Ryukyu and Ainu TextilesIf you ever come to the Kyoto National Museum, look for textiles in Room 14, on the 2nd Floor of the New Exhibition Hall.

Japan is made up of a long string of islands extending north and south along the eastern side of the Asian continent. The northernmost island of Hokkaido and the southernmost islands of Okinawa differ not only in climate but also in the cultures of the people who live there. Consider clothing, for example. Differences in location result in clothing of different shapes, made from different materials, and with different patterns. Let's take a look at the colorful woven and dyed textiles used for clothing by the Ryukyu people, who live in the southern islands that we call Okinawa today, and the Ainu, an aboriginal people who live in Hokkaido.

Bingata

First let's talk about an Okinawan dyeing technique called bingata. The islands of Okinawa were originally a separate kingdom called Ryukyu. This kingdom traded with China, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia but had a unique culture all its own. Some of the most famous textiles made in the Ryukyu Kingdom were bingata dyed textiles and basho-fu (a woven abaca fiber textile).

Bingata "Donjin" Kimono(Private Collection)

Bingata is a dyeing technique that is unique to the Ryukyu Islands and continues to be made as a traditional art in Okinawa today. The bold patterns and bright red, yellow, blue and green colors of bingata are dyed with the aid of a starch called nori. This nori can be applied to the cloth through a pattern stencil or freehand, pressed through a bag like that of a cake decorator! This latter process is called tsutsugaki. Both stencil dyeing and tsutsugaki are examples of resist-dyeing. Dyes cannot penetrate through the sections of cloth that have been covered with the nori starch, so they retain their original color,

even after dyeing. The dyes are applied to the cloth one by one. Finally, when the patterns are completed, the pattern sections are covered with nori and the whole cloth is dyed the background color.

Bingata Kimono with Pine and Cherry Blossom Designs(Private Collection)

Originally, bingata could be worn only by aristocratic social classes, such as kings and warrior families. Bingata textiles were also used for the costumes of dancers who welcomed envoys from China or from the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo (today's Tokyo). Especially interesting are the motifs (designs) on bingata textiles. Though bingata is a process unique to the Ryukyu islands, bingata textiles are often decorated with typical Japanese motifs, such as cherry blossoms, pine trees and wisteria. In one textile, we can see the cross-cultural influences of both Southeast Asian-style dyeing techniques and Japanese patterns!

Basho-fu (Banana Fiber Textiles)

Striped Basho-fu Kimono

(Private Collection)

You have probably never heard of basho, but it may sound more familiar if I tell you that it is a kind of banana plant. Though similar to the plants from which we get bananas for eating, basho (or more specifically, ito basho, "thread banana") plants are remarkable for their fibrous stems instead of for their fruit. Basho plants grow into "trees" of about two meters in height. Botanically speaking, however, they are not actually trees but large herbaceous plants. Banana species include some of the largest herbaceous plants in the world! The fibers in the "trunks" of basho plants can be split into fine strands, tied together into thread, and woven into cloth. This cloth is what we call basho-fu. Basho-fu has long been favored for summer kimonos because of its airiness and smooth, crisp surface. Like linen, hemp, ramie, and other "bast fibers" (long vegetable fibers), basho-fu does not stick to the skin in hot weather, making it perfectly suited to the hot Okinawan climate. In the old days, bolts of plain-colored, striped and kasuri (ikat) basho-fu were woven in numerous locations across the Ryukyu islands and were used as tribute payments to the Okinawan royalty. In those days, basho-fu was worn by everyone from kings to commoners. Nowadays, however, basho-fu is a luxury cloth that is made only in the village of Kijoka, on the island of Okinawa.

Ainu Costume

The Ainu are an indigenous people of Japan who live today in the northernmost island of Hokkaido. Ainu culture is different from Japanese culture, and the traditional clothing is different as well. The most famous item of Ainu clothing is a coat-like garment called the "attus."

Attus(Private Collection)

Attus are made from the bast fibers of a Japanese elm tree that is native to Hokkaido. First the tree is cut down and the bark is removed. The fibers, taken from the inner layers of the bark, are soaked in water to soften, bleached in the sun, and then split into fine, fibrous strands. The strands are joined together into thread and this thread is woven into cloth. The finished product is a thick, stiff cloth of a brownish color, like the bark fibers This cloth is then sewn into an attus.

Attus that were worn for everyday wear did not have much decoration, but those made for ceremonial wear were decorated on the back and around the sleeves with patterns in navy and black applique. Can you see how this unique pattern , like a parentheses, is repeatedly embroidered on the applique?

