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Textiles
provide an interesting and revealing vantage point to look at any
society. This is particularly the case with Japanese
textiles. Beginning in the early modern era when Japan increased
its urbanization, textiles became a badge of social status.
Because of their closeness to the human body in clothes and other uses,
textiles show by their motif, color and garment shape much about Japan
and its culture. In addition, they send messages as to an
individuals age, rank, gender, social, political and religious
affiliation. In Japan they also often denoted an individuals
occupation, special function and association with special groups.
This is the
case throughout Japanese history but is perhaps even more apt during
the Edo period when economic, commercial and social conditions created
levels of change that made textiles and clothing an even more important
form of social identification. Many of the criteria and some of
the forms and designs of the eighteenth and nineteenth century can
still be seen to this day. For example, a preference for natural
materials, a preference for traditional decorating techniques and as if
a subtle defiance to the dwindling interest in wearing the kimono – the
enduring status of the yukata. Textiles continue to this day to
demonstrate their commercial uses of demonstrating a shops main
activities. This can be seen in the present usage of noren
(doorway curtain) and advertising banners.
Many observers
believe Tsujigahana textiles are the zenith of the Japanese textile
arts. These textiles which were produced between the fourteenth
and the early seventeenth century for clothes, banners and other items
are examples of the height of creativity and beauty. In one sense
Tsujigahana textile can be seen as a reflection of Japanese historical
changes. Many of the best pieces of tsujigahana reflect the
decorative extravagance of the later Edo period. This comminglinging of
very different artistic sensibilities produced many miracles of
artistic and technical brilliance that have not yet been equaled.
Textiles
reached a high degree of cultural distinction and artistic appreciation
in the Edo and succeeding Meiji periods (1868 – 1912). The social
and commercial importance of their role in turn instilled vigor and a
greater range of artistic expression. With ties to religion,
peasant life and in part as a reaction to a growingly complex urban
culture, Japans’ textile traditions evolved from commoner textile
traditions that had been utilized for centuries. Away from the
palace workshops, weavers, dyers and neeedleworkers added to local
traditions by adapting foreign techniques, revitalizing patterns by
absorbing exotic motifs and creating innovative design.
During the Edo
and Meiji periods, elite classes commissioned complicated and diverse
fabrics in rich silk brocades and filmy gauze weaves. The lower
classes, working within the strictly regulated feudal guidelines for
clothing material, patterns and colors were not stagnant during this
period. They often created new forms with bold images that were
intricate in their subtle nuances. Dyeing emerged as an art form
in its own right during this period. Although the use of vibrant
colors was often prescribed by the Shogun or economically cost
prohibitive, the use of brighter colors increased during this period
Through the centuries, Japanese textiles have often followed two
diverse genuses – the textiles produced for and worn by commoners and
those of the higher social classes. Although it might at first be
thought that the one could never rival the other, in artistic form and
creativity, both branches of the textile art are deeply moving
embellishments of the country's folk culture.
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