しゅりおり | Shuri Ori | Banana Kasuri Weave | Fabrics #22

Shuri Brocade is a fabric which is made in the lowermost points of Okinawa. The two main types of Shuri are Kasuri and Mon Orimono. Shuri refers to a weave type and is mostly describing a mixture of different strenght materials made on the same island made from silk, cotton, hemp or banana fibre which are affected in design by the Islands climate at the time of harvest or weaving. All Shuri weaving is done by hand. First a traditional design is chosen, then Itokuri ( 糸繰 | Thread Winding ) occurs where threads are sized, starched and spun. Warping then produces the Tanmono, with Kasuri Kukuri (Warp-tying) is done on the loom to create the design outline, first warp and then weft. Dyed in a vat of usually traditional plant dyes and woven on a Takahata loom, up to 30 cm a day and then washed and dried.[1]

Historically this fabric made have been traded with China and Korea since the 14th century when the Ryukyu kingdom began exporting en masse. The royal family there used only Hanakuri or Doton Ori weaves. It can also be regarded as Kasuri and is though to have helped influence some Japanese traditions with regards to Kasuri. During WWII a lot of the workmanship and equipment used to make the fabric was lost, making it a heritage craft.[1]

Bibliography

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

Socials:

One stop Link shop: https://linktr.ee/Kaguyaschest
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KaguyasChest?ref=seller-platform-mcnav 

https://kaguyaschest.blogspot.com/
https://www.instagram.com/kaguyaschest/ 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5APstTPbC9IExwar3ViTZw 
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LuckyMangaka/hrh-kit-of-the-suke/ 

ヘルマンの'着物' | Herman's 'Kimono' | 2021 | Essay 21

In this essay I look at another Kimonope, specifically another Miss Universe 'national costume' entry.[1] This particular Kimonope represents the legacy of Macarthism's neo-colonial/systemic racism, and subjugation of Japanese soft-power, a follow on of Orientalist late 19th/early 20th century assumptions and stereotypes of Asian culture and peoples which saw their subjugation in American foreign and domestic policy between 1885-1952.[3][4][5][6] In this entry, we see a clear leaning into the 'Cool Japan' aesthetic by the Kimonope's designer, who is not shockingly not Japanese, but Israeli and therefore represents ideas about what Kimono are to this designer than the genuine article would to other participants of KTC, foreigner or otherwise towards 'Kimono'.[1][5]

An example of what should have been (2018, CC4.0) Nesnad

The Individuals Responsible

The great designer himself was the notable Aviad Arik Herman (b.1984), an Israeli costume and fashion designer who seems to work exclusively in pageant costumes.[1] An Israeli designer was chosen to represent the symbolic weight of the 70 year celebration of diplomatic relations between Japan and Israel.[1] Herman was supposedly inspired by 'Harajuku fashion culture' which sounds more something my highschool textiles design teacher came out with than a high level designer on a global stage, but here we are.[1]

Ms Juri Watanabe (b.1995) is arguably American-Asian having grown up in a diverse family, home and school environment, going into the pageant world in 2016.[1][2] 

The Event

The 2021 Miss Universe pageant occurred in Israel at Eilat and the Kimonope worn by the Japanese-Korean representative, Juri Watanabe for the 'National Costume' section.[1] Kimono Wednesdays could never. Yes Im still salty.

I will point you to my previous thoughts on Kimono as 'national costumes':

Kimono after the 1950s fell away from its mores from 1900-1940 of being an exotic, expensive textile, to being a garment worn by a defeated nation when Japan became occupied by the USA from 1946-1952. During this time, elements of society which pushed Longingism, which gained traction from 1885-1920s America with the rise of Asian labour movements and immigration into the USA, created the Kimonope, which associated the Kimono as an 'Oriental' garment.[3]

