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/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bibliography

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

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

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

[4] See Fabrics #3

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

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

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

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

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

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

Social Links

One stop Link shop: 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 https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LuckyMangaka/hrh-kit-of-the-suke/ 

仲朗 | Zhou Fang | 730 - 800 | Bijin #7

Zhou was a Tang era Chinese painter who inspired Iwasa Matabei's classically inspired drawings which became the basis for Ukiyo-e in the second half of the 17th century. Zhou painted for the Imperial Chinese Tang court Emperor Dezong between 779-800, but his own background came from being a painter in a noble family during Tang China, specialising in pictures of beautiful court women. He himself was inspired by Gu Kaizhi (344–406) and Zhang Xuan (713–755) and lived in Chang'an, modern Xi'an city working during a time which saw a change in beauty standards for Chinese women and idealised imagery of beauty. He is best known for his Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers and Court Lady With Servants.[12]

Court Ladies adorning their Hair with Flowers (c799) Zhou Fang

Chinese historical figure depiction in the time of Kaizhi was rather two dimensional until the end of the Six Dynasty era (220–589) and began forming new ideals as power shifted from the Northern-South Kingdoms with the sixteen kingdoms (304 to 439) and the Sui Dynasty onto to Tang China by 618AD. During the end of the Six Dynasty period, Chinese art began to become more ethereal, light and evocative of the three rather than two dimensional. Acceptable figures to portray as beautiful, were the immortal nymphs of Chinese legends, over this period (300-550AD) the clothes of these figures began to become more fitted and showed off the wearers body.[4] Women of the era were seen through a form of the patriarchal lense in a Confucian prism however, and whilst admired, their agency was subjective at best in this worldview.[8] Fortunately though, they were often admired, for their wit, charms and beauty in the love poetry of women in love written in the 6th century which became the basis for the newly emerging Beautiful Woman genre as it became known by art historians later on. Common motifs of this poetry often was the pining beauty, 'plainly elegant' plum tree (on account of its blossoms), bamboo for fragility, peonies, hand fans, incense smoke and lotus roots symbolising conjugal love, spring with willow trees, autumn with mirrors, and the ephemeral nature of cosmetic beauty which accompanied these texts, such as Du Fu's (712–770) 'Ballad of the Beauty'.[7] Other imperial beauties of the period included the plump beauty Yang Yuhuan or Guifei ( 楊玉環 | 719-756), who is considered one of the 4 great beauties of Classical China.[10] 

Yang Guifei (c.907) Liao Tomb Wall Painting on Pao Mountain

In an amend to the historical record may I lead you to the fact that women also figured prominently in Chinese myth such as the mother goddess Nuwa and Leizu, the creator deity of the mulberry tree and sericulture.[9] Others include the contemporary Empress Regent Wu Zetian. Fu Du, for example, exemplifies the beauty who wears her 'gauze robes', comparing them to the 'spring' of their youth.

Third month, third day, in the air a breath of newness: by Chang'an riverbanks the beautiful ladies crowd, rich in charms, regal in bearing, well-bred, demure, with clear sleek complexions, bone and flesh well-matched, in figured gauze robes that shine in the late spring, worked with golden peacocks, silver unicorns. - Fu Du the Uninventive [11] 

Wu Zetian (c.1700) British Library

It is said in the Tang period, it was established that both the pictorial, and mirth or ability to depict and capture personality was just as important as each other. In the tale of the General Guo Ziyi (697-781) and his daughter Ms Zhao, when asked which of 2 Tang era painters who depicted her husband the best, Zhou was chosen for his ability to depict Zhao's husband in his characters entirety.[1] The period Zhou  produced his images saw a shift towards the rigidity of the Chinese bureaucratic system, which saw the rise of innuendo and the cult of the character which peeked from under the bureaucratic curtain of modesty now and then, with a beauty in barely there silk sleeves, yet otherwise modestly dressed.[7] It was this ability to depict a 2D image, and allow its audience to empathise with it as a 3D entity in Classical Chinese art which Iwasa Matabei clearly admired in the work of Zhou Fang and was carried over into his style. 

This quality of art, was known as 'Qiyun' ( Spirit resonance | 气韵 ) and was the first of the 6 classical principles of Chinese Art.[2] Another proponent of the Chinese Zhou Beauty, is their full figure, and lavish dress which often incorporated fake flowers, birds and metal in their elaborate hairstyles and accessories, such as the floating sashes of immortals.[4] From my own research, I know that in Japan at least, Chinese chignon Tang hairstyles and dress styles were in vogue at many different periods, but had arisen once more during Matabei's era. This plump or Rubenesque silhouette, was popular during the end of the period Zhou and his contemporaries painted in.[3] Indeed it is rare to find depictions of male figures from this date in Zhou's work.[4] 

Lady with Servants (c.799) Zhou Fang

Other elements which were considered in the depiction of beauty, was the appropriate placement of figure object and depth within the space, which often also relate to a specific contextual setting or theme in a play, poem or story.[2][4][7] This was both due to the confines of the available technology at the time, and to complement the appropriate way to read and appreciate the connotations and connoisseurship of these paintings of worldly and divine beauties, who were often plumply seated in groups of 3 in handscrolls or on standing screens.[5] These depictions found in Japanese art such as Ma, or the compositionally pleasing absence of a filled space are still a mainstay of Japanese and Chinese art and aesthetics. It is said these were imported, specifically in the instance of Zhou throughout the routes of Korean traders into Japan.[6] As Classical China, particularly Tang, was considered the height of civilisation for that time in Japanese society, the modes of Tang were greatly emulated.

