Object Note
Part of a set of five (kimono)s purchased together from the same source along with (ZI2017.500480 ASIA, ZI2017.500481 ASIA, ZI2017.500483 ASIA, ZI2017.500484 ASIA).
Object History
This exquisite silk (damask) (michiyuki) jacket was purchased by Dr. Reem Tariq El Mutwalli in 2017 by Ms. Manami Tominaga, a Japanese lady living in the UAE. It was purchased to enhance the Zay Initiative’s collection along with four more (ZI2017.500480 ASIA, ZI2017.500481 ASIA, ZI2017.500483 ASIA, ZI2017.500484 ASIA).
Object Features
This is a red and purple women’s short (rinzu) silk or damask michiyuki. Traditionally, a double-breasted jacket worn over a kimono by women, a michiyuki is the women’s equivalent of men’s (haori). It is characterized by its short length and square neckline.
The main field of this michiyuki is scattered with small abstract foliage motifs with sporadic insertions of larger leaves. Although traditionally a michiyuki is a short-length jacket that covers the torso of the wearer this piece reaches the wearer’s mid-calf.
The most interesting feature of this michiyuki is its lining. It is lined with a printed satin fabric featuring World War II Japanese propaganda literature – a poster of kamikaze bombers. This michiyuki is categorised as an “omoshirogara” – a bizarre, interesting, or even novelty–designed or patterned piece, a fashion trend that gained popularity in Japan since the early 1900s where kimonos and other garments would depict scenes from contemporary life and socio-political scenes.
Apart from the interesting lining, this piece has a tag at the neck with Kanji script that roughly translates to “swearing”, “higher”, and “control”. The label on the front has metal snaps and decorative flat fabric buttons. The underside of one of the front flaps has a ribbon in the same fabric as the michiyuki possibly to secure and align the two flaps.
While the origin of certain techniques and methods in textiles like satin_stitch embroidery can be traced to China, and its spread across the world could be attributed to the Silk Road, other similar techniques and styles are believed to have originated independently in different regions of the world almost simultaneously in human history possibly from necessity and convenience.
Though The Zay Initiative is concerned mainly with the dress and adornment heritage of the Arab world, it does include in its collection articles from areas outside the region. These tend to be collected to illustrate specific shared elements and influences attesting that the Arab world never existed in a vacuum. It constantly drew, and continues to draw, inspiration and influences from the cultures it comes in contact with be it through trade or geopolitical circumstances, especially those countries within the old silk route.
Therefore, one cannot but draw parallels between many techniques used in such garments, such as (couching) and thread knotting techniques (macrame), or flat metal adornment (talli), that are quite similar to those found in different parts of the Arab region.
The kimono, in particular, displays similarities that can be drawn with the pattern of Arab women’s overgarment or the (thawb), common to the Gulf region, constructed of three uncut panels of broad clothes forming the central body panel and the side sleeve panels very similar in shape to the kimono.
Links
- Morishima, Yuki, et al. Kimono Refashioned: Japan’s Impact on International Fashion. USA, Asian Art Museum, 2018.
- Kahlenberg, Mary Hunt. Asian Costumes and Textiles: From the Bosphorus to Fujiama. Italy, Skira, 2001.
- Liddell, Jill. The Story of the Kimono. USA, E P Dutton, 1989.
- Dalby, Liza Crihfield. Kimono: Fashioning Culture. Reaktion Books, 1993.
- Gluckman, Dale Carolyn and Sharon Sadako Takeda. When Art Became Fashion: Kosode in Edo-Period Japan. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1996.
- Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk. 27 Aug. – 25 Oct. 2020, V&A South Kensington, London https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/kimono-kyoto-to-catwalk
- Gluckman, Dale Carolyn. “Liza Dalby. Kimono: Fashioning Culture.:Kimono: Fashioning Culture.” Museum Anthropology, vol. 19, no. 1, Mar. 1995, pp. 79–81. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1525/mua.1995.19.1.79
- “Meisen Kimono From HALI 184 – HALI.” HALI, 24 July 2015, hali.com/news/meisen-kimono.
- Kimono Style: Edo Traditions to Modern Design: The John C. Weber Collection. USA, Met Publications, www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Kimono_Style
- Kimono Refashioned. 8 Feb. – 5 May, 2019, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco https://exhibitions.asianart.org/exhibitions/kimono-refashioned/
- Takeda, Sharon Sadako. Monumenta Nipponica, vol. 49, no. 2, 1994, pp. 245–47. JSTOR,https://doi.org/10.2307/2385177. Accessed 10 May 2023.
- Guth, Christine. Journal of Japanese Studies, vol. 20, no. 2, 1994, pp. 518–22. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/133209. Accessed 10 May 2023.
- Richard, Naomi Noble. “Nō Motifs in the Decoration of a Mid-Edo Period Kosode.” Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 25, 1990, pp. 175–83. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1512899. Accessed 10 May 2023.
- Kramer, Elizabeth. “Review of ‘Kimono: A Modern History.’” Reviews in History, School of Advanced Study, 2015. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14296/rih/2014/1787.
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