 

- Machi- Eshi painters; 1336-1650? [Coming Soon] 

16 century 

- Nanbanjin Art (1550-1630) 

- Wamono style begins under Chanoyu teachings (c1550-1580)

- Byobu Screens (1580-1670)

 - End of Sengoku Jidai brings Stabilisation policy (1590-1615)  

17th century  

- Land to Currency based Economy Shift (1601-1655)

- Early Kabuki Culture (1603-1673) ; Yakusha-e or Actor Prints

- Sumptuary legislation in reaction to the wealth of the merchant classes (1604-1685) 

- Regulation of export and imports of foreign trade in silk and cotton (1615-1685)  

Iwasa Matabei (active 1617-1650) ; Yamato-e Bijin  

The Hikone Screen (c.1624-1644) [Coming Soon]

- Sankin-Kotai (1635-1642) creates mass Urbanisation  

- Popular culture and print media production moves from Kyoto to Edo (1635-1650); Kiyohara Yukinobu (1650-1682) ; Manji Classical Beauty

- Shikomi-e (1650-1670) and Kakemono-e which promote Androgynous Beauties;

 Iwasa Katsushige (active 1650-1673) ; Kojin Bijin

- Mass Urbanisation instigates the rise of Chonin Cottage Industry Printing (1660-1690) ; rise of the Kabunakama Guilds and decline of the Samurai

- Kanazoshi Books (1660-1700); Koshokubon Genre (1659?-1661)

- Shunga (1660-1722); Abuna-e

Kanbun Master/School (active during 1661-1673) ; Maiko Bijin 

- Hinagata Bon (1666 - 1850) 

- Ukiyo Monogatari is published by Asai Ryoi (1666) 

Yoshida Hanbei (active 1664-1689) ; Toned-Down Bijin

- Asobi/Suijin Dress Manuals (1660-1700)

- Ukiyo-e Art (1670-1900)

Hishikawa Moronobu (active 1672-1694) ; Wakashu Bijin

- Early Bijin-ga begin to appear as Kakemono (c.1672)  

- Rise of the Komin-Chonin Relationship (1675-1725)

- The transit point from Kosode to modern Kimono (1680); Furisode, Wider Obi 

- The Genroku Osaka Bijin (1680 - 1700) ; Yuezen Hiinakata

Sugimura Jihei (active 1681-1703) ; Technicolour Bijin 

- The Amorous Tales are published by Ihara Saikaku (1682-1687)

Hishikawa Morofusa (active 1684-1704) [Coming Soon]

- The Beginning of the Genroku Era (1688-1704)

- The rise of the Komin and Yuujo as mainstream popular culture (1688-1880) 

- The consolidation of the Bijinga genre as mainstream pop culture 

- The rise of the Torii school (1688-1799) 

- Tan-E (1688-1710)   

Miyazaki Yuzen (active 1688-1736) ; Genroku Komin and Wamono Bijin 

Torii Kiyonobu (active 1688 - 1729) : Commercial Bijin

Furuyama Moromasa (active 1695-1748)

18th century

Nishikawa Sukenobu (active 1700-1750) [Coming Soon]

Kaigetsudo Ando (active 1700-1736) ; Broadstroke Bijin

Okumura Masanobu (active 1701-1764)

Kaigetsudo Doshin (active 1704-1716) [Coming Soon]

Baioken Eishun (active 1710-1755) [Coming Soon]

Kaigetsudo Anchi (active 1714-1716) [Coming Soon]

1717 Kyoho Reforms

Miyagawa Choshun (active 1718-1753) [Coming Soon]

Miyagawa Issho (active 1718-1780) [Coming Soon]

Nishimura Shigenaga (active 1719-1756) [Coming Soon]

Matsuno Chikanobu (active 1720-1729) [Coming Soon]

- Beni-E (1720-1743)

Torii Kiyonobu II (active 1725-1760) [Coming Soon]

- Uki-E (1735-1760)

Kawamata Tsuneyuki (active 1736-1744) [Coming Soon]

Kitao Shigemasa (1739-1820)

Miyagawa Shunsui (active from 1740-1769) [Coming Soon]

Benizuri-E (1744-1760)

Ishikawa Toyonobu (active 1745-1785) [Coming Soon]

Tsukioka Settei (active 1753-1787) [Coming Soon]

Torii Kiyonaga (active 1756-1787) [Coming Soon]

