Nureki Chimuo Archive

My friend Mr. K gave me a large, beautifully bound book titled “History of Japanese Women's Attire.”

Although it’s called a “History of Women’s Attire,” it’s not a history of the hobby of men dressing as women.22

It is, quite simply and frankly, a history of women’s clothing, including hairstyles, dating back to the ancient Yamato period.

It is a 230-page deluxe volume printed on high-quality art paper and featuring scholarly commentary and rich, detailed photographs.

It features a foreword by the Director of the Tokyo National Museum and the price is not specifically listed. It may be a book distributed exclusively to special members and not sold to the general public. The publisher is listed as the All-Japan Doll Masters Association. 22

The term 女装 is used here, and can be translated as either female attire or cross-dressing.

When I received it, I immediately spread its substantial pages with both hands and I couldn’t help but exclaim, “Oh, this will come in handy when I write historical fiction!”

In other words, it is a truly easy-to-understand and invaluable resource for historical research.

I happened to be writing a historical novel at the time. I was in the midst of devising the design for a silver hairpin worn by a woman, formerly the wife of a samurai, now working at a tea house, and I immediately turned to this book for reference.

This unique silver hairpin, worn by the former samurai’s wife, is a crucial prop. It is found discarded in a river near the scene of a murder, and the perpetrator is identified through it.

So, I was grateful to be able to put it to immediate use in the historical novel I was writing. But at that moment I also happened to notice something else.

Had Mr. K given me this thick, valuable reference book with the intention of providing material for my historical novel?

No, I wondered, it couldn’t have been just that.

I gazed once more at each and every page of this substantial book.

With every turn of the high-quality art paper, something gradually appealed to my five senses, and eventually it swelled into a troubling, three-dimensional sensation.

Then, without hesitation, my doubts vanished and I felt a surge of joy.

I didn’t try to understand the hidden charm of this specialized book and then come to understand it, I simply grasped it quite naturally. That charm had subtly begun to emanate from the pages.

There are probably around twenty models featured in this “History of Japanese Women’s Clothing.” The same person plays multiple roles. They are all young women with distinct, well-defined features and neat, clean appearances.

There are not the kind of modern beauties with wide, wide-open eyes and high noses, the stereotypical model-like idols frequently seen in today’s television, movies, and glossy magazines.

Since the costumes and hairstyles are (I believe) faithful recreations of those from various eras in Japan, the models are all women with purely Japanese features that suit those styles.

This series of photographs, featuring women who exude an air of grace and refinement, standing effortlessly while wearing traditional Japanese attire, some of which is quite formal, is nothing short of breathtaking.

To put it bluntly, without beating around the bush, the images are brimming with a certain sensuality.

Precisely because the clothing minimizes skin exposure, it allows the viewer to imagine the hidden female form with a sense of mystery, making it infinitely erotic.

It is often said that the ultimate eroticism lies in the imagination, but how alluring and sensual are the casual poses of these women, dressed properly and formally in traditional Japanese attire!

I’m tempted to call it magnificent and resplendent.

Let’s flip through the table of contents and look at an example.

On the color pages, that is, the pages with full-color illustrations, there is, Yamato Era: A Remnant of the Past Heian Era: Sashi-afugi Momoyama Era: Courtesan with a Karawari Chonmage Early Edo Era: Courtesan with a Hyogo Chonmage Mid-Edo Era: Wheel-shaped Hat Late Edo Era: A Tayu23 from Shimabara Late Edo Era: A court lady’s maid wearing a single-layered kimono Late Edo Era: A court lady’s maid wearing a curtain-style rope

On the black-and-white illustration pages, Nara Era: A Lady of the Nara Imperial Court Heian Era: Court Ladies in Literary Tales Early Edo Era: Courtesan in “Uchikake24 and Maebito25” Early Edo Era: Young Girl in “Kosode26 and Maebito” Mid-Edo Era: Kamigata Courtesan in “Uchikake” Mid-Edo Era: Edo Bride in a “Yukata” Late Edo Era: A maiden from a respectable Edo family in a “kosode” Late Edo Era: A courtesan from Edo’s Yoshiwara district in an “uchikake”

