Her Haughtynesses Decree

Showing posts with label Womensfashion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Womensfashion. Show all posts

Sunday, February 18, 2024

塩沢おめし | Shiozawa Omeshi | Shiozawa Twist Dye Ikat | Fabrics #23

Shiozawa is a type of Omeshi made around Niigata prefecture. It is designated as Juji Gasuri ( じゅじがすり|crossed splash patterns ) which denotes the specific cross styles found across the tanimono.  Threads were first tye-dyed.[1] The weft is tightly wound before being spun and then placed onto a Takahata loom which leaves these distinctive cross patterns.[2] All bolts are to this day made by hand on these looms.[1] Warp threads are then dyed using tye-dye, stencils dyes or paper stencils.[3] These patterns can also be used to make different layers and levels of the work to leave a distinctive fabric gradient type effect on the final bolt. A type of silk crepe, Shiozawa uses these effects to leave a light textile crimp, much like linen.[2] Afterwards the cloth is washed in hot water and left to dry leaving the crosses exposed to the eye.[2]

Shiozawa Town (2016, CC4.0) Tariqsheikh

The murky proto history of Shiozawa Omeshi emerges from a Ramie sample known as Echigo Jofu found in the Shosoin, around 794 CE.[3] Shiozawa Hon emerged around 1750, after the Komin Masatoshi Hori created the modern hard-twist thread method used to make Shiozawa Omeshi by 1679 CE.[2][3] These were artisanal works though and are mostly thought to have been workshop specific pieces until the 20th century.[3] Modern Shiozawa Omeshi arose out of a need to create a new market for fabric in the area when industrialisation took root in the Taisho period (1912-1926). Shiozawa bolts were mostly created in masculine coded colours such as brown, blue, black and white. As time has gone on and the methods of production have turned to more fashion oriented needs rather than as everyday items, more variety has become available since the 1960s when presumably Shufu were targeted and has been made in more bold colours like reds.[1] 

Bibliography

[1] http://www.kimono.or.jp/dictionary/eng/honshiozawa.html

[2] https://kougeihin.jp/en/craft/0114/

[3] https://kogeijapan.com/locale/en_US/honshiozawa/

Socials:

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/ 

Sunday, October 15, 2023

蝶 | チョウ | Butterfly | Patterns #21

Butterflies represent the motif of transformation and renewal. They are most often also representative of spirits passing from one world to the next, sometimes who have taken their lives together to elope into the other world.[1][2][5] They also symbolise the maturity of young girls becoming young women.[3] Other meanings can also include intrigue, and it is said if the butterfly is captured this will dispel this.[5] Tsukure obi ( つくれ帯 | Pre-tied Belt ) are commonly tied in a Butterfly knot (Cho Musubi | 蝶結び ).[4] Even updoes take their cues from Butterflies, in the style of the Yoko-Hyogo (Butterfly Hairstyle).[5]

Presents for a loved one (c.1810, PD/CC1.0) Ryuuryuukyo Shinsai

Historically Butterflies have long carried connotations of the otherworld, and thus appear in a number of family crests. Some of the earliest artistic depictions come from the Heian period, in turn influenced by Chinese philosophy about the fleeting, transitory nature of butterflies in the lives of human as in the story of Zhuang Zhi who dreamt of being a butterfly and then got confused about being a human or a butterfly, because he could.[3][5] Butterflies commonly appeared in many artistic mediums of the early Edo period, including Kimono, woodcuts and Origami designs.[3] This is mostly from the 1660 onwards obsession of Komin to depict Yuujo and stage performers. Even Hokusai involved himself in the depiction of this famous motif.[3] Unfortunately, the Long character/stereotype 'Cho-Cho' (1904) also means butterfly and in this way is also adopted in Occidental Literature to denote fragility, submissiveness and other surface aesthetic notions of Japanese culture. The 1900s-1950s saw a rise in the use of the motif as more families derived on the national surplus from Japan Inc. were able to buy their children fancier wafuku such as Furisode, a popular trend in the 1930's was to have these lined with gold which in the modern day has become just a white outline. 

Bibliography

[1] https://nalatanalata.com/journal/motifs-in-japanese-design/#:~:text=In%20Japanese%20culture%2C%20butterflies%20carry,number%20of%20traditional%20family%20crests.

[2] The first chapter of Bleach. Recommended for the art alone. Story is muy dissapoint.

