I don't normally obsess over shoes......
Jan. 26th, 2012 07:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gurdymonkeyI don't think I got that gene, really.
Besides, having short wide feet (made wider now by the hereditary formation of bunions) makes shoes and shoe shopping generally frustrating.
Yes, this is a crap photo, but I am NOT damaging this book on a flatbed scanner, no freaking way.
These silk brocade shoes were one of several pairs dedicated at the Shoso-in Temple by Empress Komyo in 756 CE. (That's 40 years before the Heian period). The toes are ornamented with dimensional flower appliques that were sewn on. There was a similar pair in the Secrets of the Silk Road exhibition I saw at the Bowers, with dimensional cloud shapes on the toes. (The docents thought I was nuts, I think.*) That pair was found in Tomb 381, Astana, Turfan (Xinjiang) and are roughly contemporary with the Shoso-in shoes. (For anyone who is lost, Chinese culture was much admired in Japan during the Asuka & Nara periods. The Imperial Court adopted the fashions - among other things - imported from Tang Dynasty China. I am hoping to recreate a Nara period ensemble to wear to Li's knighting at Estrella.)
In a chat with The Great Hero of China (who has called me a couple of times to bask in my vast wisdom of being a peer (for all of two weeks, right?) suggested getting a pair of kung fu shoes and building toe ornaments out of leather, but (a) the shape of the shoe isn't the same and (b) the Silk Road catalogue describes the toe ornaments as stuffed with grass and sewn to the shoe - they're puffy, not flat. I'm pretty sure I have a pair of old K-mart ballet flats somewhere in the back of the closet with velveteen or velour uppers that could be sacrificed to the Kami of Accessorization.
Here are the stash fabric options - the green Thai silk, possibly decorated with paint for the uwaginu (the shirt with the flowy sleeves) and the red stuff for the haishi (over-vest, sort of a proto-karaginu).
http://mongolschinaandthesilkroad.blogspot.com/2010/12/journey-to-western-regions-with-hyecho.html has a cool Tang dynasty dancer which was found at Astafan. Another tomb figurine: http://www.heritagemuseum.gov.hk/minisite/FEastern/eng/25.html
Astafan textile fragment, which resembles some of the pieces in Jodai-Gire.
http://mongolschinaandthesilkroad.blogspot.com/2010/12/journey-to-western-regions-with-hyecho.html
The video shows how it was probably done. The recreated textile in the video appears in Jodai-Gire as well.
Ooh, another link on Shoso-in artifacts. Those shoes have to be a reconstruction, I think? (It's in Polish, but the listing of Shoso-in artifacts is in English.)
http://www.japonia.org.pl/?q=ja/node/64
The Shoso-in has a website! Must explore this further when I have time. http://shosoin.kunaicho.go.jp/
Ooh, found the Textiles section! http://shosoin.kunaicho.go.jp/shosoinPublic/result.do
EDIT: I find it worked best to have two tabs on my browser open: one in the original Japanese, one through Google Translate. For some reason, the thumbnails on the artifacts will not open from the translated pages.
SHOES! OMG!!! Look at the details:
http://shosoin.kunaicho.go.jp/shosoinPublic/detail.do?treasureId=0000010548&idx=44&mode=part
http://shosoin.kunaicho.go.jp/shosoinPublic/detail.do?treasureId=0000010549&idx=45&mode=part
http://shosoin.kunaicho.go.jp/shosoinPublic/detail.do?treasureId=0000010550&idx=46&mode=part
http://shosoin.kunaicho.go.jp/shosoinPublic/detail.do?treasureId=0000010551&idx=47&mode=part
Recogize this? It's the panel recreated in the dyeing video.
http://shosoin.kunaicho.go.jp/shosoinPublic/detail.do?treasureId=0000020735&idx=51&mode=part
PAYDIRT! I think this is a haishi. Google Translate is rendering the name as "hampi". The reconstruction in the Nuikata book doesn't have the contrasting sleeves, but it may be a later style. There are similarities....
http://shosoin.kunaicho.go.jp/shosoinPublic/detail.do?treasureId=0000017556&idx=96&mode=part