Qiyun Bijin

It is from this context that we see how the mind, style and elements of Iwasa Matabei came to form early Ukiyo-e. It is often thought therefore that as the court painter of the height of Tang Dynasty China, the Bijin figure of Tang China, also influential in the fashions of Japanese aesthetic and fashion, held great sway due to Zhou's artistic ventures into the perfection of that Qiyun quality. It will have been this element to embody a flat into full and rotund beautiful figure which will have drawn the eye of many, including Iwasa Matabei, which influenced many Asian ideals of Beauty in Women, given the reach and scope of Zhou's position in East Asian art, akin to that of Eadfrith (active 698-721) of Lindisfarne's carpet pages in contemporary Northumbria, albeit more in a depiction of the divine than worldly beauty, through the use of compositional space and decoration to display their influential styles of powerful beauty to the average viewer of their works, which in those days may have held more of a literal spiritual connection than in later centuries. Zhou's work therefore as depicting the more plump and fetching idealised Tang Qiyun Beauty gave the impetus for Matabei to merge 'classical' figures of Beauty together with religious proprietal imagery to create the basework for his own Qiyun Bijin as the Yamato Bijin, which fed into the Genre known today as Ukiyo-e, or rather the longer tradition of depicting Beauties in Eastern Asian art aesthetics.

Bibliography

[1] A New Life for Literati Painting in the Early Twentieth Century: Eastern Art and Modernity, a Transcultural Narrative?, Aida-Yuen Wong, 2000, Vol. 60, No. 2, pp. 297-326, Artibus Asiae Publishers 

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

[3] Huizong's New Clothes, L.C.W. Blanchard, 2009, Vol. 36, p.113, Ars Orientalis

[4] Tao Yuanming's Sashes: Or, the Gendering of Immortality, S. E. Nelson, 1999, Vol. 29, p.15, Ars Orientalis

[5] Review for 'Examination and Identification of the Forging of Ancient Calligraphy and Painting' in Xu Bangda Review, by T. Lawton, 1987, Vol. 17, p.186, Ars Orientalis

[6] Elegant or Common? Chen Hongshou's Birthday Presentation Pictures and His Professional Status, Anne Burkus-Chasson, June 1994, Vol. 76, No. 2, p.280, The Art Bulletin 

[7] Chinese Palace-Style Poetry and the Depiction of a Palace Beauty, Ellen Johnston Laing, June 1990, Vol. 72, No. 2, pp.284-290, The Art Bulletin

[8] https://www.schwarzmanscholars.org/events-and-news/confucianism-feminism-conflict-new-understanding-necessary/

[9] For more and to amend this notion, see Chinese Myths, Anne Birrell, 2000, pp.46-50, British Musuem Press, Chapter Gender in Myth

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Guifei

[11] http://www.textetc.com/workshop/wt-du-fu-2.html

[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Fang_(Tang_dynasty)

Bijin Series Timeline 

8th century

- Introduction of Chinese Tang Dynasty clothing (710)

- Sumizuri-e (710)

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

15th century 

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

16 century 

- Nanbanjin Art (1550-1630)

- Byobu Screens (1580-1670)

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

17th century  

- 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  

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

- Shikomi-e (1650-1670) and Kakemono-e which promote Androgynous Beauties; Iwasa Katsushige (active 1650-1673) [Coming Soon] 

- Mass Urbanisation instigates the rise of Chonin Cottage Industry Printing (from 1660) ; 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)

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

- 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 

Miyazaki Yuzen (active 1688-1736) [Coming Soon]

Torii Kiyonobu (active 1698 - 1729) [Coming Soon]

Social Links

One stop Link shop: 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 https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LuckyMangaka/hrh-kit-of-the-suke/ 

秩父銘仙 | Chichibu Meisen | Chichibu Woven Silk | Fabrics #4

Chichibu Meisen is a double sided woven silk made in Chichibu, Saitama, Honshu. CM is made from raw, dupioni raw, floss, or spun silk made from waste cocoons and waste raw silk, and is a popular everyday silk for its durability and easy capacity to wish and reuse it.[1] 