[For me,] Kimono is a type of clothing which can be worn by anyone, an idea which the broadcaster NHK clearly thought so as well. Japanese Americans, whilst rightfully having the historical claim to the Kimono [...], perhaps did not foresee the global issues that claiming the Kimono as a 'Traditional Garment' may bring [...]. This [Traditional Garment/National Costume] Argument being unfortunately a spearhead of the 'culture wars' inspired by Wilsonianism which declares that non-White powers may not be considered or constituted in the worlds of academic, politics and popular culture [... in] being considered global popular culture. Instead that [...] that 'developing' countries instead be left to 'develop' away from the wealth of the United States, [...] a sort of FU to the fact that Japan had entered the world stage as a great power, and thus denial of all things Japanese as bad. [Instead the benevolent USA must prevent Communism and return ...] everything [...] back to its natural [Wilsonian] order [...]. Kimono as a visible [Asian/Japanese] cultural marker, were by this point definitively recognised by the Japonisme movement at the very least, as global popular culture [in the early 20th century], and thus the birth of the Traditional Argument (ie that Kimono is simply just a Japanese garment only to prevent pan-Asian interests taking root) and breaking down of US-Japanese relations began (see Fred Korematsu v United States, 1944-2018). [...This argument is] the very trap Wilsonianism lays for 'developing' nations. It isolates the object in question (here Kimono), rips it asunder from its history, values and context, and flings it to the sorting bins of history where nobody will find it. Kimono Wednesday protests meant well, but in the end, they have sent the wrong messages to the wrong people, and helped to isolate, relegate and simplify Kimono into a relic of the Yamato. That is to say deny how the Kimono played a role in and from Asian Empires, to ignore the Kimono as a global presence in Western and other Art Histories, and to penultimately again, isolate, relegate and simplify the Kimono into an exotic national costume, worn by the Japanese. A label I do not wish to ever have to repeat here or anywhere else [unless quoting]. By this, I mean [Asian-Americans like Ms.Watanabe] have done Wilsons work for him in promoting the idea of the Kimono as an exotic 'ethnic garment' only to be worn by Japanese people and their descendants, and which denies the wider history of Kimono as a cultural touchstone [instead promoting oriental-adjacent Kimonopes ...] essentially saying that Japanese fashion is less important than American fashion, by relegating Kimono to being a product only worn in the past [...] isolating Kimono as something exotic or 'Japanese' (a fraught argument supporting homogeneity and ethnocentrism) and simplifying the complex worlds which KTC operates in as somehow unworthy of note to anyone who isnt Japanese. As such, I refute that Kimono making is a dying industry on the grounds that is a blatant lie, it is in fact adapting to the age it is in, as it has always done as a social construct, and that to think that one thing can belong to only one group as rather part of the 20th century Wilsonian anti-Asian dogma. [...] Until [considering] how ['Kimono'] was created under Chinese and Korean influence during the Asuka and Kofun periods, and as part of globalisation, not simply as 'a national costume appropriated by Westerners', but rather as with the rest of KTC, and other garments, simply a social construct [as with Western garments, e.g. T-shirts]. This is seen in the paintings, Mandalas, Embroideries and texts extant from the period when corrobarated with wider Mainland Asia garment history. I relate this to Kimono [Wednesdays] because it may allow for a wider dialogue on cultural exchange in the hope not everything 'foreign' is labelled exotic, turned into a problem, lost to history or simplified as just being a 'costume' or 'cultural appropriation' [as if graphic T-shirts for example can only be worn by certain groups of Americans as it is a traditional garment or iconic national American costume].[4]

National Costumes, [...] in English [describe ...] the historically European tradition of giving 'National Costumes' to certain groups [begun] in the 18th century [...] to define what a country was and took off in the 19th in the advent of European Colonization [of] pseudo-classif[ications in ...]  series of illustrated books drawn by many European and later American and Asian artists depicting the 'National Dresses' of certain groups [in ...] 'rational' 'native' outfits which continues as National Costume Colouring books today. [...] an example being the controversial Han-fu for China, [... rather than the Qipao]. 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. [... Consecutively, as a] Beefeater (Yeomans Warder) [since] 1962. [...] Other editions [include ...] the latest by Jeaneatte Akua in a bid to the Pearley Kings and Queens of working class London culture. [...] 'National Costumes' [have] carved out a space for themselves, as a need to make space in a dominant cultural identity which threatened to wipe their own out[, e.g. Tartan ...] 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) [or the Dying Kimono trope of...] Macarthism. [... which pushes] the idea that traditional Japanese culture is inferior to the superior Western culture. [...] Akiko Kojima [..., another older Miss Universe, wore] Kimono as everyday or at least casual wear, not as a traditional 'Oriental costume'. [... In Kojima's time,] generally civilian Japanese had not got the message yet about Americas superiority complex. [Changing by ...] the 1960s when Japan, as [in 1860 'Westernized' ...] to reclaim its own [... soft power agency]. This internalized Macarthism is reflected in the way Ms. Akiko was represented in American society [... by] Harpers Bazaar, a magazine that refused previously to run models of 'color' in its pages [and was strikingly] presented in Western dress, not Kimono [... telling] 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. [... at a time when Honshu Japanese dealt] 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 [...] 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. [Ergo ...] casual wear of the Kimono becomes a thing of your mothers generation by 1975, and your grandmothers by 1995. [...] 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. Ever since[then] it has been commonly accepted that Japanese pageant goers wear Kimono to the National Costume section of the event. [... Also] 'Cool Japan', a sort of right wing Japanese politicians wet dream of global Japanese hegemony [...] has attempted to adopt the Kimono as a National Costume as well which is a strand of Japanese paternalism [...] about the 'correct way' to wear Kimono [...] mixed with a dash of inferiority complex, [...] is certainly a proponent of the issue of bringing KTC into the global world as global fashion under Macarthism's influence. [Which ...] fosters a disturbingly ethnocentric idea of Kimono, which is also another thorn in the side of KTC. [... Moves towards] 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'. [Overall, ...] 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. [However ...] 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). 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.[5]

Girl in Harajuku on her phone (2008, CC2.0) Charlotte Marillet

The Result

Watanabe's Highlight Reel (2021, Educational) Youtube

Ms Watanabe finished in 16th place.[2] Thus she did dig her own grave, so perhaps it was quite a spot on Kimonope of a cocktail dress.

As you can see, this resulted in the ... creation before us. This pink-yellow mockery of a cultural besmirching wad of gum underfoot was paraded around by Watanabe in all its stereotypical glory. May we observe the maneki-neko, very Harajuku of course. Or fact this particular design has the Eri folded over incorrectly, such that its wearer may be read as going to her funeral. Muy Harajuku. Perhaps it may be the giant letter scrawled across her bare chest, another set of cultural faux pas in revealing the cleavage or potentially imitating tattoos, a cultural trait seen as inherently negative in its connotations Japan. Sehr Harajuku. We may also observe the perhaps stuck on Chrysanthemum belt or the flags attached to the sleeves. Very, very Harajuku fashion culture.[1] The boots were great though, the 'cocktail dress'[5] not so much. 