[3] https://news.artnet.com/art-world/a-history-of-butterflies-in-art-2085638#:~:text=In%20Japan%2C%20the%20butterfly%20has,of%20female%20ritual%20and%20experience.

[4] http://www.japonic.com/obi/obi24.htm

[5] https://arteingiappone.altervista.org/en/butterflies-in-japanese-and-western-art/

Socials:

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/ 

Sunday, July 9, 2023

胭脂美人 | The Rouged Bijin | 300 - 1100 | Bijin #20

This post discusses the influential and cosmopolitan Rouged Meiren of the Tang period. Many of these figures used Buddhism as an agentive street to display their status in life, after death as in the Mogao cave complex through patronage and affiliation with Buddhism.[1] The extravagant Rouged Meiren of the late Tang period emerged from patriarchal beauty standards of the Han Dynasty, a kind of submissive Lotus Beauty, which in the 4th century was defined by men such as Gu Kaizhi (345-406 CE). By the 8th century under the legacy of Empress Wu Zetian, this had developed into the Drunken Lotus trope, as embodied in the work of Zhou Fang (730-800 CE), based on ideas about classical Meiren by Tang women.[2] This cosmopolitan Han woman of means took this pious role, and flipped it on its head, creating new beauty standards and aesthetics which were emulated and admired by many cultures and kingdoms for centuries including Japanese and Korean women. 

The painted Meiren first arose in the late Han dynasty as pious figures in burial images, and was developed throughout the spread of folk ballads concerning leading heroines from 200 CE. Female tropes at the time drew upon religious and Daoist principles which resulted in the beauty standard of figures such as Xi Shi.[2] As the female sex's influence rose, their agency was called into question and this became the patriarchal Metaphorical Beauty of Kaizhi (345-406 CE), where only heavenly figures were considered 'beautiful' whilst women like Empress Jian Nanfeng (257-300CE) were to be considered incapable of beauty. This all changed as women gained more agency as dynasties and empires lasted for longer periods and the men could actually do 'they're manly' jobs of 'boy stuff'.[5]

Women had long being holding public office, writing and power since the time of the Duchess of Wey,  Ms.Nanzi ( active 534 - 480 BCE ) in lieu of her gay husband, Ban Zhao ( 49-120 CE) of her writings & Empress Jia Nanfeng ( 257-300 CE ) for her disabled husband.[2]

Whilst all of this was going on, Buddhism was introduced into the mix from India around 150 CE, becoming widely accepted by 250 CE.[3] It may be that from the teachings of Buddhism, particularly Buddha's acceptance of female Bodhisattvas, women began to gain more political, social, cultural and religious power between 300 CE and 600 CE in China (see for example Yaśodharā). With this foreign religious influence, Chinese aesthetics and styles developed into more lascivious, exotic styles by 400 CE, as seen in the Longmen Grotto Bodhisattva Statues of the time which had decidedly more curves to them than previous aesthetic ideals may have encouraged in such pious figures before.

By 500 CE, the rise of Gongti or Palace Poetry arose, which placed female and some male protaganists at the center of stories about pining beauties trapped in Jade Mountain terraces, pining after far away lovers over their fans and vanities. This period saw a rise in both explicit beauty standards of the figure as acceptable in Chinese elite society and circles. This was reflected in the difference between the moral lessons of Ban Zhao 600 years earlier or Kaizhi's Wise and Benevolent Women (c.400 CE) which chastised women for attempting to use their looks to gain power, in contrast the Gongti which openly celebrated fleshy white beauties made up in fine outfits with their raven hair, jade ornaments and rouged makeup of the Terrace Beauty.[4][5] This century saw instead the rise of the power wielding female, who in the tradition of Ms.Nanzi, held the real power at court.