Attus Coat (Detail: Embroidery to ward off evil spirits)(Private Collection)

This pattern is worn to keep away evil spirits. It is found not only on attus but also on dark blue cotton garments with similar patterns, and on garments with white applique on dark cotton, called kapara amip.

The applique and embroidery work was always done by women, From mother to daughter, this unique tradition was handed down from generation to generation. By making these traditional garments such as the attus, Ainu women not only clothed their families but perhaps protected them from evil as well!

Text by Shigeki Kawakami, Department of Applied ArtsIllustrations by Satoshi Ichida, Department of Public Relations

English Translation by Melissa M. Rinne, Department of Archives

Lucky Motifs on a Dragon RobeIf you ever have the chance to visit the museum, look for Dragon Robes like this in Room 14 (Textiles), on the 2nd Floor of the New Exhibition Hall.

In January, in celebration of the New Year, the Kyoto National Museum often exhibits textiles with auspicious (good luck) patterns. Japan has many auspicious patterns, but China also has many lucky motifs that symbolize happiness and long life. The Dragon Robes, worn by the Emperor and his retainers in the Qing Dynasty, are especially rich in auspicious motifs. Within the Imperial Palace, the color of a Dragon Robe reflected the rank of the wearer. In a society with clearly defined social classes, color of clothing was the easiest way to emphasize differences in rank. The Emperor and Empress wore "yellow," the Crown Prince wore "apricot," and the Imperial Prince and the Emperors other wives wore "golden yellow." Lower-ranked people probably wore blue.

Golden-Yellow, Tapestry-Weave Dragon Robe(Kyoto National Museum)

The designs on this Dragon Robe are, not surprisingly, centered around a dragon motif. Even though the dragon is an imaginary animal, it was long regarded as a god in China and was loved and respected as the highest symbol of good luck in the animal kingdom. The dragon thus became a symbol representing the dignity of Emperor, who was considered to be the ruler of the earth.

This Dragon Robe has nine, five-clawed, two-horned dragons (not including the dragons on the black bands on the sleeves and cuffs). There are four

forward-facing dragons on the front and back of the robe. Then there is a pair of dragons facing each other on both the front and back. That makes eight. The last dragon is on the chest area, but is covered by the front flap. This robe was worn by someone in the Imperial Family. A lower ranked official would never have nine dragons, and the dragons would have four instead of five claws. 

The dragons are surrounded by lots of clouds. These clouds look like a kind of mushroom called ling zhi mushrooms, so they are called ling zhi clouds. They are an auspicious symbol of perrenial youth. Scattered among the clouds are other good luck symbols, such as  (an ancient Chinese good-luck symbol that looks like a backwards swastika), peaches, and flying bats.

You might wonder why the bat is a good omen. This is because, in China, instead of writing actual good luck characters (words), objects with the same pronounciation as the lucky characters are often used instead. The Chinese word for "bat" happen to have the same pronounciation as the characters for "good luck," so the bat has become a symbol of good luck! In the same way, the has the same pronounciation as the word for "ten-thousand," another symbol of happiness. When you put the characters "ten-thousand" together with the characters for "good luck," the resulting combination means "all health and happiness." The peaches are a symbol of long life. When you combine long life and good luck, they mean "long and happy life." The bats flying among the clouds on this robe are a reddish color. The pronounciation of the characters for "skies full of red bats" is the same pronounciation as characters meaning "the heavens are full of happiness and good fortune." The robe also has the actual characters for "long life" and others lucky words as motifs. 

At the bottom of the pattern section of the robe, there is a design of ocean waves with mountain peaks jutting up on the front back and sides. The combination of the ocean and mountains together means "unification of the people." Floating among the waves are another set of motifs, the lucky "Eight Treasures," which symbolically represent that the sea is the source of all treasure houses. There are different variations for these Eight Treasures depending on whether they have Buddhist or Taoist meanings. The Eight Treasures on this Dragon Robe come primarily from Buddhist legends and are as follows:

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

[1] the "conch shell," which makes a sacred sound and brings good luck;

[2] the ever-revolving "wheel of Buddhism;"

[3] the "sacred parasol," which protects people;

[4] the "canopy," which saves people from sickness and poverty;

[5] the "lotus flower," which grows in the mud but blooms pure and white;

[6] the "sacred vase," full of good fortune and wisdom;

[7] the "goldfish," which strongly and quickly drives away evil;

[8] and the geometric "bancho," which looks likes Mobius's continuous belt and represents eternal life. 

Take another look at the whole robe. It actually tells a story. The bottom has the sea with its waves. Floating above the waves are the Eight Treasures, and above the sea, mountains rise up in the four directions. Above that are the heavens, filled with dragons and other lucky omens. In the lovely colors and moralistic themes found in this Dragon Robe are the spiritual ideals of Chinese culture.