Conclusion

In context we can see how two POC people did not quite equal cultural appreciation, but rather an example of cultural appropriation in the promulgation of Kimonope. Rather unnecessarily as well, as members of the definitely not weirdly assimilating free thinking POC block of free-thinkers. Indeed they fell prey to Orientalist, internalized racist tropes which since the 1880s has dictated the terms Kimono's are received to international audiences, that is as objects consumed by white people, for white people. Ignoring the vibrant role of KTC in global history, popular culture and Japanese soft power on the international stage with the advent of Macarthism in the 1940s and the decline of Japanese hard-power during the occupation of Japan by SCAP forces.[3][4][5] This reinforcement of Longingism and Macarthism follows a tradition of seeing Asian-American and Asian workers as 'coolies' and 'Johnny Chinamen' whose labour and culture (the Kimono) was subservient and disposable to that of white North Americans, as seen during the time of Wilsonian and Roosevelt's policy-making, both foreign and domestic.[3][6] 

This inadvertant support of ethnocentrism neo-colonialism makes as much sense as gatekeeping African children from wearing graphic T-shirts Statesian dump on them; (as they are 'products of American culture'/'traditional American dress' and is to only be worn by the 'Statesian race'/that the Pedi Tribe cannot wear Tartan) thrown in the face of Asian-American grandparents who fought to normalize Kimono and other adjacent garments like Qipao, Sari and Việt phục as normal attire against the backdrop of 20th century race relations in neo-colonial systemic structures, which turn the Kimono into an Orientalist costume rather than as contemporary fashion, particularly evident in how people living in Japan reacted to this Kimonope.[1] Kaguyas Verdict: Clear-cut Cultural Appropriation.

Bibliography

[1] https://japantoday.com/category/national/miss-universe-2021-japan-entry-slammed-for-wearing-%27dead-person%E2%80%99s-kimono%27-1

[2] https://conandaily.com/2023/06/01/juri-watanabe-biography-13-things-about-miss-universe-japan-2021/

[3] See Essay #4

[4] See Essay #11

[5] See Essay #16

[6] See Essay #19

Essay Abstracts 

#1 Renee Vivien (1877 - 1909) --- Born Pauline Tarn, was an English lesbian poet. She wrote in French and perhaps English. She took up the style of the Symbolists and Parnassinism and was well known during the era of the Belle Epoque (the Beautiful Age) for producing Sapphic verse and living as an open quasi butch lesbian poet; her verse derived from the ancient poet Sapphos, also famed for her love of women.

# 2 Birth of the Kimonope --- Here I shall introduce the notion of the Kimonope, that is as a garment attached to the social construct of the 'Geisha' in North America. Kimonopes being Orientalized clothing, or 'negatively affiliated or exoticized ethnic dress' which lead to the perceived notion of the Kimono and Geiko as simultaneously both high and low culture to American culture makers, such as film, television, media, writers and some academics. An example of Kimonope are the tacky Halloween costumes you may find at the Dollar store.

#3 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. 

#4 Divine --- Government name Harris Glenn Milstead (1945-1988) was the infamous North American Queen & Drag artist. Specifically, Divine was known for being a character actor, part of her act is well-known for its eccentricity. My personal exposure to Drag lite was Pantomine Grand Dames as a kid, and later when my friends made me watch RuPaul in art classes, so to me this is nothing new, the over the top, the glitter, the upstaging is all part and parcel.

#5 Dori-Style or 21st century Kimono Fashion --- The Dori-Kimono style. Something which I just made up because in going over notes for the first 20 years of 21st century section of Kimono history, I noticed a lack of a clear catchall term for what was happening in Japan at the time, at least in English descriptions of the time. I use the term Dori as I do not want to coin an unrelated term to the topic, but I also am reticent to claim all of Street style as 'Tori' either, whilst a large number of streets upon which the subculture originates in all use the suffix 'dori' (the bottom of Takeshita-dori for example), thence Dori-style.

#6  The Tea Gown --- This essay will cover the aspects of how 19th century Japanese import textiles to Western countries were used and repurposed, as well what their desirability tells us about how Japanese design was regarded and the image which these people held of Japan through the Western lense and consciousness. This follows the progression of how Kimono can be used in the West from the undress of the 1860s, adapting silk bolts in the 1870s to high fashion western daywear, to the 1880s aesthetic movement and 1890 wholesale adoption in the Victorian age to being used prominently by society hostesses as tea gowns by the Edwardian period, and the subsequent change in Japanese export culture which we see in extant textile collections of Japanese textile in Western dresses of the periods.

#7 Kimono and the Pre-Raphaelite Painters --- This essay will cover the aspects of Kimono in the Portraiture of the Pre-Raphaelites. The Pre-Raphaelites were a group of British artists and writers active during the late Victorian period. Unlike the Royal Academy artists, this circle of painters operated outside of the established comfortable boundaries of the expected white, cisgender middle class audience of the Victorian age. The movement is notable for its inclusion and encouragement of women, and in portraying and engaging non-conventional beauty and beauties as figures from the Classical World alongside Religious, Mythological and Folklore Heroines into Victorian 'Femme Fatales'.

#8 Jokyo/Genroku Kimono Textile Culture and the new role of the Komin ---  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.

