明治の工芸 Meiji Period Craft

 

Entering the museum, which is attached to a ritzy hotel.

Early this week I spent the morning at the Mitsui Memorial Museum, viewing the exhibition Kogei: Superlative Craftsmanship from Meiji Japan.  The show included a wide variety of amazingly crafted objects from late nineteenth century Japan, most of which were created for export. Objects such as cloisonne, embroidery, ivory carvings, laquerware, and metalwork were presented in seven large galleries. The detail of the exhibited works was truly amazing- especially some of the ivory carvings and cloisonne vessels. I will honestly never understand why craft is not held in the same regard as fine art objects, especially after viewing such a fantastic exhibit with such perfect artworks.

 

 

The beautiful wood paneled galleries of the museum.

 

 

A small sampling of the objects exhibited as seen on the flyer. The no photos rule was strictly enforced in the museum. 

The Perfect Sunday Outing in Tokyo: Meiji Shrine and A to Z Cafe

 Entering the shrine.

Last week, my dear friend Emily came from the States for a visit. On her first day here, we headed down to the Harajuku-Omotesando area of Tokyo for what may be my perfect Tokyo outing: the Meiji Shrine and A to Z Cafe. We exited Harajuku Station with all the cool kids and hit up the shrine first- perfectly beautiful, verdant, and calm, despite the throngs of Sunday tourists. 

Shrine gate.

The Meiji Shrine is where Emperor Meiji (r. 1868-1912) is enshrined. It is also a huge shrine in the middle of Tokyo, includes two museums dedicated to Emperor Meiji, and is a large green space, making it a popular site with a variety of visitors. As it relates to the Imperial, and is a lovely natural escape from the concrete expanses of Tokyo, it is one of my favorite spots in the city.

 A small waterfall along the path.

 Pals.

 Sake barrels as donated by breweries.

 Little dude exhibiting proper ritual behavior at the shrine.

 Little dude goofing around (e.g., not exhibiting proper ritual behavior).

 The main area of the shrine.

 We saw a wedding!

 Shrine doors.

 On our way out.

After a bit of walking through Harajuku, and a quick lunch stop, we headed over to the Omotesando area, one subway stop away. If it had not been raining, and us not in the company of a tired-of-walking kiddo, the stretch between the shrine and Omotesando is a nice 15-20 minute stroll along streets filled with beautiful high end retail- in some ways a museum of contemporary material culture combined with the adjacent Harajuku fashion (read: youthful hip). Ultimately, our destination in Omotesando was the A to Z Cafe, which is a project of the artist Yoshitomo Nara.

 Seated.

 Sparkling wine and pumpkin coconut cake. Dreamy.

 Artist kid in a cafe created by an artist who addresses kids. Woah.

Yoshitomo Nara, long a favorite of mine, creates work that has a certain child-like quality to it. While many of his artworks are somewhat disturbing, others focus on the emotions of childhood, and the childhood experience. So, it was completely appropriate that little dude went straight for his blank-page book with his crayons. 

 

Lighting by the cafe entrance.

Asukayama Park Sakura 飛鳥山公園の桜

 Sakura at Asukayama Park.

 My love of sakura is becoming an obsession this week. I have now done hanami (flower viewing picnics) four times in the last three days. I know that the blooms won't last, and that it will be rainy for the next two days, so I'm trying to get in as much time under the pink fluff as possible. Yesterday and today (and actually the day before too, but that was after dark), I went to Asukayama Park to view the blossoms there. The park is actually quite close to my apartment, so it's really convenient. It's also one of the more famous sites in Tokyo to view sakura; the first cherry trees were planted there in the 18th century, and it was one of the first public parks in Japan, opening in 1873. Even Emperor Meiji did hanami there back in the 1880s.

 Emperor Meiji at Asukayama Park, late 19th c., by Chikanobu.

A Hiroshige print of Asukayama Park sakura, 1832-4.

 All the happy drinking people.

 All the fluffy puffy blossoms.

 Sakura flavored chuhai (rice liqour and soda). Yummy.

Hanami at night.

Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum 文化学園服飾博物館

 

Museum exterior.

 Today I headed down to Shinjuku to view the exhibition, Imperial Court Costumes of the Meiji, Taisho, and Pre-War Showa Era at the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum. The museum had two large galleries, and an amazing mosaic of 1920s fashions installed in the lobby. The exhibition that I viewed covered court costume between the 1880s and 1990s, and contained men's military and ritual costumes as well as formal women's dresses in European styles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and women's ritual costumes. The clothing was impeccably constructed, and the fabrics lush and impossibly luxe. Some of the women's European style dresses had amazingly detailed beading and embroidery, and the women's ritual costumes were constructed of more than ten layers of finely woven silk.

