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Japan: 1600-1750 Swarthmore College Works Art & Art History Faculty Works Art & Art History 2013 Japan: 1600-1750 Tomoko Sakomura Swarthmore College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-art Part of the Asian Art and Architecture Commons Let us know how access to these works benefits ouy Recommended Citation Tomoko Sakomura. (2013). "Japan: 1600-1750". History Of Design: Decorative Arts And Material Culture, 1400-2000. 165-173. https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-art/125 This work is brought to you for free by Swarthmore College Libraries' Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Art & Art History Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. JAPAN In 1603 the eastern city of Edo (present-day Tokyo) became OBJECT AND STATUS: EAST the seat of the new shogunal government and a century later THE BRIDAL TROUSSEAU ASIA was the world’s largest city, with a population of more than a million, and a dynamic economic and cultural center. Edo’s The year 1620 marked the historical union of two powers— development was helped along by the 1635 system of alter­ the imperial household in Kyoto and the newly established nate attendance, which required feudal lords (daimyo) of Tokugawa military shogunate in Edo—through the marriage some 260 domains to alternate residency between their city of Emperor Go-Mizunoo (r. 1611-29) to Masako (Empress mansions and provincial domains, while the main wife and Tofukumon’in, 1607-1678), the daughter of the second heir were kept in Edo. In addition to establishing a degree of shogun Hidetada (r. 1605-23). The wealth of the Tokugawa political unity, this practice spurred improvements along the was on full display when Masako’s bridal procession, which five overland routes connecting Edo and daimyo castle towns included hundreds of attendants, traveled from the Nijo throughout the country, encouraging urbanization and the Castle to the Imperial Palace. Her trousseau comprised movement of people, goods, and information by land and sea. 260 chests packed with all manner of objects and 30 sets of Production of goods in regional provinces and domains sup­ folding-screen paintings (as depicted in the painting Wedding ported the larger urban centers, with skilled artisans and Procession of Tofikumon’in, now in the Mitsui Bunko Art workshops producing objects for social and political exchange, Museum, Tokyo). such as presentation pieces for the shogunate. While many The few objects that survive from Tofukumon’in’s trous­ earlier modes of production and consumption were still prac­ seau represent the earliest examples of such objects since ticed, the new era boasted technological innovations and new the custom was started among the daimyo in the sixteenth ventures, often promoted by provincial daimyo, such as the century. Another early trousseau has fared better, with some production of porcelain in southern Japan. The movement of seventy-five pieces now designated as national treasures, cen­ goods across Japan was complemented by the country’s trade tering on lacquerware. Known as the Hatsune Trousseau, its relationships with Asia and Europe, vigilantly regulated by name taken from the Hatsune chapter (First Song of the Bush the shogunate and mainly conducted through the interna­ Warbler) of Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji, an eleventh- tional port of Nagasaki in southern Japan. century courtly romance), it was commissioned in 1637 for While the relocation of the shogunate prompted an east­ Chiyohime, the newborn daughter of the third Tokugawa ward shift in the country’s cultural and economic center of shogun. The lacquer objects were produced by the workshop gravity, for most of the seventeenth-century developments in of Koami Nagashige (1599-1651), the tenth head of the Koami the east were informed by trends in the historical centers of the family of lacquerers (fig. 7.20), in just two and a half years. west. Merchants in the commercial cities of Kyoto and Osaka They were completed in time for Chiyohime’s politically moti­ (and nearby regions of Omi and Ise), who operated under sho­ vated wedding to a lord of a Tokugawa branch family in 1639. gunate control, accommodated the expanding needs of Edo. Given the scale of the trousseau and the time-consuming Some eventually opened establishments there, such as the tex­ process of maki-e (“sprinkled picture”) lacquer (see fig. 1.22), tile merchandiser Echigoya (forerunner of the Mitsukoshi this was an extraordinary feat of craftsmanship. department store) in 1673, whose success rode on a new busi­ As was the custom, Chiyohime later presented objects ness model: no surcharge for cash payment. from her trousseau to her son and to her granddaughter upon Merchants and artisans, as members of the thriving urban their own marriages, and her other possessions were distrib­ cultural class of townspeople (chonin), became major players uted posthumously among family members. The surviving in the world of art and design. Beginning at the turn of the examples give an