Palace poetry is set against the backdrop of the imperial carnage that was the 7th/8th century in Imperial Tang China as caused by squabbling men. A time of constant civil warring until the state was unified under the first outright Empress Wu Zetian ( 624-705 CE) by 665CE which lead to a period of unbridled imperial success, sparking the golden era of Chinese Art, aesthetics and womens rights otherwise known as the Tang era. Following her death in 705, her daughter Princess Taiping (c662 - 713CE) was the real powerhouse behind the throne even though her husband technically was Emperor. When her lesbian lover, Shuangguan Wan'er ( 664-710 ) died, Taiping buried her 'mountain of muse' with a noblewomens burial rites even though she was an unpopular figure in her lifetime.[2]

All of these developments lead to the golden age of Chinese Arts still hailed today as the highpoint of Classical Chinese Art, the Tang Dynasty. During this era, women held great sway over politics and beauty standards, leading to the rise of the plump, comfortable Tang aristocrat who spent her days watching the moon at parties, making poetry and being decadently raunchy in and out of court. Beauty standards still followed previous epochs particularly in makeup though, with the oval face and red face dots ( 花鈿 | Hua Dian) of the Sui. Having eyebrows like Xi Shi in the Tang age for example were highly sought after, and mimicking such a great beauties personality (wink wink) and mannerisms were highly cultivated traits of a beautiful person.[2]

Bodhisattva leads a noblewoman donor (c800-925CE) British Museum

Beauty in the 4th/5th century was still weaponized by men as a byproduct of patriarchy, following the ephemeral/natural beauty standard of a highly patriarchal society when women were considered property to be traded.[2] This developed from perhaps folk ballads like Yuefu, or as Ban Zhao may have encouraged from tales like Yeh-Hsien, into the Drunken Lotus trope, where highly 'religious' women would go about their 'nun-like' ways, whilst downing many a beverage in the evening at their courts and parties listening to the latest poetry, laid out like the Queen of Sheba thinking about which male to devour next in their decadent surroundings.[2][8] All very strangely (wink wink) as Buddhism is a religion which generally does not encourage vanity or material acquirement, early examples of Buddhist Meiren in China appeared by the Tang Dynasty in Western cave complexes.

Female attendant of Vaisravana the War Deity (C.618 CE, CC4.0) Uriel1022

Tang period tombs held larger depictions of  their donors to express their wealthy status, and subsequent bequests to the religion and local market activities in the areas they frequented. Paintings were large, sometimes life size, and were painted onto cave walls at the base of the wall near to entrances. Caves often expressed many things of this nature, and often a family standing as a family crypt where relatives would deposit their dead, leave burial objects and devote space for the departed.[6]  As the dynasties approached the Tang, Tomb Murals increasingly depicted women as powerful figures. The above figure for example depicts the elaborate beauty standards women had for themselves in this period, but also is reflected in her clout to be beside a god of war.

In being beside a god of war, the image portrays a figure who is befitting of such agency, power and capacity as to be able to hold this position. This was we must remember during a time where women held increasing power under Buddhism as nuns, donors and lovers of prominent court officials and where artistic positions like musicians, dancers and poets were increasingly seens as being worthy of respect and merit in their elite social networks and by outside circles and communities of people as respectable and enviable career paths.

Female Figure (c.722 CE, PD) Anonymous

This fresco comes from the tomb of Madam Ch'i-pi (656-721 CE). To have a tomb means that you had given something of your will over to the tombs of Mogao, particularly towards Buddhism. Whilst there is very little on the internet about Ms Ch'i-pi, she may have been given elaborate silk costuming in her life, denoting her high status as a cultured woman who donated to Buddhist causes in her area. The use of extravagant colours, dyes and material wealth display to this day her wealth and luxury status in life. Images like these were known to come almost exclusively from Han Chinese dynasty periods in cave frescos and depicted women donors as according to the beauty standards of their time, when men and women were painted on opposite walls.[6] Those who had converted to Buddhism were also painted ahead of other family members, expressing their closeness to the Buddhist religion.[6]

In having this portrait painted, this was expressing not only the owners wealth, but by the 8th century a resplendent tradition of portraying Buddhist patronage and prosperity, as well as perhaps rites for the deceased in their next cycle on the old Samsara wheel. The rich dyestuff to produce a work like this, the size of the portrait and the individual figure also hint to the figure being of a wealthy household, and cetainly influential enough in their own community to produce the image after death. Tang portraits of these times betrayed their relation to beauty standards of the Han court systems, as their solitary adornments and aeshtetic principles betrayed a plump, decadent figure which incorporated detailed foreign and intercultural dress elements from places like modern day India.[6][7]

As the role of women grew in society with their increased literacy, agency in roles at court and family wealth management, and value as Buddhist's, they increasingly also lead the way in depicting and displaying beauty standards. The High Tang Dynasty aesthetic can be best summed up in the paintings of Zhou Fang (active 766-806), whose beauties often were depicted as plump, white skinned, with buoyant black hair adorned to the gods in expensive rocks, long red robes and delicated features, yet with the supposedly fat eyebrows of Xi Shi and the rouged cheeks of these figures. These were standards imposed by the women at the courts of Wu Zetian and her female relatives who held ultimate power then. 

