gurdymonkey | Apr. 19th, 2012

By my "Class of Twelfth Night" Laurel sister, Sarah Wydville AKA modehistorique.
http://www.modehistorique.com/blog/?m=20120417
http://www.modehistorique.com/blog/?m=20120418
http://www.modehistorique.com/blog/?m=20120419

There may be more to come (and I don't know if she was planning to include Japonisme before or after I mentioned it to her, but I'm sure she knew about it.)

Just this week we had a poster on the Tousando asking whether his tattoos and "straight edge" modern life style would make any difference to his portraying a medieval Japanese in the SCA.

Nobody cares if you appropriate Western European medieval culture and you're white. (For that matter, I doubt anyone has the temerity to give the African American lady with the male Norse persona a hard time about her persona choice, because it's a Western European choice.) And within the SCA, someone is far more likely to object to a non-European persona because it doesn't jive with that person's concept of what belongs in their version of "the Current Middle Ages" than that said portrayal appropriates someone else's culture. After all, they're appropriating someone else's medieval culture too.

I remember my apprehension the first time I wore wafuku in the presence of a fellow member who is Japanese American, and upon meeting Baron Vail (and others) from the Far West. What did they think? Were they offended? The good news is no, in every case, which means I must be doing something right. At the same time, they are Asian or of Asian heritage portraying Western Europeans. And the Japanese nationals from FW seem to get a huge kick out of me doing what I do.

Japan is itself an interesting case because they have been appropriating other cultures right back, at least since the sixth century CE. My Nara period outfit is basically a Tang Dynasty Chinese one seen through a Japanese filter, as illustrated in the photo of me and Wu-hime. The Chinese showed up with a writing system, Buddhism, tea, sericulture (silk cultivation), an Imperial Court hierarchy and fashions that the Japanese jumped on with enthusiasm.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Japanese looked at some of what the Portuguese and other Europeans were bringing in and latched on to the things they liked, from firearms to food to fashion, not to mention a significant population adopting Christianity for a period.

Depiction of a Christian samurai from the Kyoto Costume Museum. http://www.iz2.or.jp/english/fukusyoku/busou/32.htm

After 1853, Japan looked at the West, determined to catch up as quickly as possible - and did. If you want to blame someone for Pearl Harbor, you can blame it on Commodore Matthew Perry and the Treaty of Kanagawa in 1854. As the Japanese were adopting Western dress and technology, Westerners were being charmed by "Old Japan." (Christopher Benfey's The Great Wave discusses this in depth).

In the 20th and 21st centuries, Japan and the West continue to cherry pick each other's cultures. The fashion conscious young people who hang out in Harajuku mash up various pieces in combinations which set the traditional context of certain garments completely on their ears.

"French maids" in Akihabara, http://ramblingmuse.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/akihabara-akiba-maid-550183-o-1024x715.jpg

Make of it what you will.