#9 Tagasode Byobu - This essay will explore the art motif known in Japanese art as Tagasode Byobu ( Whose sleeves Screen) This motif is a recurring art form which was particularly popular during the Azuchi-Momoyama era ( 1568-1600 ) as a representation of the ways in which Buddhist sensibilities met with the fast changing events of the end of the Sengoku Jidai (1467-1615) and as an extension of the habit of wealthy women from military families came to own and store a large number of Kimono. Prior to this, Kin Byobu ( Golden Screens) for the most part depicted nature like Sesshuu Touyou (1420-1506) after Chinese Cha'an painter Muxi ( c.1210-1269 ) or 'flower-and-bird' scenes like those of Kano Eitoku (1543-1590), rather than humans or human paraphernalia as an extension of the Zen painting school of thought about materialism.

#10 Cultural Acculturation --- The topic of our essay is on the nature of Cultural Exchange in KTC which will be an ongoing mini-series throughout 2022. This covers the 1000CE - 1500 period in Japanese History.

#11 Cultural Appropriation --- The topic of our essay is on the nature of Cultural Appropriation which will be an ongoing mini-series throughout 2022. 

#12 Cultural Acculturation --- The topic of our essay is on the nature of Cultural Acculturation which will be an ongoing mini-series throughout 2022. This covers the Asuka (Hakuho), Nara (Tempyo), and Heian periods (500CE-1000CE) in Japanese History.

#13 Asai Ryoi --- 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 ( act. 1661-1691 ) was a prolific Ukiyo-zoshi ( Books of the floating world )  or Kana-zoshi  ( Heimin Japanese Books ) writer. His leading 1661 publication, lambasted and satirized Buddhism and Samurai culture of restraint in favour of the Chonin lifestyle of worldy excess.

#14 Edith Craig --- This is a post regarding the early adoption and promulgation of the Kimono and Japanese aesthetics in the life of the wonderful Edith Craig (1869-1947), daughter of the famous actress Ellen Terry (1847-1928) and Edward William Godwin (1833-1886). Edith was also known as 'Edy'.

#15 European Banyans --- This essay will explore the European garment known as a Banyan, which originated as a European reaction to Kimono in the 17th century, popular until the end of the 18th century. The word Banyan originates from Arabic ( Banyaan), Portuguese (Banian), Tamil ( Vaaniyan ) and Gujarati ( Vaaniyo ) loanwords meaning 'Merchant'. Alternative versions saw the item fitted with buttons and ribbons to attach the two front sides together. The Banyan was worn by all genders and was particularly regarded in its first iterations as a gentlemanly or intellectual garment worn with a cap to cover the lack of a periwig, and later adopted by women and greatly influenced how British womens garments were designed with preference for comfort in removal of panniers whilst maintaining luxurious, modest 18th century fashions (see Robe a la Anglaise).

#16 Miss Universe and Kimonope --- 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.

#17 Onna-E --- Womens pictures refers to the Nara, Heian and early Kamakura ( 710-1333CE ) practice of drawing women in elongated Hand scrolls, which today are regarded as feminine gender coded Art. Some of these narratives depict the lives of women, their extra diaries, or the literature they wrote. The Onna-E style derives from how mostly Heian women represented themselves and others as a performed self in these scrolls, drawing from their lives indoors at their and the imperial abodes. Whilst a limited number of women could read Kanji, they also used their knowledge of Chinese culture to create and inspire their own culture; the first truly Wamono aesthetics; and it was with these preconditions that Onna-E became established in the Japanese art scene alongside Yamato-E and Oshi-E.

#18 A Jamaican, a Monster and Portuguese bar in the Orient --- This essay looks at the Kimonope attire adopted by North American Dancehall artists Shenseea (Chinsea Linda Lee | 1996 - present ) for the video to 'ShenYeng Anthem'. Whilst the aesthetic derives mostly from East Asian, principally Chinese aesthetics, the language used is specifically Japanese, referring to Chinsea Linda Lee as 'ShenYeng Boss', a perpetuation of the Dragon Lady stereotype. The essay mostly charts how this ridiculous Kimonope derides from the North American Anti-Chinese movement and how this intersects with contemporary Orientalism.

#19 The Red Kimonope --- The Red Kimono is a terribly named racist US silent film from 1925. The Longingist film includes a key scene which the production gets its name from where the protagonist drops her Kimonope, meant to symbolize that she had turned away from sin and prostitution, or in other words equating a wearer of the Kimono as a sex worker which stemmed from another American 'tradition'. This dreadful melodrama features the previously yellowface-accepter Priscilla Bonner as the lead protagonist. Throughout her trials and tribulations, she faces many ups and downs, like becoming a white version of the Lotus Blossom stereotype, because WASPs. I will explore the origins of the Lotus concept and the 'Jade' in more detail here as to provide the contextual background of the productions symbolism.

#20 Housewife, Business Girl, Office Lady --- I explore the concept of the arrival of the Business Girl, and the Shufu ( Censored | Housewife ) of the 1930-1970's period of the 20th century.[1] This intersects with how we see Wafuku represented, in a shifting dynamic that had not shifted so many barriers since the 1870s, and even until the 1990s with the intrusion of Euro/Americentric beauty standards being foisted upon the world during these centuries, in the wardrobes of the upwardly mobile single business women of from 1955-1965. These groups came into being in the 1950s with the advent of the eclipse of settler colonialism and patriarchal standards over women's lives internationally. KTC thus developed in response to these changing, testing and trying times (between 1930-1970).

