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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