yakihito

At the Asian: Netsuke

This is the last of my posts on things I like at the Asian Art Museum, where I just finished a tenure volunteering. These are called netsuke, and they're little hand-carved figurines that are used as toggles for hanging pouches and medicine boxes in the Edo era. My favorite is this kitsune, or fox, which reminds me of the kitsune in a Hiroshige ukiyo-e woodblock print.

Kimono don't have pockets (duh) so the cord of the pouch or box would be looped over the belt and secured by the netsuke. In the early 1500s, when they first appeared, netsuke were simple in form. But, as you can see from these pictures, by the Edo era they had gotten pretty darn cool.

Netsuke seem to me like the Edo era-equivalent of cell phone charms. Choose one that matches your personality, like that kitsune or a little cat or a drunken guy or something. I wonder if there was ever a fad to have like a billion netsuke on one pouch.

At the Asian: Haniwa

When thinking of Japanese history, you often think of samurai, from the Sengoku (Warring States) period through the Tokugawa era. Perhaps you think of the Meiji era, or back to the Heian period. But how about the Kofun period?

The name Kofun (古墳), which means old tomb, comes from the burial mounds found over much of Japan. Dating from AD 250 until the Asakusa period started around 538, not much concrete is known from this time period as it predates writing (which was later introduced to Japan from China). What is known comes from a few references to the Japanese islands in Korean and Chinese records, and via archaeological remains, such as haniwa.

Terra cotta clay figures, haniwa were buried in the kofun with the dead. The haniwa were made to represent birds, horses, fish, weapons, and people. At the Asian Art Museum, the two I particularly liked were this soldier, with his wide pantaloons, and this bearded fellow. With his wide-brimmed hat and curly locks, he looks to me like he should be walking around Fairfax in Los Angeles! His hat also reminds me of the hats worn by the men in those Korean period TV shows. Hmmm.)

At the Asian: Goth Kimono

This picture, done on silk with ink and colors, is from the Meiji Period (late-1800s to early 1900s) and likely depicts a courtesan. I found myself coming back to this one again and again during my volunteer tenure at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum because of the striking clothing design. We tend to think of skulls on clothes as being a recent thing, perhaps from the punk era. But here is a woman with a kimono covered in human skulls! Her obi is pretty cool too—it's got an oni on it.

Courtesans were known for their flashy outfits (while geisha were not). I've seen representations of courtesans in pictures and in movies anf they often have on a lot of bright colors. The movie Sakuran is a good, recent example of the style of the courtesan. But I've never seen anything as "goth" as this lady!

I have the feeling that were I alive in Meiji-era Japan, I probably would have blown all of my savings on visiting this one.

(Oh, sorry for the crappy picture. It really is time for me to get a new camera.)

Hentai Fufu

A while back, there was a flurry of posts on the Internets about Kohei Yoshiyuki's recently unearthed exhibition of photos called "The Park," a series of night-vision shots of couples copulating in parks at night while a throng of on-lookers approach. The New York Times took the press release at face value and posited on the reasons for the public sex, while Japundit pointed out that Yoshiyuki was known in the '70s for his yarase ("staged") photos.

There's no denying the power of the images, but what about their "legitimacy"? I would be very surprised that any member of a culture so concerned about the differences between public and private would have sex in a park and not know that people were watching. I mean, there are more love hotels in Japan than seemingly normal hotels! As a teenager I had to have sex in public places (well, my car, but it was parked in a public place) but that's because there was nowhere else to go. These couples have a place to go.

So, if it's not staged, then what is it? Donald Richie, in his The Japan Journals, offers an answer. Given to taking walks through parks at night, Richie comes across a hentai fufu, a "perverted couple." They engage in oral sex in front of him, watching him while he watches them. When he reaches out a hand to, erm, "assist," they leave. やっぱり! Exhibitionists.

I highly recommend The Japan Journals, by the way, and for more reasons than that just mentioned. Lots of anecdotes about hanging out with Akira Kurosawa, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Juzo Itami, Toshiro Mifune, and Yukio Mishima.

Beauty In Decay

Was reading on Metropolis about haikyo, abandoned places in Japan that attract a certain type of tourist. According to the site, the term originally referred to the bombed-out buildings left after WWII, but today the term is applied to any abandoned building or place. And, it would seem, there are quite a lot of them in Japan.

This is surprising to me, as indeed it must be to a lot of those outside Japan.

Photographs of a Japan in decay shock foreign audiences because they don’t fit with the standard Tokyo-vs.-Kyoto image of the country. And, apparently, these pictures of ruins don’t look like Japan to Japanese photographers themselves, who say that the sites give them the feeling of being in a foreign country. Kobayashi even uses the loan word gosto taun to describe the atmosphere.

Japan is thought of as a place where real estate is at a premium, where any and all space is occupied, exploited. But in a country where the majority of its population is packed in urban areas, and what population there is is shrinking due to a low birth rate, the existence of haikyo suddenly doesn't seem so surprising.

Photographers have taken to capturing haikyo and releasing the images in books, which has caused something of a haikyo tourist boom. It is just the kind of thing I would be into. Abandoned places have a certain strange energy to them, a sadness that speaks of unrealized dreams and lost time.

Photographer Hiroyuki Tsuzuki has tons of photos of haikyo on his website, Haikyo Deflation Spiral. Amazing stuff. The photos of the abandoned amusement parks are especially poignant.

Paper Deer

My favorite artist is Midori Harima, a Tokyo-born and New York-based multimedia, well, genius. I don't throw that word around very much because I try to avoid hyperbole, but in her case I think it applies.

Here's why:

I've seen lots of art, and while much of it is interesting, it's often just distracting. It's pretty, or it's offensive, or it's flashy. But you look at it and move on, and it's gone from inside you.

But for me, Harima's work remains. It's haunting and beautiful and well, sublime. I even wrote a piece of music once after seeing one of her shows.

She shows all over the world. Maybe even near you: www.harimamidori.com.

PicoPico Kigurumi

I recently stumbled on Cho-Yablog, a blog for Tokyo-based noise musician (and Japanese exploitation cinema lover) 23N! (of the band droise). I have to admit I'm not familiar with his music, but his site is a wealth of information on the current, underground goings-on in Tokyo.

Such as: PicoPico! PicoPico makes kigurumi, or animal costumes. But they're amazing!

Here's PicoPico meeting the kids:

Here he is as an octopus:

You can read an interview with him on this site. Pretty amazing stuff.

And if anyone has more info on 23N! or droise, please let me know. I like his hacked toys.