#21 Herman's 'Kimono' --- In this essay I look at another Kimonope, specifically another Miss Universe 'national costume' entry. This particular Kimonope represents the legacy of Macarthism's neo-colonial/systemic racism, and subjugation of Japanese soft-power, a follow on of Orientalist late 19th/early 20th century assumptions and stereotypes of Asian culture and peoples which saw their subjugation in American foreign and domestic policy between 1885-1952. In this entry, we see a clear leaning into the 'Cool Japan' aesthetic by the Kimonope's designer, who is not shockingly not Japanese, but Israeli and therefore represents ideas about what Kimono are to this designer than the genuine article would to other participants of KTC, foreigner or otherwise towards 'Kimono'.

Social Links

One stop Link shop: https://linktr.ee/Kaguyaschest

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KaguyasChest?ref=seller-platform-mcnav 

https://www.instagram.com/kaguyaschest/ 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5APstTPbC9IExwar3ViTZw 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LuckyMangaka/hrh-kit-of-the-suke/ 

徐陵 | Xu Ling | 537 | Bijin #19

Xu Ling ( 徐陵 | 507–583 ) or Xu Xiaomu; was a Chinese classical fogey who wrote and collated steamy poetry about imprisoned aristocratic women in East China during the Asuka period. This became known as the Gongti ( 宮體 | Palace-style ) genre. Very little is known of Xu Ling's life, he is most often remembered for compiling his eroge into the 'poetry anthology' New Songs from the Jade Terrace (537).[1][3] Ling compiled his work for the late Liang Emperor, and Terrace contains mostly pure lustful poetry which became a benchmark for literary erotica in a classical genre, as opposed its predecessor of ancient love poetry depicting metaphorical otherworldly beauty.

Jade Terrace Peak (1588, PD) Song Xu

Folksong Ballads

Yuefu were the cultural predecessor to the Gongti, and were based on Han standards of female folksongs and poetry, however these were not force feeding images of imprisoned women cleaning toilets, ironing clothes and pining over their mirrors and wash basins for their patriarchal counterpart. Rather Yuefu were folk ballads sung by women which alluded to the loss of a beloved or partner, whereas Gongti were the lurid, objectifying erotica of mostly straight men like the Nymph Beauty.[1] 

Palace Poetry

Palace Poetry can be best said to be erotic daydreams of beauties in literary form, at a time when only heavenly or metaphorical beauties were the only socially acceptable type of Bijin or Mei figure, particularly for women. Gongti was said to have started with the writings of Ling's father, Xu Chi ( 徐摛; 471–551CE ).[3] Gongti described the clothes women wore, their actions and their emotions, principally their loneliness and isolatory situation in the domestic sphere. Liang Gongti are characteristically filled with the Lonely Housewife tropes, which are were according to the traditions of serious poetry, apparently what mostly concerned the Liang court with their scholarly time.[1][5] That is to say they enjoyed patriarchal Voyeurism to an extreme.

Liang Gongti females are characteristically Nymphomaniacs who are lurid Meiren who sit around their bathrooms and boudoirs longing for a man to come 'fulfil' them. These 'Abandoned Women' languish in their beds, until the men of the Liang Dynasty come along to give them their sole purpose in life, as ****toys. Fragmentary arms and legs, but not women. As time passed these Abandoned Women were written about by some female writers it seems from the point of view of the women themselves, in a return to the Yuefu conventions Gongti 'grew' from. Gongti diminished in popularity by early Tang as women increasingly began to take up monastic and property ownership positions.[1]

Jade Terraces refer to the Zenanas of Ancient Imperial China where rich women had the lovely option of being imprisoned inside for the enjoyment of their property owners. The Terrace Anthology contained work by 115 poets, 14 of whom were female. Over 769 pieces were based on the Gongti genre of traditionally female Yuefu folksongs about these heteronormative Meiren bathroom/apartment coitus encounters ranging from 20 BCE - 530 CE, like the drunkard's Cao Zhi ( 子建 | 192-232 CE ) Nymph of the River Luo.[1] Others were about the biting of the peach. GAY ONES.[3][5] Key motifs in the Terrace include objects associated with these coitus encounters like Jade, bedrooms, feast halls, musical instruments, lamps, mirror-stands and posh stationary for love letters.[3]

Ling of Liang

Very little is known of Ling the poet. Ling compiled under the patronage of Xiao Gang ( 503-551CE ), the Emperor of the Liang Dynasty ( 549-551CE ). At this time, the Southern Dynasties were heavily influential on existing trends, fashions and major cultural standard bearers as the holders of central authority was passed down to the Southern Dynasties in lieu of the 'Northern Barbarians', a cultural superiority expressed in the decadent culture of the Southern courts as seen in their macho-headman-alpha-big-boy poetry.[1] As such they influenced beauty standards around East Asia and via Korea (Baekje and Silla) into Japan. I shall refresh our understanding of contemporary Chinese beauty standards:

[Contemporary Chinese Beauty Standards] were delved from  the historical annals of Imperial [Han] China in the court system of concubinage. The beauty standard drew thus from black hair with precious stones, slim build and small features. These were what drew court artists to their subjects, with commissioners more concerned over the subjective morals and ethics implicit to the text. Artists in a sense supplemented rather than subverted at this time to make a career for themselves. Women subjects in particular were deemed as more suitable for submissiveness, and often did not take leading roles other than as beauties [... and] were more of an anomaly generally in their discipline[s]. Considering the types of Beauty that were societally acceptable in Kaizhi's time [(364-406 CE)], we find a mostly patriarchal response to feminine efforts. Admonitions for example was the chastisement of an Empress, even though it in some ways tried to flatter the same Empress. [... Metaphorical Beauties like] Nymphs of heaven often really being the only acceptable kind of heteronormative desirable beauty, in that it did not exist on Earth and heralded from the Peach Gardens of Eternity.[2]