Beauty wearing flowers (c.770, PD) Zhou Fang

Their size, decadence and lifestyles betrayed what many women in South East Asia at the time did not have complete access to, agency over their lives and choices. Plump figures for example showed a rejection of the submissive, fragile patriarchal beauty standards of the past, and were certainly to be considered role models for the women in Nara and Kyoto who looked across the oceans to their neighbours for cosmopolitan influence, wealth and trends. Even with the Huichang persecution of Buddhists in 845 CE, the popularity of Buddhist sects such as the Chan Dharya (Zen) sect with nobles and Pure Land with Heimin meant that Buddhism still continued on, continuing the traditions of cave portraits.

Mogao Caves

The Mogao Cave complex is a series of burial sites in North Western modern-day China which were attended by Buddhist donors from the 4th century CE until the 1100's.[7] The complex sits in a complex crossroads as a religious site which sits on the silk road, attracting merchants and pilgrims alike. This has resulted in a particularly poignant representation of its donors, many of whom were women and whose choices to be represented shows us how their beauty standards and positions in their respective societies and social circles. Many of these depictions shows how Buddhism influenced China through the Tang Dynasty, becoming a major religion in the area, and also shows through perhaps some of the teachings of Buddhism (women were allowed significant roles in Buddhist dharma by Buddha) that their standing should be respected further than may have been permissible in previous generations in China.

Buddhist Donors in Magao Caves (c.900 CE, PD) Anonymous

Donors from the Mogao Cave complex show how this complex web of wealth, commerce and religion intersect. The above image was painted by the end of the Tang Dynasty when the reign of Wu Zetian had finally come to an end. The beauty standards of these pieces show how these women displayed their access to material goods in a way typical of the decadence of Zetian's court by expressing their interests, desires and affiliations with Buddhism by being painted together or indiviudually at the site.[7] These expressed a majority of Han dress and aesthetic choices, however their approach to Buddhism is interspersed with local customs and cultural relations such as having a burial portrait in the cave complex. As done for centuries, these groupings of women showed a parsing back of resplendence towards a more sparse religious image and connotations followed in the 3rd century.[6][7] As time progressed, this standard began to shift towards larger facial features, as seen above and below.

In these changing and yet still affluent and artistic times, women turned to Buddhism to convey these markers of wealth, status, cultural and religious affiliation. Cave portraits still reflected contemporaneous beauty standards, yet began to tread the line once more by the 900's of patriarchy and religious piety expected of women by male practitioners. In this sense, a decline in the extravagance and general society is seen in the cave portraits. Portraits still contained the vestiges of previous aesthetics guidelines however, becoming the familiar oval faced, black haired and decorative heavy portraits of their times, albeit in fewer numbers and with smaller more hidden around the back and upper sides of caves.[6] By the end of the Tang period, the Lotus trope dominates rather than the Drunken Lotus as women once again are 'encouraged' to take specific roles for themselves in patriarchal societies, albeit now with their own finances, spaces and values. 

Tunhwang Aristocratic Women Worshipping Buddha (c900 CE, PD) Anonymous

Conclusion

In context we see that as Buddhism enters China (around 400 CE), it enables certain new freedoms to certain groups such as to women under the guise of religious perseverance. As the Silk Road brought commercial success and status to many communities, this also brought new cultural imports and ideas about acceptable norms and expectations, moving standards towards financial and ergo material wealth, producing the origins of the Lotus Beauty, a beautiful slim, pious figure represented in early Tang tomb portraits. This cultural and religious exchange culminated in the development of highly intricate tomb murals/silk paintings for figures seen in the High Tang dynasty aesthetic of the plump, decadent, individual figure becoming the Drunken Lotus Meiren, a world reknowned aesthetic which displayed its owners status, power and wealth to establish such decadent trends and hedonistic lifestyles. It was this influential beauty which South East Asian communities looked to in the early Medieval period for beauty standards, even with its decline after 910 CE.