idea of the practical and symbolic objects seventeenth century, new technology allowed the commer­ that were part of the trousseau of an elite warrior bride in the cial publishing industry to disseminate knowledge previously early 1600s. Every object is emblazoned with the Tokugawa available only through laboriously hand-copied manuscripts. triple-ao! (asarum) crest and motifs that refer to The Tale of Greater circulation of information transmitted literary and Genji. The two octagonal lacquer vessels containing clam­ historical knowledge to a wider audience, leading to exchanges shells used in a matching game were the first items of the in design initiatives among different media. For example, an trousseau presented to the new household. The shell per­ illustrated private publication of Ise monogatari (The Tales of fectly symbolizes fidelity, with each half shell matching only Ise) in 1608 initiated popular enthusiasm for this tenth-century with its mate. Other extant objects (displayed here in a courtly classic; the story was presented in a variety of media museum installation; fig. 7.20) include a basin and stand for and in turn inspired many forms of performance art. Publish­ blackening teeth (blackened teeth were a marker of marriage ing also propagated the visual vocabulary and motifs of Kyoto for a woman), mirror stand, writing case atop a writing table, court culture that informed the material culture of the period and an elbow rest upholstered in velvet. from 1600 to 1750, alongside imported visual and material In front of the pair of folding screens are the trousseau’s culture from China, Korea, and Europe. three centerpiece shelves: zushidana (cabinet shelf, right). 1600-1750 165 Fig. 7.20. Koami kurodana (black shelf, center), and shodana (writings shelf great wealth of the exchange houses, forerunners of depart­ Nagashige (Choju). left). The zushidana holds an accessory box at the top con­ ment stores such as Mitsukoshi. Although the trousseau tradi­ Furnishings from the taining twelve smaller boxes of personal items, such as mir­ tion ceased, many objects remain familiar today, with miniature Hatsune Trousseau, Edo, rors, combs, hair oil, face powder, brushes, and tweezers, and trousseaus known as hinaddgu displayed in homes on the 1637-39. Lacquered wood, coral, gold, silver, rows of incense utensils and boxes for poetry slips, third day of the third month hinamatsuri (Doll Festival), also and other materials. letters, and writing utensils placed next to double-door known as momo no sekku (Peach Festival). The Tokugawa Art cabinets. The kurodana displays more boxes of personal Museum, Nagoya, items, and the shodana holds literary objects—classic courtly National Treasure. romances, poetry anthologies, illustrated scrolls, and specially KYOTO CULTURAL NETWORKS prepared calligraphy models. Garment racks, board games, ANDTASTEMAKERS pillows, and swords also formed part of the trousseau. The Tokugawa shogunate enacted regulations governing Kyoto, hailed as the miyako (capital) since the late eighth marriage and ownership of sumptuary goods. The scale, qual­ century, represented the symbolic center of Japan and long ity, and design of objects were determined according to rank served as a cultural ideal. Although Edo witnessed remark­ and family status. The symphony of textures in the Hatsune able development in the seventeenth century, culture and Trousseau lacquerware underscores the status of its owner. manufacturing in Kyoto shaped many aspects of visual and The varous sprinkled-picture techniques—polished, raised, material production in the early Edo period. At the most elite and flat maki-e—are further elaborated with coral inlays and level, the cultural salon of Emperor Go-Mizunoo (r. 1611-29) particles of gold, silver, and aokin (alloy of gold and silver with and Empress Tofiikumon’in extended beyond the imperial a bluish tint). The importance of display is also reflected in the family to include notable figures from various groups, such Hatsune Trousseau. In addition to high-status objects, Chiyo- as government official and tea master Kobori Enshu (1579- hime had a set of alternate, everyday furnishings consisting 1647), and Zen abbot Horin Josho (1593-1668), who docu­ of simpler designs of gold maki-e on a black lacquer ground. mented in his diary meetings with more than a thousand The tradition of the daimyo bridal trousseau was later individuals across the social strata, thus providing a snapshot adopted by wealthy townspeople. A set purportedly made for of cultural activities at the time. Riyo, the daughter of the head of a currency-exchange house The courtly aesthetic manifested itself not only in the selec­ active during the Genroku era (1688-1704), indicates the tion of design motifs or subject matter but also in architecture. 166 CHAPTER? EAST ASIA ceramics, metalwork, and textiles. Often cited in connection to carefully coordinating objects and materials to create an this circle is the Katsura Imperial Villa, the earliest extant ensemble worthy of a daimyo lord.
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