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The Stories Japanese Clothes Tell: Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Horikiri Tatsuichi  and
Rieko Wagoner
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The two chapters presented here are taken from The Stories Clothes Tell, a translation of the Japanese book Nuno no Inochi: Hito no Kokoro, Kurashi Tsutaete by Horikiri Tatsuichi published in 2016 by Rowman & Littlefield.

Horikiri was born in 1925 in Kagoshima, Japan. Trained as a civil engineer, he was sent to work in northern China, and within a year was conscripted and sent to the front. He returned to Japan in 1946 to a career in construction. During these years, Horikiri traveled throughout Japan, collecting vast quantities of used clothing and furnishings, all the while recording their stories to illuminate and contextualize them. Horikiri is a respected authority on the history of everyday clothing in the Meiji (1868–1912), Taisho (1912–1926), and Showa (1926–1989) periods, having published nine books and museum catalogues as well as articles on the items in his collection.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 14 , Issue 17 , September 2016 , e6
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Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2016

References

Notes

1 Idegawa Yasuko. Hi o Unda Haha-tachi: Onna-kōfu kara no Kikigaki. Fukuoka, Japan: Ashi Shobo, 1984.

2 Yamamoto Sakubei. Collection of Illustrations and Notes: “Living in the Mine.” Tokyo: Kodansha, 2011.

3 Yamamoto Sakubei, (1892-1984) born to a poor family in the Chikuhō region, Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan, started to work in coalmines at the age 7. At 60, he started to illustrate coal miners' lives with annotations. The collection of his works was included in the UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2011.

4 Though these two specific methods of tying are not illustrated, other variations of sash-tying can be seen in Liza Dalby, Kimono: Fashioning Culture, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993, 46-47.

5 Six-jō room. Room with six tatami mats.

6 Butsu-dan. A Buddhist altar, typically made of wood, housing a memento of the deceased, such as a tablet inscribed with the person's Buddhist name and photos as well as offerings to the deceased.

7 Yanagi-gōri. Box-shaped wicker basket with a matching lid, typically woven with willow reed. Used to keep clothing in for storage.

8 Kishima Coal Mine. Located in around Ōmachi-chō, Saga Prefecture. Mined from late 19th century to its closing in 1969, with its hay days around 1925-1950.

9 A system of bonded labor through which workers were recruited, paid a lump sum in advance, and kept until their advance had been paid up through their labor.

10 The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19. A world-wide pandemic and the most devastating in recorded world history, which according to one estimate left between 20 and 40 million dead. Since it was first officially recognized in Spain, it is commonly referred to Spanish flu.

11 Andon-beya. Andon is an oil lamp. Andon-beya is a small room for storing extra bedding and furniture, typically in inns, brothels and such.

12 Mino-gami. A kind of Japanese rice paper produced in Gifu Prefecture. Has been in production since the early 8th century.

13 Asura: a deity of wrath in Buddhism, derived from the Hindu pantheon.

14 Fushun, situated in Northeast China, was under Japanese control between the Treaty of Portsmouth (1905) and 1945.

15 Buddhist belief that the soul of the deceased would part from this world on the 49th day after death.

16 In 1931, the Japanese military invaded Manchuria, which led to the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo under the control of Japanese Imperial government.

17 This was customarily done as part of grooming for young women.

18 Marriage between cousins was not an unusual practice in the past in Japan, partially to keep assets within the clan and also because the families knew each other well.