Metaphorical beauty more often than not was praised at this time as it denied women agency in their own rights. Women were often seen in the Liang Dynasty as secondary actors to men, particularly in Ling's Terrace Anthology which described women in fragmentary third person descriptions, mostly in alluding to their passing by a gauze curtain, or draping over some other domestic object/task in the inner sanctum of a male court members property.[1] Terrace Meiren were more likely to have their robes, shoes and sleeves falling off in their bed than flying away on whales and phoenixes.[2][5] Metaphorical or Heavenly beauties therefore were accepted Meiren, as they did not exist to usurp male power in the male power fantasy many Gongti sought after. Rather the Meiren was a passive NPG in a male world, lonely and useful only for amusing men, a role both men and women as objects of desire played.

Southern Dynasty beauties from the court of Xiao Gang and the Liang Dynasty (549-551CE) were characteristically the beauties of the Homogenous Han standard; that is a slim, pale-skinned, raven haired and sinuous type of dancer bedecked in expensive, elaborate clothing, hairpins and jewels.[1] Their features whilst not well described due to the nature of the Gongti style's third person narratives may have fit into the acceptable small features desired in mainstream Chinese beauty standards as befitting of their rank as the 'lesser sex' at court. Dressed in the Gui-yi style for their originators, Liang Gongti Meiren whether male or female appeared briefly to satisfy male desires, particularly the decadent and power driven fantasies of the Southern court who pursued their right to rule through soft power.[1][5]

Terrace Mei

In context, we see how the beauty standard for the Southern Dynasties came about, spreading the conceptual origins of the Bijinga around Eastern Asia. These patriarchal standards of beauty spread the idea that skinny, black hair and submissive feminine figures for women and some queer men was the ideal beauty standard.[5] Terrace Mei were Nymphomaniacs, outgoing allusions to lust and desire which whilst providing an outlet for some women, mostly robbed them of the agency which they already had achieved themselves through traditional folksongs. The Terrace Beauty therefore was a homogenous blob of male power fantasy and neighbourly attractions, which by the decline of the Southern Dynasty cultural chokehold after the death of Emperor Wu in 549CE and end of the Liang Dynasty in 551CE, drew to a close with the rise of the Tang Dynasty which saw an increase in female agency, property ownership and monastic ingratiation as Buddhism came to the fore.

Bibliography

[1] Watching the Voyeurs: Palace Poetry and the Yuefu of Wen Tingyun, December 1989, Paul Rouzer, Volume 11, pp.13-31, CLEAR Journal | https://www.jstor.org/stable/495525

[2] See Bijin #16

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

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_and_Southern_dynasties#Liang

[5] New songs from a jade terrace : an anthology of early Chinese love poetry, 1982, Ann Birrell, pp.7-14

Bijin Series Timeline

11th century BCE

- The Ruqun becomes a formal garment in China (1045 BCE); Ruqun Mei

8th century BCE

- Chinese clothing becomes highly hierarchical (770 BCE)

3rd century BCE

Xi Shi (flourished c201-900CE); The Drunken Lotus Bijin

2cnd century BCE

        - The Han Dynasty

0000 Current Era

1st century

        - Han Tomb portraiture begins as an extension of Confucian Ancestor Worship; first Han aesthetic                                scholars dictate how East Asian composition and art ethics begin

                       - Isometric becomes the standard for East Asian Composition (c.100); Dahuting Tomb Murals

                       - Ban Zhao introduces Imperial Court to her Lessons for Women (c106);                                      Women play major roles in the powerplay of running of China consistently                                until 1000 CE, influencing Beauty standards

                       - Qiyun Shengdong begins to make figures more plump and Bijin-like (c.150) but still pious

2cnd century

             - Yuefu folk ballads inspire desirable beauty standards of pining women

4th century

Gu Kaizhi (active 364-406); Metaphorical Beauty

        - Chinese Artists begin to make aesthetic beauties in ethereal religious roles of heavenly Nymphs

                       - Luo River Nymph Tale Scroll (c.400)

          - Womens clothing emphasized the waist as the Guiyi (Swallow-Tail Flying Ribbons) style (c.400)

                       - Wise and Benevolent Women (c.400)

5th century

          - Chinese Art becomes decadent; Imperial Culture begins to see more expression in religious statues (c450)

                       - Longmen Grotto Boddhisattvas (471)

6th century

Xu Ling; (active 537-583); Terrace Meiren

7th century

            - Tang Dynasty Art (618-908)

           - Rouged Bijin (600-699 CE) [Coming Soon] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_the_Tang_Dynasty

Yan Liben (active 642-673); Bodhisattva Bijin [Coming Soon] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%A1.jpg Guan Yin  | https://archive.org/details/viewsfromjadeter00weid/page/22/mode/1up?view=theater

Wu Zetian (active 665-705); The Great Tang Art Patron [Coming Soon]

Asuka Bijin (c.699); The Wa Bijin

8th century

            - Princess Yongtai's Veneration Murals (701) [Coming Soon]

- Introduction of Chinese Tang Dynasty clothing (710)

- Sumizuri-e (710)

Yang Yuhuan Guifei (719-756); [Coming Soon] East Asian Supermodel Bijin https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/275768522.pdf https://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/4sub9/entry-5437.html#chapter-5

Zhang Xuan (active 720-755); [Coming Soon]