23

A high ranking courtesan during the Edo era. A woman’s bridal robe 25 An ornate knot in the front of a kimono 26 A short-sleeved kimono 24

Meiji Era: A young girl from Tokyo’s lower-class neighborhoods in a “kosode” Meiji Era: A bride from a respectable family in a “kosode” Taisho Era: A bride from a respectable family in a “kosode”

Since it goes on and on like this, I’ll omit the rest. There are 105 illustrations in total, and in addition the front and back endpapers feature more than 70 plates depicting hairstyles from “Hyakunin Nyojo Hinotei” (“A ranking of One Hundred Courtesans”) by the Kyoto artist Yushin Nishikawa, which were copied by the book’s editor, Kanpo Yoshikawa. These, too, are valuable historical materials.

As I turned the substantial pages of this “History of Japanese Women’s Attire,” I quite naturally found myself recalling Yasuhiko Itatsu’s book, “Yoriki, Doshin, Jitte, and Capture Ropes.”

I was recalling the fascinating 27-page section in that book titled “Traditional Arrest Rope Techniques.”

Starting with the second installment of “Talking Theater,” I had been endlessly praising the pages on “Traditional Rope-Binding Techniques” over the course of five installments.

“Traditional Rope-Binding Techniques” features sixty black-and-white photographs accompanied by explanatory text.

The female model in those black-and-white bondage photographs is dressed in what appears to be a white prison uniform and are bound.

This prison-like garment cover the model’s skin generously. It is baggy and oversized. In other words, designed not to fit the female form. It might resemble a judo uniform.

How incredibly erotic this model is. A girl with still-innocent features who is clearly an amateur at first glance (meaning she is not a professional model), dressed in those baggy prison-like garments and bound with rope.

Moved and excited by that series of black and white photographs, which are supremely provocative precisely because they are so simple, so understated, and so niche, I wrote passionately about them at the beginning of this “Talking Theater” six years ago.

As I look at this “History of Japanese Women’s Attire” now, I’m experiencing the same kind of emotion I felt when I wrote enthusiastically about the wonders of “Traditional Rope-Binding Techniques.”

The sensuality of women modestly draped in traditional garments made from ancient Japanese fabrics shares an undeniable commonality, even without rope.

In Fumiko Enchi’s novel, was it “Onna-men” or “Onna-zaka?” There is a psychological portrayal of a woman who prefers to wear traditional kimono.

When I was young, I was deeply moved by a passage suggesting that the formal kimono attire of Japanese women, wrapped in numerous cords and sashes, might be a sensation that leads directly to masochism.

Ah, I finally realized. While providing historical materials, Mr. K must have also wanted to convey to me this sense of wonder, one that is difficult for the general public to understand.

“I finally found this book. I’d like to give it to you, Sensei,” he said as he handed it to me, and the fact that I didn’t realize it right away was probably due to my own senses being dull. I must apologize to Mr. K.

The kimono, the traditional garment of Japanese women, has been shaped and passed down through a refined sense of beauty.

The bodies of Japanese women, concealed within the kimono, cannot be easily seen from the outside precisely because they are hidden and veiled.

Yet those with a talent for imagination can perceive the color of the blood flowing within her and hear the sound of her breathing.

How incredibly sensual is that vivid color of blood and the warmth of her flesh!

The tantalizing sound of a woman’s breathing, which cannot be heard in a nude photograph with her legs spread wide, can be clearly sensed in this photograph of her fully clothed.

It is one’s freedom to fantasize, and it is supremely alluring. It even stimulates and excites my own, aging eroticism.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude, albeit belatedly, to Mr. K for giving me this precious volume.

Furthermore, I plan to deposit this “History of Japanese Women’s Attire,” along with Yasuhiko Iatzu’s “Yoriki, Doshin, Jitte, and Capture Ropes,” at the Sex Industry Museum when the time is right.

I sincerely hope that fellow enthusiasts, who harbor reverence, admiration, and passion for the sight of women properly dressed in kimono, and who can sense the sensuality within, will take the time to flip through its pages.