Bibliography

[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_the_Tang_Dynasty

[2] See Bijin #17

[3] https://asiasociety.org/buddhism-china#:~:text=It%20was%20brought%20to%20China,of%20Buddhism's%20success%20was%20Daoism.

[4] See Bijin #19

[5] See Bijin #16

[6] https://www.dunhuang.ds.lib.uw.edu/dunhuang-cave-donors-%E6%95%A6%E7%85%8C%E7%9F%B3%E7%AA%9F%E4%BE%9B%E5%85%BB%E4%BA%BA/

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogao_Caves#

[8] https://www.medievalists.net/2020/08/medieval-cinderella/

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

1st century BCE

Wang Zhaojun (active 38 - 31 BCE) [Coming Soon]

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

                       - Buddhism is introduced to China (150 CE)

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

Diao Chan (192CE) [Coming Soon]

2cnd century

             - Yuefu folk ballads inspire desirable beauty standards of pining women [Coming Soon]

4th century

Gu Kaizhi (active 364-406); Metaphorical Beauty

        - Buddhism is introduced to Korea (c.372)

        - 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) 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

            - Astana Cemetery (c.700-750) [Coming Soon]

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/

Saturday, March 18, 2023

紗 | Sha | Plainweave Hitoe Gauze | Fabric #18

Sha (紗) is the older hand woven predecessor to Ro fabric. Sha fabrics often made up the summer kimono, kosode and yukata of the Heian period down to today, and which are normally adopted globally most popularly in the Haori which employ their innovative fabric potentials for summerwear. Woven using the staple Karamiori weave, the weave allows the wearer to reveal the underneath fabric with subtle hinting and shading from the transparency of the weave and width of the eyes that Sha has over Ro. Twists in the warp threads allow larger eyes than Ro eyes, creating emerging patterns in Sha designs.[1]

Heian Sha Example (1922, PD) Tsutomu Ema

Momiji Monsha (2023, CC4.0) TykeLass

Sha began to be made in the Heian period by hand, for the elites of Japanese society to wear as formalwear in the sweltering heatwaves of July and August which Sei Shonagan believed to be unbecoming of feminine propriety.[1] Unfortunately, it was difficult to dye the natural fibers used to make handmade Sha, so Ro was created in the Edo period to do so.[1] By the Meiji period, this was made redundant as Sha fibers could be made using machines and the nature of these light designs made it easy to make fashionable pictures of ladies in revealing hitoe. In the modern day, Sha is made by machine, creating Monsha ( 紋紗 | Pattern Sha) which is made using a mix of Leno and Plain weaves, but most often regular Sha is worn daily by monks.[1]

Bibliography

[1] https://rosha.jp/faq/02_about_ro-sha/ro_sha_chigai/

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/

Sunday, December 25, 2022

西施 | Xi Shi | 505-473 BCE | Bijin #17

Xi Shi (c.505 - 473 BCE | Xi of the West) is one of the 4 great Ancient Chinese Beauties.[1][2] These 4 women are known today more by their legendary status and reflect a great deal of Beauty Standards from the era they existed in. Each began their stories in the courts of noblemen, although Xi Shi covers how well we can see the development from background to foreground womens role became as beauties between the Han and Tang Dynasties (220 BCE - 907 CE). Xi reflects how Meiren went from literal tradable merchandise, to the Drunken Lotus type (that is a heavenly level of beauty who Tang era women could recognise in their revelry) who sat around in the Palace Poetry of Tang court poets reclining, drinking and fanning themselves thinking of their Handsome lovers back home in total luxury. Xi's story reflects this shift in the beauty standard which saw men as sole arbitrater to female enfranchisement during the Tang Dynasty in the epochs literature.

Modern representation of Xi (c1700) He Dazi | 赫達資

Xi in Love

During this time, Xi's King, the Lord of Yue had been defeated by his neighbours, the King of Wu. So naturally, the advisor to the King of Yue suggested that they capture young women to turn into spies of the bedchamber who would be sent to spy on the King of Wu.

Xi story essentially follows this line of bizarre logic as beginning her tale as a lowly servant girl who is happened upon by roaming court officials in Southern coastal China. Roving court official Fan Li takes a liking to her after seeing nature stop in its tracks and decided she would make an excellent sex spy and was trained for 3 years in the art of blowdarts and sent away by 490 BCE.[8][14] During this time, Xi was sent as part of a 'trade convoy' with Jade, Horses and Exotic Food to the King of Wu.