- What is now Classical Chinese Art forms

                    - An Lushun Rebellion (757) 

 Zhou Fang (active 766-805) ; Qiyun Bijin

- Emakimono Golden Age (799-1400)

9th century

                       - Buddhist Bijin [Coming Soon] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_the_Tang_Dynasty#/media/File:Noble_Ladies_Worshiping_Buddha.jpg + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogao_Caves#/media/File:Anonymous-Bodhisattva_Leading_the_Way.jpg

                    - Gongti Revival https://www.jstor.org/stable/495525?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents

10th century

                       -End of Tang Art (907)

13th century

                     - Heimin painters; 1200-1850; Town Beauty

15th century 

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

Tang Yin (active 1490-1524); Chinese Beauties [Coming Soon] https://www.comuseum.com/painting/masters/tang-yin/ 

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

- Machi-Eshi Art ( 1610 - 1710) ; The Town Beauty

- 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

Fu Derong (active c.1675-1722) ; [Coming Soon] https://archive.org/details/viewsfromjadeter00weid/page/111/mode/1up?view=theater

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]

Yamazaki Joryu (active 1716-1744) [Coming Soon] | https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790976?seq=5

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]

Sakurai Seppo (active 1790-1824) [Coming Soon]

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]

Katsushika Oi (active 1824-1866) [Coming Soon]

Hirai Renzan (active 1838ー？) [Coming Soon]

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

Yamada Otokawa (active 1845) [Coming Soon] | 山田音羽子 https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790976?seq=10

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

Kano Hogai (active 1848-1888) [Coming Soon]

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

Noguchi Shohin (active c1860-1917) [Coming Soon]

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

Uemura Shoen (active 1887-1949) [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]

Hisako Kajiwara (active 1918-1988) [Coming Soon] https://www.roningallery.com/artists/kajiwara-hisako | https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790976

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

Social Links

One stop Link shop: https://linktr.ee/Kaguyaschest

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KaguyasChest?ref=seller-platform-mcnav 

https://www.instagram.com/kaguyaschest/ 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5APstTPbC9IExwar3ViTZw 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LuckyMangaka/hrh-kit-of-the-suke/ 

結城紬 | Yuki-Tsumugi | Yuki Silk | Fabric #16

Yuki-Tsumugi is a type of traditional Ibaraki silk. Traditionally, Yuki silk is made by taking the silk from boiled Cocoons, and spun by hand into Yarn. The yarns are placed appropriately with Ikat (resist dying) being applied to the yarns in the pattern desired and then using the Jibata hand loom, passing these warp and weft yarns through to create the Tanmono bolt.[1] Yuki Tsumugi is often today used for wearing in the winter as it is a very thick, heavy fabric when made up with linings, which does not chime with the Western idea about what 'silk' should feel like. To make one Kimono takes a weaver 15 days.[3]

Yuki Tsumugi Yarns (2017, CC4.0) タバコはマーダー

Yuki was brought into Japan according to legend around the time of the infamous Carpenter of Nazareth, but more likely somewhere between the introduction of silk around 500 CE or during the tailend of the Heian period, around 1200 CE.[2] It historically accurate to begin Yuki history proper around 1602 when it was presented as a gift to Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616). As a fabric, it is rather plain and has historically been used to siginify an 'earthy' fabric. In 1873, it was used at the Vienna World Exposition to identify a 'Japanese textile', and is currently practiced by 130 known craftspeople. These are backed up by the fact that Yuki has been an IICPJ (Important Intangible Cultural Properties of Japan) since 1956.

[1] See Fabrics #2

[2] See Fabrics #3 under TLDR

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%ABki-tsumugi

Socials:

https://linktr.ee/Kaguyaschest

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KaguyasChest?ref=seller-platform-mcnav or https://www.instagram.com/kaguyaschest/ or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5APstTPbC9IExwar3ViTZw, or https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LuckyMangaka/hrh-kit-of-the-suke/

飛鳥美人画 | Asuka Bijin | 538-710 | Bijin #14

The Asuka Bijin or Asuka Beauties (538-710) refer to a series of burial paintings depicting a number of beautiful people dressed in contemporary beautified attire. They are thought to have been made by a Korean artist due to their dress matching descriptions of contemporaneous Korean national dress, given that Japan had developed trade relations with the proto-Korean nations of Baekje, Silla, Gaya and Goguryeo.[1] It is thought that the tomb is most likely an ode to one of Emperor Tenmu's (c.631CE-686CE) relatives, Isonokami Ason Maro (640–717) or for the Japanese-Baekjean nobleman Kudara no Konikishi Zenkō (617CE-700CE).

Asuka Bijin (c650 PD) Maculosae tegmine lyncis, Wikimedia Commons

When we are seeing the aesthetics of the Asuka Bijin, we can see how these when compared to similar time period works  display the Asuka sense of beauty in relation to ideals about Buddhism, modesty, Asian ideology such as Confucianism, wealth and hierarchy. Whilst a lot of the information about the aesthetics of this period are lost to us with the passage of time, we can see that modesty clearly played quite a large role in how the body was adorned in particular, and how an almost excess of fabric, long trains, props, fans, dyed fabrics and coiffed duck hairstyles all played into the hierarchical aesthetic of portraying the Asuka aesthetic of having or being wealth adjacent.