While it's one thing to view these types of dresses as artworks, and easy to desire such beautiful things for one's self, I think it would be quite another thing to have to wear them regularly. The photographs of the women in their lovely wears that accompanied the costumes didn't really exude a feeling of comfort, joy, or fairy tale. This is something I'm constantly thinking about in my own research- the members of the imperial family didn't really (and don't still) have much control over their own lives. Rather, they were (and are) representatives of the nation, and as such we can't really know who they were as individuals. Sure, they have seemingly infinite resources and material possessions that many look upon with envy, but they are also limited in their personal choices (career, marriage, social circles, etc.). Contemporary society has constructed a princess narrative that we sell to young girls and women in the form of Disney princesses and fairy tale weddings, but the reality of the lives of royalty doesn't really seem to me like something to envy. So where do we draw the line between an escapist have-it-all princess fantasy and a consideration of the reality? Is there harm in the princess narrative? Certainly I think the princess wedding is a cultural institution that we could do without, but what about for young girls? Shouldn't we be empowering them with realistic choices instead of fantasies of palaces and pretty dresses? As a mother of a little boy I am so grateful that I don't have to navigate that minefield of feminist issues within my own family, but I do think that we as a society need to consider the messages we are relating to women and girls.

 

 

The cover of the catalogue- beautiful things contained within!

 

 

 Walking through Shinjuku on the way back to the station. 

Meiji Shrine 明治神宮

Early on Sunday morning I met up with a friend and her family who are in Tokyo for vacation this week. Despite the heat, we hit up the Meiji Shrine, walking through the verdant grounds, and viewing the shrine where Emperor Meiji (ruled- 1868-1912) and Empress Shoken are memorialized.

Before entering the main part of the shrine, we all received omikuji, or fortunes. Each was a poem written by either Emperor Meiji or Empress Shoken. Mine was written by Empress Shoken and read:

Cut, if need be, through thick briars,
Knots of brambles, tangled thorns,
For the path that's yours to follow
Must be trodden to the end.

It was interpreted as:

Never turn aside from the road that your convictions tell you to follow, whatever obstacles you must surmount on the way. Be true to yourself.

I love this fortune. Not only was it written by the empress (the following empress, Empress Teimei, is the subject of my dissertation), but it is about persevering and taking the path less traveled, much like my current situation. While I'm not a religious person, it does feel like fate intervened to give me such an appropriate verse.

We also viewed the wish plaques, and saw a Shinto wedding taking place at the shrine.

In addition to the shrine itself, we visited the Treasure House and Treasure House Annex, seeing clothing and other objects used by the emperor and empress themselves (below).

After walking around the shrine, we stopped for lunch in Harajuku, which was bustling on a Sunday afternoon.

Emperor's Visit to the Grand Shrine at Ise

Tuesday the 10th, last day of Pilgrimage Seminar, thinking about my project on this painting, depicting the Emperor Meiji's visit to the shrines at Ise.

Tomioka Silk Mill 富岡製糸場

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Today I gave my final presentation for the IUC, a 15 minute public presentation in Japanese on the research project I've been working on for the past three months.

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Above and below are two examples of the late 19th century images that I examined for my project.

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The abstract of my paper that appeared in the program for the final presentations:

明治時代日本女性は社会で新しい役割を務め、産業界にも活動的な 生産者として参加しました。しかし、同時に女性は基本的な政治権力と自由は否定されていました。この発表では富岡製糸場を取りあげ明治時代女性のイメージがどのように１８７０年代と１８８０年代の社会の価値観を映しているか見ていきます。
富岡製糸場のイメージとして富岡の技術を称えた錦絵や富岡に昭憲皇太后の富岡行啓を描いた日本画があります。明治時代の文化コンテクストの中で富岡製糸場を題材とした視覚資料を調査することによってこの発表には明治政府が女性の役割をどう考えていたかを示します。

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And in English:
During the early Meiji period Japanese women assumed new societal roles and acted as active producers in Japan’s rapidly developing industrial economy, yet they were simultaneously denied basic political freedoms and rights. Using the Tomioka Silk Mill as a point of departure, this paper examines how images of Meiji women reflected Japanese societal values and concerns of the 1870s and 1880s.
Images of the Tomioka Silk Mill range from multi-color woodblock prints that celebrate the technological achievements of the mill to softly painted Nihonga representing the Meiji Empress’ visit to the site. By investigating the breadth of visual material referencing the Tomioka Silk Mill in the cultural context of the late nineteenth century this paper will shed light on Meiji period women’s roles as they were condoned and promoted by the government.

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As part of my research, a few weeks ago I took a day trip out to the Tomioka Silk Mill in Gunma prefecture, about three hours away by local train.
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The train from Takasaki to Tomioka was a true inaka (rural) train, departing once an hour. Tickets were stamped by hand, not machine. I purchased the combination train and site visit ticket.

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The slow and rickety train to Tomioka.

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The walking route from the Tomioka train station to the silk mill was marked by a green line along the road with occasional signs indicating the distance to the mill.

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The entry gate to the mill.

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Above and below are photos of the silk spinning building, where thread was taken from the silk cocoons after dipping them into hot water to kill the worm. These weren't the original 19th century machines, but I'm not sure when they date from. The factory was in operation until about 1985, so they were from sometime in the 20th century.
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The building where the cocoons were processed and sorted. The architectural style is a combination of traditional Japanese methods in the wood framing, and 19th century European methods in the brick construction.

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The mill was run by the Japanese government from 1873 to 1893 with assistance from overseas workers. Paul Brunat, the first foreign manager, lived in this house. The conditions experienced by the teenage women who worked at the mill were considerably less luxurious.

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The view from the cliff that the silk mill sits atop.

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Back at Tomioka Station, 125.2 km to Tokyo Station, 20.2 km to Takasaki Station.

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The newspaper stand at the station was on the honor system.

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Catching the train back to Takasaki.

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