Historically CM began around the time sericulture and silk weaving was introduced from Korea or China between 300-800AD.[2] Local traditions hold that this was the local Shinto deity Chichibu Hiko-no-mikoto who did this.  The local topography was heavily built up with mountains, which made rice grops difficult to grow, so sericulture eventually become the main local commodity in Chichibu. CM was at first due to its nature as a stubborn material or Futo-Ori (| Thick weave) made from waste product, worn by Chichibu farmers. In time, CM spread outside of Chichibu, and was known as Oni-chichibu, and eventually became an acceptable fabric for the Samurai class to wear due to its durability and sheen. This production was well established by the 18th century.[4]

Chichibu Saitama

A Moga (1927)

By the 1890s, the Japanese goverment sensing the encroachment of Westernisation and seeing the effect of Western colonisation in Asia, began to promote traditional Japanese arts and art or cottage industries. These led to the promulgation of traditional trades like CM production becoming joint with technology, producing new techniques like Hogushi-Ori (Virgin Thread sorting).[4] In 1908, the first Hogushi Nassen (ほぐし捺染 | Loose silk threads first dyed and then woven) technology was patented in Japan allowing for more elaborate patterns to be created.[1] Meisen then by the 1920's with an increased production capacity due to the increase of heavy textile industry began to become worn as a staple in womens fashion, most commonly worn by the Moga (モダンガール | Modern Girl).[5] The colours of Chichibu Meisen were particularly bright, and the patterns made allowed for a greater variation in Ji-monnyu than had previously being available to Kimono designers.[4] Moga often bought these kimono in Department stores, which popularised art deco Meisen and showed the modernisation of the 'New Japan' (itself arguably an adapted Western ideology deriving from contact with Western through 1853-1876), with skyscrapers, high-speed trains, and plane motifs from 1910-1930. From 1930-1940 with the changing political landscape of Japan, these patterns frequently became more charged and tied to national patriotism, such as Meisen depicting military themes, often made in rayon, mainly in regions north of Tokyo.[6] When Longingism took hold in the court of the MacArthur shogunate, Kimono become 'the old thing to wear' so to speak and 'modern Japan' once again took off from where Old 'New Japan' had taken and production of new Meisen declined rapidly, reverting back to workwear rather than being a trendy garment from the 1960s onwards, and may have seen an uptick of resurgence as a fashion item from 1990-2009 in Japanese and foreign womens Kimono from the bright designs of Taisho Meisen kimono, a large number of which survive because they are Chichibu Meisen as part of the historical revival moment in Kimono-Hime, popularized in the west at least in the fanzine Kimono Hime.

A Meisen Haori with Battleship motif (1926-1945) CC

Chichibu Meisen is made with leftover silk threads and is created by Temporal weaving, Printing, Steaming, Drying, Rollback & Weaving. Weaving is first done by sorting the white warp threads into the desired length and number and set in the loom and the weft threads wound around tubes. Temporal weaving refers to creating the desired pattern with the weft threads in the loom which prevents shrinkage during the Katazome process. The warp threads are then spread from the tubes over a printing stand and Katazome is applied to them using one stencil at a time. A frame with the pattern inside is placed atop the warp thread stand and the pattern is gradually applied by moving the frame and applying dye through the stencil with a brush. More than one colour requires the warp threads to be redyed as many times as there are colours. By dying the weft and warp threads this creates the double-sided effect or Hogushi Nassen technique of CM. The threads are then refined by immersing them in Shinsen which bonds the dye agent to the threads, then placed in a Mushibako (steam box or tube) which fixes the dye to the threads. The threads are removed and left to dry by tumble drying. The warp threads are then rolled back and check over and adjusted as needed, a process known as rollback.  

Weaving is then done by setting the warp threads in the loom and sorting and loosening (Hogushi-Ori) the weft threads to fit the end pattern using hand-thrown/flying shuttles with a treadle. The shuttles slide the weft threads in the loom, auto-weaving machines and shuttle looms which replace weft threads are also used to prevent breakage. Hogushi-ori/-nassen (Loose sorting/dying) creates the double sided sheen when the warp and weft threads join in CM silks, which was valued by Samurai for its durable and shiny qualities.[1] CM is still made today in Chichibu, being regarded a Traditional Crafts of Japan in 2013; to learn more you can visit the Meisen Kan Musuem in Chichibu.[3]

Fabrics #5 will be on the wider history of Meisen fabrics, next post will be on the Dori-Kimono style.

Bibliography

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

[2] See Fabrics #3

[3] http://www.meisenkan.com/english/

[4] https://www.ana.co.jp/en/gb/japan-travel-planner/saitama/0000013.html

[5] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235733818_Why_was_Meisen_Japan's_traditional_working_clothe_accepted_well_in_the_market_as_everyday_clothes_and_stylish_garments_between1900_to1930

[6] https://www.thecityreview.com/kimono.html

Social Links:

Linktree (One click to all and extended Links): 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 https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LuckyMangaka/hrh-kit-of-the-suke/