Ruqun Han (c25CE, PD) Anonymous, Ws227

These depictions of beauties can be taken as part of a wider Pan-Asian acculturation of dress, adapted initially from the Chinese Ruqun. The Ruqun being a Chinese garment made of a lower top and skirt worn from the bust down. This was also the official court dress of Korea when Goguryeo became a tributary state to the Celestials in 32CE. Goguryeo courtiers received the official uniform every time they got a new king, and this system was known as the Gwanbok system, becoming the Korean Hanbok. The official set of garments worn in Goguryeo became known as the 'Ochaebok' becoming more fixed by around 200CE under the influence of the Han dynasty.[3]

Woman in Paofu Model (c206) 

The Han brought about many standardised and alternative Hanfu accessories we might say which included the Paofu, shown above. 

Gwanbok Ochaebok of Korea (c371, PD) Wikimedia Commons

During this time, with the rise and fall of many paperwork kingdoms and dynasties, the Ruqun changed forms to adapt to new climates in the Celestial Empire of the Middle Kingdom (Old China). When the court of the Northern dynasties ruled (around 300-550CE), this saw the introduce of the Durumagi, a type of overcoat worn by courtiers to keep warm.[3] By 360CE, this was introduced into the Gwanbok system from Chinese refugees fleeing civil wars and worn in Goguryeo.[3][4] By this time, the Han dynasty had fully developed and all of Gwanbok court attire was derived from their Hanfu (Han clothing) style of dress.

Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies (c.370, PD) Ku K'ai-chih

Guiyi style from back (c406[copy c.1279], PD) Anonymous

Another style which gained popularity in this manner at the same time, was the Guiyi (Swallow-Tail Flying Ribbons) garments.[3] This became the Guipao (one piece) and Gui-Chang (two piece) styles. The predominantly popular style was the Gui-Chang at the time, and it was this form of royal attire which was heavily worn by the courts during the first millenia which is the form of clothing the Asuka Bijin, most likely heavily influenced by their allies the Goguryeo court and their form of Ochaebok Gwanbok dress system wear. 

Durumagi bedecked  APEC goers (2005, CC3.0) Le Kremlin

By around the year 550CE, this form of dress developed in Japan into the Wafuku style of the Durumagi atop the Guiyi style bottom. At this point, Confucianism was on the wane in the China in lieu of Lao Tzu, Buddhist translations from Northern India, Humanitarian Philosophy and Taoism amongst lower nobles which caused infighting with the upper court nobles, resulting in lower nobles pursuit of Xuanxue (mysterious learning, or Chinese semantic arguments about Dao) to lead an almost aesthetic lifestyle of seeking for comfort and beauty as per their mysterious new philosophy.[4] In this 300 year timespan (200-500CE) we see how Chinese court attire was transmitted via cultural acculturation over from Imperial China via Goguryeo to Japan by the beginning of the Asuka period in 538CE.

Asuka Bijin

Japanese Wafuku only distinguished itself as distinctive ethnic clothing in the face of European questioning and a move away and onwards in a distinct cultural sense from their neighbours in the late 16th century. The particular painter of the Takamatsuzuka Tumulus is thought to have been from southern Goguryeo.[2] These four figures comprise of the four serving maids of a procession for the owner of the tomb, and are half of the procession which follows Ancient Chinese celestial symbols around the mound interior.[2] Thus they are wearing a Gui-Chang and Durumagi dress style, adopted from the Goguryeo courts, in turn adopted from earlier Northern Chinese Dynasty styles.

Another distinctive element of dress reform was the inclusion of long sleeves over the Paofu (one piece floor length robe) which closely resembles the modern kimono, but the Kimono distinctly comes later and as more of a Heimin item than aristocratic one, hence Paofu being the Heimin derivative and Guiyi the aristocratic equivalent whose legacy in Japan is the Junihitoe.[4][5] The Paofu was originally simply an overcoat for the Shenyi, an older form of Ruqun. It seems to be in this sense that the Paofu was an early indicator of the Kosode, that is as an outer layer visible to the naked eye which wraps around the body, ties asymmetrically and would have used a belt to hold its place.

The Wa Bijin

In context we can see how the court dress of Imperial China and Ancient Korea has been passed down into the cultural Acculturation of the Kimono as one variety of Pan-Asian ethnic clothing. We can also see how this makes the Kimono rather more transnational and polycultural than some ethnocentrics would have us believe, and show how as a cousin of the Hanbok and granddaughter of the Ruqun, the Kimono developed during the early Asuka period. This acculturation of the Ruqun, Paofu and Guiyi styles of China into the Gogoryeo courts with the fleeing of Chinese refugees from the tumultous warring states period of China show how these ideas were transmitted to the early fiefdoms and leaders of Asuka period society by Far Eastern cultures, distinct from our modern understanding of them, in the national sense into Wa by 538CE. It is this context which allows us to comprehend what a beautiful person could look like in the area known as Wa at this time, and that this was based heavily on Chinese-Korean models, aesthetics and beauty ideals.

Bibliography 

[1] See Fabrics #3

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takamatsuzuka_Tomb#History

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwanbok#Goguryeo

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow-tailed_Hems_and_Flying_Ribbons_clothing

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paofu

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 (c.699); The Wa Bijin

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]

Yamazaki Joryu (active 1716-1744) [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]

Kano Hogai (active 1848-1888) [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]

Social Links

One stop Link shop: https://linktr.ee/Kaguyaschest

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KaguyasChest?ref=seller-platform-mcnav 

https://www.instagram.com/kaguyaschest/ 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5APstTPbC9IExwar3ViTZw 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LuckyMangaka/hrh-kit-of-the-suke/