Shunsho Katsukawa (active 1760-1793) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Toyoharu (active 1763-1814) [Coming Soon]

Suzuki Harunobu (active 1764-1770) [Coming Soon]

- Nishiki-E (1765-1850)

Torii Kiyonaga (active 1765-1815) [Coming Soon]

Kitao Shigemasa (active 1765-1820) [Coming Soon]

Maruyama Okyo (active 1766-1795) [Coming Soon]

Kitagawa Utamaro (active 1770-1806) [Coming Soon]

Kubo Shunman (active 1774-1820) [Coming Soon]

Tsutaya Juzaburo (active 1774-1797) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Kunimasa (active from 1780-1810) [Coming Soon]

Tanehiko Takitei (active 1783-1842) [Coming Soon]

Katsukawa Shuncho (active 1783-1795) [Coming Soon]

Choubunsai Eishi (active 1784-1829) [Coming Soon]

Eishosai Choki (active 1786-1808) [Coming Soon]

Rekisentei Eiri (active 1789-1801) [Coming Soon] [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ukiyo-e_paintings#/media/File:Rekisentei_Eiri_-_'800),_Beauty_in_a_White_Kimono',_c._1800.jpg]

Chokosai Eisho (active 1792-1799) [Coming Soon]

Kunimaru Utagawa (active 1794-1829) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Toyokuni II (active 1794 - 1835) [Coming Soon]

Ryūryūkyo Shinsai (active 1799-1823) [Coming Soon]

19th century

Teisai Hokuba (active 1800-1844) [Coming Soon]

Totoya Hokkei (active 1800-1850) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Kunisada Toyokuni III (active 1800-1865) [Coming Soon]

Urakusai Nagahide (active from 1804) [Coming Soon]

Kitagawa Tsukimaro (active 1804 - 1836)

Kikukawa Eizan (active 1806-1867) [Coming Soon]

Keisai Eisen (active 1808-1848) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (active 1810-1861) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Hiroshige (active 1811-1858) [Coming Soon]

Yanagawa Shigenobu (active 1818-1832) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Kunisada II (active 1844-1880) [Coming Soon]

Toyohara Kunichika (active 1847-1900) [Coming Soon]

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (active 1850-1892) [Coming Soon]

Toyohara Chikanobu (active 1875-1912) [Coming Soon]

Kiyokata Kaburaki (active 1891-1972) [Coming Soon]

Goyo Hashiguchi (active 1899-1921) [Coming Soon]

20th century

Yumeji Takehisa (active 1905-1934) [Coming Soon]

Torii Kotondo (active 1915-1976) [Coming Soon]

Yamakawa Shūhō (active 1927-1944) [Coming Soon]

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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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元禄織物における小袖と職人の新たな役割 | Jo/GKTC and the new role of the Komin | 1666-1704 | Essay #8

 This essay will return back to GKTC (Genroku Kimono Textile Culture ; 1688-1704) and JoKTC (Jokyo K.T.C. 1684-1688) and the new role of the Komin (Artist caste) in GKTC. JoKTC is notable for being the lead up to GKTC, JoKTC being characterised by its transitory nature in comparison to GKTC, which was far more bold in its relations to what Kosode could and should be. Komin entered the picture at this juncture, and I shall elaborate a little more here than in other posts about why that was. GKTC is notable for its elaborate, perhaps gaudy and innovative Kosode design features, whilst JoKTC more so for the enabling factors of the time, as a sort of incubatory GKTC.

Shibori Chrysanthemum Kosode design ground on Indigo Satin (17th century) Tokyo National Museum

Land to Money Economy

During the Muromachi period (1336-1573), local coinage supply was insufficient and too sporadic to totally meet Japanese demand, and was supplemented by Ming Chinese coins. Instead, the economy was regulated in Rice stipends by the Kokudaka (rice system?) as a land economy, overseen by rice brokers, who made their money by storing Daimyou rice crops in their storehouses. However with the end of the Sengoku Jidai and stabilisation policies promoted by the Tokugawa, coins began to become a rival form of currency by the Tenna period.[3] By this time, the Kyoto and more so Osaka ricebrokers had developed comprehensive networks of storehouses, which they exchanged for tickets, an early form of paper currency. As the economy stabilised and the need for war evaporated, and domestic market demand increased[14] A system which dirty dirty Chonin (in the mind of the Kuge) came to use as they were unable to make ends meet by hoping Kuge senpai might notice them. By 1601, coinage became standardised. Local trade networks for things such as imported goods and 'dirty' trades developed, and on the back of this Chonin began their own business between 1610-1630, bolstering work for tradesmen (cart-sellers and day labourers).[1][2] From 1635 the abolishment or decline of trade monopolies in the Bunkoku 分(国 ; trading zone) by the upper class merchants (the likes of Murayama Tōan) from schemes like the Itowappu Nakama (Silk Guild), broke up even more industries into wider unregulated trading goods. Urbanisation from 1635-1665 then saw to the rise of cottage industries to supplment the replacement of rice to coin. 