Apparently that plan worked, because the King of Wu starts ignoring state affairs to just stare at Xi. He killed his advisors and built a pleasure palace.[8] The Pleasure palace consisted of many women, who slept surrounded by many treasures and rose at the moon, drew back their pearl blinds and moon gazed. They would paint their faces surrounded by canopies (like a fly screen my grandfather used to use in the summer) of pearls, like phoenixes flapping around in light autumn mists.[14]

Everything was great until the Yue kingdom attacked once again, (fifth times the charm eh?) to find these two sitting underneath bamboo trees, as radiant as goddesses (they also sent a Ms.Deng). Xi manages to return to Yue. When she returns, she is said to fall in love with Minister Fan Li, and like the great natural  beauty she is, the pair go by boat never to be seen again, at night![8] 

Xi's way with Mei

The stories originate from the writings of Zhuang ( 369 - 286 BCE), before the first time China began burning books which led to the first Chinese Dynasty, the Ch'ing (221 BCE - 226 CE).[3][4] During these times, people like Zhuang were officially court appointed, the Heimin were spoken for under the 'Minor Talks' school of thought.[5] Zhuang is only handed down to us as a scholarly poet who wrote of the 'great beauties' of the past who were bewitching they scared nature.[6] 

The beautiful Xishi, troubled with heartburn, frowned at her neighbors. An ugly woman of the neighborhood, seeing that Xishi was beautiful, went home and likewise pounded her breast and frowned at her neighbors. But at the sight of her, the rich men of the neighborhood shut tight their gates and would not venture out, while the poor men grabbed their wives and children by the hand and scampered off. The woman understood that someone frowning could be beautiful, but she did not understand where the beauty of the frown came from.[7]

Xi was said to be a true beauty, one of nature in this sense and upheld the Beauty standard of the time, which was to be slender with long black hair. Zhuangzi and subsequent writers after him when contemplating Mei ( 美 | Beauty ) in this way rejected therefore fake/false beauty and accepted there is a spectrum of natural beauties. It was these natural beauties who represented the genuine which were to be revered as Damei ( ?? | Great Beauty ) which was held by the aesthetic and inner beauty of anyone, but which was not made but only produced naturally.[7] This was a reflection of Zhuang's following of the Dao ( | Way );

For this reason, whether you point to a little stalk or a great pillar, a leper or the beautiful Xishi, things ribald and shady, or things grotesque and strange, the dao makes them all into one. Their dividedness is their completeness; their completeness is their impairment. [...] Only the man of far-reaching vision knows how to make them into one. So he has no use [for categories] but relegates all to the constant. The constant is the useful; the useful is the passable; the passable is the successful; and with success, all is accomplished. He relies on this alone, relies on it and does not know he is doing so. This is called the dao.[7]

Zhuang also warned against the attainment and influence of beauty. Instead Zhuang encouraged us not to want for aesthetic or beautiful perfection, but to instead understand our own flaws and to understand that these give us their own unique beauty or advantages.[7] In the sense that Xi however started off life as a relative pauper however, Zhuang was also teaching scholars of the time the idea that you can be both beautiful and poor as well, that beauty arises in all things, types and variants even if we cannot imagine it to be do so. It is in following truthful openness to beauty, that Damei arises.

Palace Poetry

In following the great Tang tradition, Palace Poetry, that is poetry about beautiful women locked in the Harem wing of Imperial Kings and Courtiers Palace Mansions also conferred a place on Xi Shi. Wang Mei (699-759) for example wrote of how Xi wore Makeup, Silk clothes and of other women imitating her eyebrows.[9] Li Bai ( 701-762 CE) wrote:

Xi-Shi, a girl spotted on a stream in Yüeh,
Was born of parents from Chu-lo Hill.
Her beauty overshadowed women past and present,
And her lovely face put lotus flowers to shame.
She washed yarn, played with the green water,
And spent her leisure with the clear ripples.
Indeed her white teeth rarely opened to speak,
And her thoughts tarried in the blue sky.
Exalted by Kou-chien, who was looking for a supreme beauty,
She entered the Kingdom of Wu,
Where she was raised above others in the Kuan-wa Palace.
Distant and elusive she is nowhere to be found:
The moment Fu Chai’s Kingdom was destroyed, She disappeared, and, in the ages that followed, was seen no more.[10]

Xi Shi here was compared to the Lotus Flower, perhaps a reference to that saucy new religion Buddhism to refer to ephemeral beauty, an idea Japanese people later developed as Mono no Aware ( Beauty of Transience ). She also is considered to have white teeth even though she is low in court rank, another confusing double bind. Bai then writes:

The time when the crows are roosting on the terrace of Ku-su, is when, in the Wu king’s palace, Xi Shi is growing drunk.

