wafuku – noun: traditional Japanese clothing
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It is so long since I have posted on this blog, much longer than I realised.
The other night I was looking through some folders with information about all the kimonos and other Japanese garments and so forth that I bought over the years for my collection. So, so many, thousands of them. I’ve been reducing my collection by selling off things but that has barely made a dent in it. It got so ridiculously large that it meant it couldn’t be displayed of stored in an easily accessible way, it had to be packed in large boxes and crates, which means it can’t be enjoyed and there really is no point in a collection one cannot access easily or enjoy.
While I am happy to part with most of my collection, I won’t part with it all, I will keep a good selection of items for myself. When looking through some of my folders of photos and information, I came across a few things that I think are keepers. Sadly, I have no idea which boxes they are in, so it could be years before I chance upon them. It’s not feasible to search through the boxes to find them, far too many boxes, all piled high, and not enough room to move them about to access their contents.
I thought I’d show you the ones, from the folders I was looking trough the other night, that I have decided I will probably keep for myself.
Firstly, here is an exquisite kimono I will definitely keep.
It’s purple silk with hand applied textile art, circa 1920s. It’s made of that lovely, very soft, light silk that was the fashion in the 20s and 30s but is a weave of silk that hasn’t been used for them since that time. Those two decades produced most of my favourite kimonos, I love the colours (especially the pinks, the purples and the peanut skin shades), I love the textiles, the longer sleeve depth and the patterns that were fashionable then, all very much to my taste.
I also came across a nice selection of jackets that I think I will keep for myself. Most are cotton happi, one is a jinbei, all have wonderful textile art on them.
This first happi has a well known woodblock print on it, entitled ‘Three Beauties Of The Present Day’, by the Japanese woodblock print master Kitagawa Utamaro (c.1753 – 1806), one of the most highly regarded designers of ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings, he is best known for his bijin ōkubi-e of the 1790s (ōkubi-e = portraits of just the head or head and torso, bijin = beautiful women). This one is a portrait of three ladies of the time who were renowned for their beauty, it was published in circa1793. The front of this jacket is plain.
Below is a photo of my daughter modelling it, so I must have come across it, maybe 4 years ago, and taken photos of it on her. Ooh, no, it has to have been taken nearer 6 years ago, oh my, how time flies. I don’t think I got as far as adding it to the wafuku.co.uk website, so I think I still have it and, if I do, I think I may keep it for myself. Having obviously had it out to photograph, I am hoping it may be in one of the more accessible boxes I filled to deal with some time back, so I may find it sooner rater than later.
The next one is a cream jinbei, a type of jacket that has a wrap-over front with a single side tie fastening. The character on the back is magnificent and I love the additional little protrait of him on the front. I believe this is the Japanese kabuki actor Nakazō I Nakamura (1736 – 1790). He started playing villains at the Nakamura theater, then performed at the Ichimura theater, inventing a new acting style since known as Hidetsuru. I don’t know the artist, that red text is the artist’s seal but I can’t read it.
I must have looked this one out at some point because those are photos taken by me a few years ago, they’re not from the ones I got from the people I bought it from, so I must have had it out to photograph with the intention of adding it to my website, hopefully I may come across this sometime soon, as it is probably also in a more accessible box, although that still amounts to a couple of dozen big boxes stored in a variety of places, so still not an easy find. I don’t think I put it up for sale on the wafuku.co.uk website, I don’t appear to have prepared any of the photos I took (apart from these which I’ve just prepped to add to this blog post), so it is unlikely I sold it. I possibly thought I should take the photos again and just laid it aside. I hope so, as I now think that, instead of selling it, I will keep it as a nice example and I might actually wear it too.
This cotton yellow happi has such a fabulous parasol design on it, I love how they sweep down and across it.
The top centre of a traditional Japanese parasol is covered with a piece of oiled paper, on this happi those parasols’ oiled paper covers are each coloured metallic gold and those lines on them are metallic gold too, which is a nice touch. I think this is a keeper, don’t you?
Another of the happi I came across and think I’ll hang onto, also has a parasol design, much more stylised parasols plus the addition of lovely wisteria trailing behind them.
This next one is a fantastic happi designed for fans of The Hanshin Tigers, a famous Japanese baseball team. The Hanshin Tigers are one of the oldest professional clubs in Japan, they played their first season in 1936 as the Osaka Tigers and assumed their current team name in 1961. Just look at that magnificent tiger on the back. What a beauty of a happi. I know nothing about baseball but, even not a fan, I’d happily wear this.
Finally, of this selection of garments that I’ve decided to keep, there is this long, striped one. This is the only one that is fairly easily accessible, having looked it out years ago and decided it was definitely one for me to wear. I believe it is somewhere in my bedroom. It is longer than the others, below knee length on me, and, if I remember correctly, not cotton, I think it is jinken (a plant based viscose textile, much the same as rayon, popular in the 40s and 50s).
The image is a famous old woodblock print, another ōkubi–e (which, as mentioned earlier, is a Japanese portrait print or painting in the ukiyo-e genre showing only the head or the head and upper torso). These two men are the kabuki actors Ichikawa Ebizo and Sakata Hangoro and the woodblock artist was Katsukawa Shunei (1726-1792).
Woodblocks such as these were used as promotional pictures by actors and were also the equivalent of fan posters for the public. Woodblock prints were, as the name implies, carved into wood, one block carved for each colour, then used to print ink on paper. A carved woodblock could print many images, effectively mass producing until the woodblocks wore down or got damaged, making them an affordable form of artwork for the public to buy. Being printed on paper and inexpensive at the time, they were ephemera, not something that was kept for posterity, so not many have survived through the decades. Any original woodblock print by the more reknowned artists from the 1700s to early 1800s is now a pretty rare and expensive item. The images are, however, still being reproduced in forms such as this, although this particular garment is probably a good 60 or 70 years old.
I am sure there are many more garments in my collection that I will come across over time and think, “Oh, I’d forgotten about that one, I’m certainly not parting with that!”, these few are just the ones I was reminded of the other night. I can’t allow myself to get so attached to too many, though, I really do need to part with most of my collection, it is ridiculously large and takes up so much space.
This is an image of my website at wafuku.co.uk. Why not pop over to the site and have a browse? It has so many beautiful kimonos, haori and much more, a feast for the eyes.
Rita Ora.One of my vintage, silk kimonos, from wafuku.co.uk, modelled by the beautiful Rita Ora.
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