1666-1681

With the lasting effects of population upheaval, the rise of the merchant class and transfer of wealth distribution from samurai to Chonin castes, the landscape of Japanese demographics changed heavily from 1635-1660. The Kambun (1661-1673) and Enpo (1673-1681) eras saw mild shifts in the acceptability of beauty standards, a shift in power dynamics between geo-political centers of soft power figureheads, and the rise of the printing industry.[1] This led to the Yakusha-e, Hinagata Bon and many other images and rules surrounding the acceptability of fabrics, conduct, expense, design and persons surrounding the design of Kosode.

Kosode Designs (1677) Hishikawa Moronobu

Kosode at the time conformed to both regulations and certain beauty standards. Regulations depending on the era (becoming more stringent after 1670) often forbade Chonin from taking on particularly luxury fabrics and dyes like gold, red, or some silks and wearing them in public. Beauty standards forbade this as well, so simple was the call of the day for Kosode designs in Hinagata Bon of the day. Kosode in this time often had colour schemes strictly of no more than 2-3 colours for wealthier Chonin, and the Heimin (farmers, leather workers, tanners) often made do by having a single base colour which contrasted against another relief design feature such as Shibori. Beauty standards often encouraged the design to incorporate Japanese motif instead by referring to allegory, scripture or popular culture instead of splashing the cash.

Therefore from 1608-1665:

- Rise of the publishing industry (1608-1670) 

 - Land to Money Economy (1615-1660) 

 - Urbanisation (1635-1665) 

1681-1684

In the Tenna period the delicate balance of societal wealth distribution fell in favour of the Chonin, who by now had amassed a wealth greater than the stipends of their samurai counterpart's Koku stipends. The Tenna period saw the rise of local industries particularly around the production of Japanese made silks, as part of the governments fights with Chinese and Japanese piracy and tariffs on incoming Chinese silks which were being sold on the cheap. With this came the decline of the trade guilds in the Bunkoku and the rise of the thrifty Chonin wholesale merchant.

Osaka

Osaka in particular was known for its nifty and thrifty Chonin who had a large market share of rice brokerage.[14] With the ebb and flow of the Itowappu system, this gave rise to the financial power of the Chonin (almost black) market by 1685. Osaka merchants lived nearby to import markets and also to Kyoto, where most silk was produced at the time, making it an ideal location giving its already built up infrastructure, and cheaper prices than Kyoto levels. Osaka merchants prominently were known for their wealth, and were reknowned for their nouveau riche lifestyles as such due to their newfound wealth, a regional Japanese stereotype which has stuck ever since.

However whilst particularly prominent in Osaka, all Chonin during Tenna more so appreciated the finer; material, things in life. Samurai were more so at the time buying other goods such as roof tiles for their leaky palaces and creaky moats. Chonin tastes had with their abundant mastery over their own little corporations, come to enjoy greater say in the wider society they lived in as wealth distribution shifted in their favour. In this way, Chonin became the arbiters of taste during the Tenna period when regulations were somewhat lax and spending habits high.[6] 

With increased expenditure however, came more problems for the Chonin. Problems such as their refinement, karmic influence and worldly standing. It was a world of hedonism certainly by Medieval European standards, and this saw the launch of popular trends amongst Chonin. Chonin would often compete to outdo the other, certainly in the bigger cities of Osaka, Edo and Kyoto. Kosode design became more elaborate and distinct, allowing the Heimin a complicit understanding that the wearer of finer Kosode were well-to-do, well off and were learned individuals, literate in the Buddhist texts, popular tales of the day, the classics, up-to-date on the latest art trends and who had access to the latest and greatest Kabuki and cash-spalshing textiles such as fine silks, gold embroidery and the ever coveted Beni. As such, artist became ever more involved in the creation of these elaborate Kosode, as they became evermore bespoke and tailored to their first wearers.