The songs of Wu and dances of Ch’u—their pleasures had not reached its height, As the green hills were about to swallow a half side of the sun.

From waterclock more and more drips away, from the basin of gold with its silver arrow, And they rise and they watch the autumn moon sink down in the river’s waves,

As in the east the sun grows higher, what shall their joy be then?[10]

In this poem, Bai is alluding under the setting sun that the Wu kingdom is collapsing, (mentioning the negative imagery of crows also). The falling autumn moon being the most exciting motif, as it alludes to the feelings of our wonderful heroine in being unable to return to Yue to be with Lan Fi. It is this sense that we can become excited about Palace poetry and palace beauties as they offer the first classical instances of offering agency for beauties, partiularly women. Xi Shi is not meant to be admired for her aesthetical beauty, even though she has it, but instead she is to admired for her personal characteristics. 

The moon as a motif, shows how Ying and Yang were presented by some Confucian scholars, with Sun being the male, Lunar motifs as female, complementing one another. Palace poetry though centers women as the mainstay of the narrative, that Xi becomes a protagonist all listeners should heed the advice of in following their discipline. In this sense, the Yang (Sun) is dying as it is unbeautiful, intolerant. The Moon rather is rising as Xi's victory will do. It is here that we see that this is not The kings world, but Xi's world. She is the agent of her own destiny, the moral compass of the poem.

Other moral truths coming from the ephemeral beauty of Xi expound that to hold this fairy-like, nymph or heavenly beauty is only something that one can have from birth. Bai writes:

Summer

On the Mirror Lake three hundred li around

Gaily the lotus lilies bloom.

She gathers them—Queen Xi-Shi, in Maytime!

A multitude jostles on the back, watching.

Her boat turns back without watching the moonrise,

And glides away to the house of the amorous Yueh king.[10]

Bai's use of the idea of Summer delivers the Yang aspect of Xi's beauty. It is said that Yang represents 'masculinity' which tells us a lot about why Palace poetry is quite so Palace-poetry in the first place. Using the motif of Summer, Xi becomes active agent who tips the natural balance back to its correct state, that is returning back to a domesticity of society which sees Kings no longer ruling as tyrants. Jealousy and imitation of Xi's power (her eyebrows, gestures and personality) are shown to be false pretenses against Xi's original power (Xi's Lotus Flower face) and she is unable to be matched, 300 Li around. Gathering her Lotus Blossoms at a peculiar hour she is followed by these imitators who can only watch on at her feminine power and beauty as it rises with the moon. 

Women in Power

Women had long being holding public office, writing and power since the time of the Duchess of Wey,  Ms.Nanzi ( active 534 - 480 BCE ) in lieu of her gay husband, Ban Zhao ( 49-120 CE) of her writings & Empress Jia Nanfeng ( 257-300 CE ) for her disabled husband. Palace poetry is set against the backdrop of the imperial carnage that was the 7th/8th century in Imperial Tang China as caused by squabbling men. A time of constant civil warring until the state was unified under the first outright Empress Wu Zetian ( 624-705 CE) by 665CE which lead to a period of unbridled imperial success, sparking the golden era of Chinese Art, aesthetics and womens rights otherwise known as the Tang era. Following her death in 705, her daughter Princess Taiping (c662 - 713CE) was the real powerhouse behind the throne even though her husband technically was Emperor. When her lesbian lover, Shuangguan Wan'er ( 664-710 ) died, Taiping buried her 'mountain of muse' with a noblewomens burial rites even though she was an unpopular figure in her lifetime.[11]

It is against this backdrop of women being in real power for nearly half a century which allows a blossoming of feminine power. That is the idea women can be powerful at all being considered. It was in this climate that Palace poetry increasingly gave 'Yang' to women, that is agency in the poetry of the time. During the early Tang period, most Meiren (Beauties) were to be admonished, as Empress Jia was in the 5th century in the Admonitions of the Court Instructress scroll as a WOC who stepped beyond her societally acceptable place. When Wu Zetian came to power however, this changed of course becuase you didn't get to draw anti-Empress propaganda under Wu Zetian, you just got beheaded. So women in the male gaze increasingly reflected this new power dynamic, they became more active agents.

