Friday thoughts

[gurdymonkey]

 I can't prevent stupid people from putting stupid, half-assed, undocumented bullshit on the 'net and calling it research. I can only combat ignorance from the ramparts of Wodeford Hall.

Though when A Certain Outlands Samurai gave me the link to the Cunnan Wiki and begged me to do something about the state of their articles on Japanese clothing over there, I did. 

I went back and forced myself to look at the badness that sullies the Fettburg site and the kimono definitions - 99% of which refer to styles or garments that post-date the SCA period.

Wodeford Hall needs a Japanese clothing/textile glossary. Obviously this is a post-Pennsic project, but I think it would be a useful addition. Some of the material in the out-of-print book by Amanda Meyer Stinchecum about the Nomura collection kosode is really excellent and bears repeating. Effingham-sensei has some good stuff on his website - but he also has a lot of pages that have been under construction for at least the past four years and show no signs of ever being anything else.

There's just one problem.

I am hesitant to include terms for things that did not come into fashion until after 1600. Fashion does not exist in a vacuum. I like the idea of one-stop web-surfing and having something useful and comprehensive out there. On the other hand, I don't want to get bitten in the ass by someone who insists on reading something the wrong way. I am still cringing over the fact that  someone who took a discussion of namban art and twisted it to justify creating a garment that never existed because she obviously heard different ones coming out of my mouth than the ones I'm pretty sure I said. I can just see someone saying, "But it was on your website, so I thought it was OK."

Trying to formulate a plan of attack on the forces of ignorance here....

Comments

[czina.livejournal.com]

I think that limiting your discussion of items to pre-1600 is good, but it may not help people just starting out, without a page that discusses how things -changed- after that.

On a separate page, you may want to follow the trends of Japanese fashions, with a distinct break that says 'THIS is pre-1600, THAT is post-1600' - with any information (or links to information) about why things changed.

As a English analogy: Corsets are pre-1600, yes. But corsets worn in the Tudor/Elizbethan Era look different from the ones worn in the Baroque/Colonial Era, both of which are different from the ones worn during the Victorian Era. Showing/telling people the differences between the different eras, and WHY a Victorian corset won't work well with their Elizabethan gown is very helpful.

While you may not want to be the 'All Japanese History, all through the ages' site - a brief explanation about what parts of 'traditional' Japanese garb are pre-1600 and which are not would help those who are interested in the culture but haven't gotten down to the 'nitty gritty', like you have. I would always encourage people to do their own research, but covering the basics of 'This is the basic look, this is not, here's why' is a good place for people to start.

Note - I know VERY little about Japanese culture in ANY Era, so this could be unfeasible for your site.

Hope this helps.

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

See, the thing is that I don't just get inquiries from the SCA. I get cosplayers. I get people in France who are looking for modern kimono that will fit a modern Western physique.

Perhaps a mythbusting page for the SCA explaining why you don't wear wide obi and chopsticks are not hair ornaments. Urtatim did a Middle Eastern Myth page for her website that's a very nice bullshit free zone.

Or perhaps a directory of links to resources on modern traditional kimono for people who are looking for that. I've already got a resources page for SCA Japanese links....

[kass-rants.livejournal.com]

You mean like this: http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/japanese/tigau.html

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Oh, good, it's still there. You keep re-arranging the furniture on RH.

Might do it a little differently. Period artwork. Me in bad wafuku with a big DON'T DO THIS in flashing red letters. I dunno.

[kass-rants.livejournal.com]

To extend czina's analogy, you could state emphatically that what we consider "corsets" were not called corsets in the Elizabethan period or in the Baroque period. They were called bodys/bodies and stays, respectively. You could even do a chart of terms with headings like "pre-1600" "post-1600" and "Modern" and list terms for the same (or similar) things in each column. Almost like a translation table.