The Four occupations (1883) Ozawa Nankoku

The Artisans

Komin, otherwise known as the artist group under Confucian teachings, forming the theoretical Ko caste of the Shi-no-ko-sho ( Four Occupation Groups; Scholars/Warriors: 士 Farmers/Heimin: 農 Artisans: 工 Merchants: 商 ) which had been in use in China since their Warring States Period (403-221BCE) and introduced by the Tokugawa in their bid to bring about stability.[4][5] Often in Tokugawa Japan however, the Ko and Sho castes overlapped frequently, and as such, are an unreliable category set but are useful as a framework understood at the time by Japanese writers. A Komin as such, is a person who makes art, or works in a craft. For Japanese creatives, this is a blurry distinction as art and crafts are one in the same process, unlike in the West when during the Renaissance they split under secularisation during the Enlightenment period through the rationalism (in the art world, nature) vs empiricism (mechanised) debates into Art (divine works of nature) and the lesser crafts (mechanial and hand labour work) in the Occident. Komin often were poor creators, and relied heavily on the patronage of wealthier clients and patrons, particular in the 17th century.

Komin as such accepted work for clients. At the beginning of the 17th century, most of their work was more purely religious based iconogrpahy to accompany religious texts or to adorn castles, later alongside Buddhist catechisms. This changed though, with the inclusion of increasing numbers of wealthier Chonin merchant clientele in the later half of the century. Komin would principally still at first be asked to create images or scrolls for religious or pious reasons in the 1650s. By the 1660s, the scrolls begin to become a little saucier, a bit of neck, some wrist here and there. By the 1670s the mass print has become available for pennies, and by the 1680s these have become full on Abuna-e, Richards, Lady Gardens and all. These tastes would have been reflected in the homes certainly of a few Chonin, as these were printed and bought by the masses, not just the sleazier Sho.

As such great relationships between the Komin and Chonin had developed by the 1670s. These symbiotic relationships complemented one another when we consider that if a book wasnt selling like hotcakes, the addition of a good painter and some Abuna-e certainly may shift it from the peddlers streetside cart or Gyosho Bako (Merchants box). The earlier and more interesting melding of the Komin and Chonin though however may more likely have come from earlier channels. Evidence exists that as Chonin became ever more regulated under the Sumptuary regulations of the Tokugawa, they sought other avenues to spend their lavish fortunes. This by the 1660s had become Kosode, as evidenced by the Hinagata Bon, the earliest extant examples of which come from 1666. 

Kosode as such were being designed by Komin book illustrators, painters, and designers. This was beneficial for the Chonin, as whilst imparting their well placed patronage of the arts and reflection of their knowledge of the Chinese classics in their choice of motifs, it was also a wise investment, as when the Kokudaka collector came collecting, he had no warrant to collect Kosode, which unfortunately for the state, was not rice. Iemitsu really liked rice you see.[5] Instead, by the 1690s certainly, this proponent of Osaka and Edo Kosode design, had become one of the main features of GKTC.

Hishikawa Moronobu

Hinagata Bon and Wakashu (1682) Hishikawa Moronobu

100 Japanese Women (c1685-1694) Hishikawa Moronobu

Hishikawa Moronobu was a defining Komin of the 1670s and 1680s lead in to Genroku period. From 1683, his publisher was Urokogataya Sanzaemon  active c1677-1694).[7] Indeed by the Genroku period, Moronobu was considered to be the  founder of Ukiyo-e, such was his popularity. As a Komin, Moronobus style was greatly admired, and his personal style became one of the most desired formats at the time.[8] Moronobu, who came from a family of textile designers, contributed to GKTC in his creation of Hinagata Bon to capitalise on his success. His designs were not particularly groundbreaking, often relying on Buddhist iconography in their motif, but were more so popular in the Abuna-e, which most likely caused Moronobus Wakashu styled Kosode to enter vogue.[9]

Yuezen Hiinakata

See the right hand side Kosode for the effect (c1686) Unknown

Yuezen was a significant trendsetting monk Komin who made large text and calligraphy painting styles popular on Kosode. Yuezen developed a vogue in GKTC for large calligraphic text to sprawl across, usually, the right hand side of the upper Kosode sleeves and back, imitating the style found on Kakemono scrolls.[11] This style was popularly designed using Shibori or stencilling techniques at the time.