Palace poetry reflected this shift towards women doing things, just as they would in the next century when they became ardent art patrons, supporters of Buddhism and more vocally active participants in society. Suddenly, the 'Harem' so to speak demanded respect, otherwise all of those Meiren would up and go to the monastery to write about you for all posterity as Nuns. So the image of the meek, gentle women who 'conceals beauty within' herself, of course only in the bedroom or kitchen became one of the more active 'pining beauty' trope, where the young, beautiful, wise, all-knowing, pampered beauty sitting around fanning herself in the Imperial Mansions of Wu longing for Fan Li became in a Duchess of Wei, the Ancient Tang version of the New Woman.[12] This is why women like Xi, suddenly have backstories, attributes and personalities like as a humble silk-washer, all elegantly drunk.[14]

The Drunken Lotus Bijin

In context therefore, we see that Beauty was being discussed during the Ancient Chinese dynastical period as a way to conceptualise transcendental pleasure.[7] Being beautiful was not the ability to be aesthetical, but rather to embody an inner grace and beauty from within. The tale of Xi from the West was a moral story about how beauty should be used to understand that the educated must learn to think outside of the box rather than simply turning to the familiar. Xi was a beautiful human being, not an aesthetically pleasing woman. It is in this sense that ancient Chinese scholars addressed how beauty should be thought of and approached in the metaphysical sense under newly emerging power dynamics which saw women ruling and expressing themselves in the Imperial Courts.

When we think of how this was handed down to Japanese people, this is the idea that to be a Beauty is to be virtuous, self-sacrificing, tolerant and authentically natural. These values supposedly allowed the ugly to become beautiful and the pauper to become a palace beauty in the popular Tang imagination, beginning the trope of the Palace Beauty: often a woman who leads a secluded life in imperial concubinage who longs for another, primping and passing the time in luxury. Xi in her initial pre-Imperial writings is a passive agent, who through renewed lenses by the Tang era, a more likely point of contact for Noble Japanese women, became an active negotiator of the Tang era Palace Poetry by the 6th century. This established her beauty as one pursued by women, crafting Xi in their own likeness as a symbolic feminine Beauty of Mei or Bijin standards.

In that vein I leave you with the explicitly aesthetical Bai poem:

A girl from Ruoye Stream with a face like Jade,

Whose Black Eyebrows beset carmine makeup,

A pair of golden-yellow clogs,

And two feet as white as snow.[14]

Bibliography

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

[2] http://en.chinaculture.org/2017-05/04/content_998481.htm#:~:text=Chinese%20ancestors%20became%20adults%20at,00%2Dyear%2Dold%20history.

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

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

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Schools_of_Thought#School_of_%22Minor-talks%22

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Beauties

[7] Beauty (Mei, 美) in the Zhuangzi and Contemporary Theories of Beauty, Peng Feng, 2020, Volume 54, No.2, pp.22-34, The Journal of Aesthetic Education | https://fh.pku.edu.cn/docs/2020-04/20200415132901819403.pdf

[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Shi

[9] https://hellopoetry.com/poem/14731/the-beautiful-xi-shi/

[10] Li Bai's eight poems about Xi Shi, Liang Ying, September 2011, Volume 1, No.3, pp.159-161 Journal of Literature and Art Studies, ISSN 2159-5836 | https://www.davidpublisher.com/Public/uploads/Contribute/551e2b55bf6fd.pdf

[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangguan_Wan%27er

[12] See Bijin #16

[14] The Silent Beauty: Changing Portrayals of Xi Shi, from "Zhiguai" and Poetry to Ming Fiction and Drama, Olivia Milburn, 2013, Volume 26, No. 1, pp.26-33, Asia Major

 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] 

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

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 (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

           - Women begin inspiring Pining Love poetry inspiring many artists

Xu Ling; (active 537-583); Gongti or Palace Bijin [Coming Soon] https://www.jstor.org/stable/495525?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents

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 

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

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

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/ 

Work

 Work has decided that for some reason, both this and next weekend have workdays on the weekend so Ive taken the opportunity to get my life-...