Text by Shigeki Kawakami, Department of Applied ArtsIllustrations by Satoshi Ichida, Department of Public Relations

English translation by Melissa M. Rinne, Department of Archives

All about Japanese Hina DollsIf you ever have the chance to visit the museum, look for Japanese dolls like these in Gallery 17 (Central Gallery), on the 2nd Floor of the New Exhibition Hall.

Every year on March 3rd, Japan celebrates the Doll Festival (Japanese, Hina Matsuri). Until recently, Girls' Day was also celebrated on March 3rd. On this day every year, families set up a special step-altar on which to arrange their Emperor and Empress dolls, called "hina" in Japanese. They decorate this altar with boughs of peach blossoms and make offerings to the hina dolls of freshly made rice cakes (mochi), either flavored with a wild herb or colored and cut into festive diamond shapes. Here at the Kyoto National Museum, we hold an exhibition of dolls every year sometime between February and April in celebration of the Doll Festival. 

If you ever come to the museum during the doll exhibition, you will see three step-altars as you walk in the door. Look at the photos of these three altars below.

Doll Altar(Private Collection)

Meiji Doll Altar(Kyoto National

Museum)

Doll Altar(Kyoto National

Museum)

This altar has a gorgeous pavilion on the top step. The set of dolls was made in the city of Kyoto in the 19th century, during the Edo period.

This enormous altar has seven steps. These dolls were made in Tokyo in the 1920s (late Taisho to early Showa period).

The dolls on this step-altar were made in Kyoto in 1935 (Showa 10).

In addition to dolls, these altars display many beautiful and luxurious decorative accessories. Look again carefully at the three altars. Can you see any things displayed on the two altars made in Kyoto that are not on the altar made in Tokyo? The Kyoto-made altars have miniature kitchens and hearths for cooking. You will never see such objects on altars made in Tokyo because kitchen implements are a specialty of doll sets made in Kyoto. Tokyo dolls have their own specialties too; doll sets from Tokyo are tall with many steps. They also have many chests, shelves and other furnishings to display with the dolls. This kind of lavish exhibit is a Tokyo tradition that has been handed down since the Edo period. In fact, Edo is the old name for Tokyo. In the old days, you could quickly see the difference in style between doll sets made in Tokyo and those made in Kyoto. Today, however, these differences have almost disappeared. 

Do you know when the tradition of displaying hina dolls on March 3rd began? Because the dolls are dressed like court nobles from the Heian period (A.D. 794-1185), so you might think that the Doll Festival is a very old holiday. In actuality, however, the festival did not begin till the Edo period, in the 17th Century. The third day of the third month of the year was a holiday in Japan before that time, but there are no earlier records of doll displays on this day.

The Edo period began in about A.D. 1615 and continued for about 270 years until 1868. Many different kinds of dolls were made over this long period of time. Dolls that are standing up are called tachi bina, or "standing dolls."

Tachi bina Dolls  (Kyoto National Museum)

Standing dolls are a very old type of Japanese doll that continued to be made during the Edo period. 

Dolls that are sitting down are called suwari bina, or "sitting dolls." Sitting dolls evolved during the Edo period. There are many different categories of sitting dolls based differences in form, face shape and clothing.

The oldest type of sitting doll is called "Kanei bina." Look at the picture of twoKanei bina below.

The Kanei bina are little dolls. The Empress doll has her arms spread apart, but her hands are hidden inside her sleeves. She wears a very old style of Japanese outfit, with a pair of wide culotte-like trousers called a hakama over her layers of kimono. 

The second-oldest sitting doll category is the "Genroku bina." Look at the picture of a set of Genroku bina below.

They look somewhat like the Kanei-bina, but they are a little bigger. Can you see the difference between the Empress Genroku bina above and the Empress Kanei bina? Do you see how the Genroku bina is holding her hands out in front of her? Her clothing is different too. She is wearing an outfit similar to the twelve-layered court costume of the Heian period, called a juni hito'e.

These Kanei bina and Genroku bina were made in the 17th century, during the first half of the Edo period. At this time, the dolls came in sets of one or two and were displayed simply on a low, one or two-stepped platform with a "hina screen" behind them.

In the years to come, the size of the dolls grew as a new kind of hina doll, known as the "Kyoho bina," became popular.

Kyoho bina Dolls  (Kyoto National Museum)

Other popular dolls were the round-faced "Jirozaemon" and the "Yusoku bina," whose costumes perfectly reflect the special clothing worn by courtiers.