Yuzen Miyazaki

 Yuzen influenced Kosode (c1700,CC1.0) Daderot, Ishikawa Prefectural Musuem of T. Arts & Crafts 

Miyazaki (1654-1736)[6] was a fan painter and creator of the Yuzen dying technique. Yuzen contributed to GKTC by creating Yuzen dyeing by applying rice paste to resist-dye cloth, which he called Yuzen-zome ( 友禅染 | resist-paste design ). His painting style was also immensely popular and featured on a number of Kosode from the time by painting his fan designs directly onto the surface of Kosode which became popular by 1688. By 1690, Yuzen had become a widely established tecnhique which was popular certainly with the Kyoto Chonin classes.[10]

Ogata Korin

Karamonoya store, these spread Korins art across Japan (1798) Niwa Tohkei

Ogata Korin's family owned a family goods store in Kyoto in his younger years, which supplied textiles to the Empress Toufukumon-in (1607–­1678) at her court, which inspired his own designs reflected by incorporating textiles design techniques such as repetition stencilling into his paintings and screens. It is likely that this will have been how Ogata the painter and Ogata in the textile world were introduced to one another. Korin certainly set the late trends of motifs at the end of the Genroku period. By 1700 these had become Korin monyou (motifs) which were popularly reproduced in varying styles in Hinagata Bon, which were mostly bought by the wealthy or elites of Kyoto who could afford them. These patterns became popular when Kabuki actors wore them onstage, setting the trend for these designs and thus disseminating them amongst the general populace. Examples included Ogata's rounded flowers and distinctive shading. His customers included Nijō Tsunahira (1672–­1732), Nakamura Kuranosuke (1668–­1730) and Sakai and Tsugaru Daimyo families.[6] 

The Komin therefore played a definitive role in the development of the new aesthetical and DIY craft sensibilities brought into vogue in GKTC. When Chonin became their patrons, Komin's work was elevated to new heights in setting trends and defining popular new design aesthetics. Komin frequently were already established as painters or from wealthy families already familiar with textile design, which is how the easy switch of occupation from potter, painter or weaver to designer was allowed, celebrated and circumvented in Japanese society. This was accomplished however, by the elevation by previously unfit peoples, such as the money handling Chonin class, into the Komin class as a way to elevate the station of the Chonin themselves befitting of their new monetary and financial clout without threatening the status quo held in the Shinokosho system in the Genroku period.

In context therefore we can see that the Tokugawa stabilisation policy led to deliberate and direct control of the import/export market through the transformation of the Japanese economy from a land-based to money-based society. These had the effect of increasing urbanisation which led to the growth of local home industries owned by wealthy Chonin, primarily for our interests in the concentration of publishing. This increase in wealth distribution altered the layout of the landscape of art patronage, leading to an increased visibility of Chonin as tastemakers, following the Kabuki actors who were trendsetters.[12] This was primarily by 1688 lead by the Kyoto and Osaka merchants who defined tastes by their patronage of particular Komin.[13] Komin therefore heavily influenced popular GKTC, as they became the innovators of new dye, painting and motif techniques such as the Yuzen dye technique. This lead to the advancement and progression by 1700 of established GKTC, a particularly more 'crass' set of design aesthetics than the leading samurai classes hoped the Heimin to hold. 

Essay# 9 will cover a little on Tagasode Byobu.

For more see this lecture :  https://www.japaneseartsoc.org/2021/04/lecture-the-birth-of-fashion-in-japanese-textile-art/

Bibliography

[1] See Bijin #8

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_currency

[3] From the Tokugawa period to the Meiji Restoration, Eijiro Honjo, 1932, Vol. 7, pp.32-51, Kyoto University Economic Review

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_occupations

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_society#Four_Classes

[6] https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/ars/13441566.0047.006/--sartorial-identity-early-modern-japanese-textile-patterns?rgn=main&view=fulltext#N2

[7] https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG7145

[8] https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG4068

[9] See Bijin #2

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyazaki_Y%C5%ABzen

[11] https://fashiondocbox.com/Accessories/70488710-Toomey-1-kosode-and-the-class-system-of-edo-period-japan-caroline-toomey-art-history-106-art-in-east-asia.html

[12] See Bijin #3

[13] https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%83%E7%A6%84%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96

[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_broker

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