Jirozaemon bina Dolls(Private Collection)

Yusoku bina Dolls(Private Collection)

By the late Edo period, it became popular to decorate the top steps of the altars with lavish pavilions. In Edo (Tokyo), the doll altars were often built seven or eight steps high! By the time the "Kokin bina," shown below, became popular, it had become the tradition to display other dolls below the imperial pair. Among these were the Three Court Ladies (Sannin Kanjo) dolls and Five Musicians (Gonin bayashi). Their additions made the Doll Festival displays more lavish than ever, creating a style that is still seen today.

Kokin-bina Dolls   (Kyoto National Museum)

Text by Shigeki Kawakami, Department of Applied ArtsIllustrations by Satoshi Ichida, Department of Public Relations

English translation by Melissa M. Rinne, Department of Archives

The Ainu had many clothes : "birdskin" clothes made of birdskin with feathers of sea gulls, Temminck's cormorant, Staff-tree, and other birds ; "hide" clothes of hides of bear, deer, fox, seal, dog, and other beasts ; "fishskin" clothes of salmon and trout ; and "plant" clothes of flags and wild rye. The Ainu now do not wear these traditional clothes.

However, even now traditional "bark" clothes remain. Among bark clothes, "attush" fabrics are well known. Attush fabrics are made from fiber which is obtained from the endodermis of trees such as Elm. Those attush fabrics made from Staff-tree fiber or nettles are called "retarpe," which means white things, because the color of the fabric is white. The Sakhalin Ainu are noted for wearing these clothes. While the Ainu wore bark clothes appliqued or embroidered as formal clothes, they wore such clothes without patterns as everyday ones.

In the late Edo era, the Ainu obtained large volumes of cotton through trade with the Japanese who lived in Honshu (Japan's mainland) and through other activities. They wore appliqued or embroidered cotton clothes called "chikarkarpe," which means "the things we embroider."

Besides the aforementioned categories, Ainu clothes are classified as follows. Clothes called "kaparamip" used a large volume of white cloth for applique. "Kaparamip" means thin clothes.

Clothes called "ruunpe" were the ones elaborately embroidered with delicate applique. These traditional clothes can be seen only in a limited area, including Shiraoi. "Chijiri" is a general term for clothes which are directly embroidered without applique.

Besides the aforementioned clothes, as formal clothes, the Ainu sometimes wore foreign clothes over native ones. Long overgarments and battle surcoats imported from Honshu were called "kosonte." "Santan" clothes imported from the Asian continent through Sakhalin to Hokkaido were called "manchiwkosonto" in Sakhalin. It is believed that Ainu men and women wore underclothes. At present, Ainu women wear underclothes called "mour." " Mour" are one piece. Women put them on over the head.

"attush"

"retarpe"

"chikarkarpe"

"rurunpe""kaparamip

Why Okinawa?

Traditional Food / Healthy Cuisine

Naturally, Okinawa’s mild climate and history of contact with other countries can also be found in the unique Okinawan food. For example, it is said that the roots of the various popular pork dishes began with pork introduced from China in the 14th century. Moreover, ingredients and cooking methods as well as the spirit of "Ishoku Dogen, Healthy Eating to Prevent Disease" were also passed on through exchange with various countries. In Okinawa, dining is regarded as "Kusuimun" (meaning "something which becomes medicine") in the Okinawa dialect.

Ingredients of Okinawa

One of the most popular ingredients in Okinawan food is pork. For the pig, which is said to have been introduced from China to Okinawa, all parts are consumed from the head and tail to the organs. Pig's feet, "Rafute", or clear soup of pork tripe in the Okinawa dialect, and "Soki", or spareribs in the Okinawa dialect, are famous. Okinawa’s original hard and large tofu “Shima-dofu” is also present in various dishes. Moreover, many vegetables including Goya (bitter melon) and Beni-imo (sweet potato), seaweeds such as Mozuku seaweed, Umi-budo sea grapes, and fish including Gurukun (Banana Fish) are also eaten.

Traditional Food

Traditional Okinawan cuisine includes many soup dishes, fried dishes and boiled dishes all of which make the best use of unique ingredients such as Okinawa's vegetables like Goya and Shima Rakkyo pickles and pork. Soups including the miso pork “Inamuduchi” soup and the stir-fried and vegetable, etc. “Chanpuru” dish, are famous dishes. There are many snacks as well. Typical examples are “Chinsuko”

cookies and “Sata Andagi” deep-fried doughnuts which are said to have been introduced from China. Finally, the oldest distilled spirit in Japan “Awamori” is popular for its rich and mild taste.