ART H 309 A: Final Manifold Exhibition

Group Five: Gender Expectations, Expression, and Oppression in Edo Japan

Arno Yang, Ella Martin, Zoey Zhang, CK Viacrucis, Maggie Smith, and Jens Malone

Introduction:

During the reign of Tokugawa shogunate, there was a resurgence and restoration in peace, arts, and culture after a long period of warfare. With the boost in economy, urbanization, and the arts in such a prosperous period of time, Edo became a center for cultural and social life. Artists began to express themselves in new artforms as well as old such as woodblock prints, screen paintings, scrolls, and clothing. Without war, samurais did not have much to do, but the merchant class grew exponentially, finding new ways to prosper with the new economic and cultural boom in Edo. In order to maintain traditional class structures, the government set up a strict social structure with the emperor, shogun, daimyo, and samurai at the top, and peasants, artisans, and merchants at the bottom. Sumptuary laws enforced class structures as townspeople were not allowed to wear golds, reds, or purples, as well as ornate designs and rich fabrics that would show off one’s wealth (Vaporis, 27-29). While there were strict social laws and structures, men and women of high and low classes resisted these strict expectations through their visits to Yoshiwara, the entertainment district.  

        Yoshiwara, a place of brothels, theater, and entertainment allowed for the mingling and mixing of classes as well as a topic for many artists. Within a realm of fantasy, courtesans in extravagant, bright clothes paraded the streets, kabuki performances created celebrity-like figures, and brothels, teahouses, and shops became popularized; however, through all of the glitz and glamour, there were contracts, controlled prostitution, and harmful realities that went unspoken (Khan Academy). From a modern, Western perspective, issues of sexuality, gender, and sex work may not apply to how the people within Edo at the time may have felt, but there is also not a lot of documentation on the feelings of courtesans, wakashu, and women in general.

        This digital art exhibit highlights the various ways in which the gender binary fits into Edo Japan expectations and gender roles, as well as how they may have inspired various modes of individual expression to defy or fit those standards. From exploring the wakashu as a “third gender,” to women’s fashion, and the lives of courtesans, Edo artists found interest and charm in the lives of those mostly through a male gaze. In the first section, expectations, viewers will get a glimpse at the roles and duties of women and wakashu. In the section of expression, viewers will be able to break down the elements of Edo women’s fashion in three different sectors: upper class women, courtesans, and onnagata performers. Fashion not only emphasizes class and wealth, but allows for women of any class to express enhanced forms of femininity whether it be for sexual and economic purposes as a courtesan, or to appease societal standards that catch the public eye. Just how much of their expressions of gender as seen in clothing are expressions of their own, or are they controlled by the male gaze and the gender binary?

 Lastly, this exhibition will discuss the ways in which both the wakashu and the women, specifically those within the Yoshiwara district, are oppressed and harmfully set and/or expelled from their respective gender roles. It is also important to note that the term oppression, as well as our viewpoint regarding these gender roles, is that of a modern and Western ideology. This exhibition will also analyze the imposition of the male gaze onto the history of these gender roles, and therefore making it difficult to gain a clear insight into the lives of these people. These concepts will be showcased through the use of their respective gender expressions and expectations, as well as the use of a societally enforced status quo’s moving down from the government onto the people of the Edo Period.

Expectations:

 Jens Malone: Women Expectations

• Expectations for Women in the Edo period, Specifically Regarding Class and Career
• Women’s Choices, or Lack of, Specifically Regarding in their Career
• How Women Entered into Working within the Yoshiwara District

Women Representing the Four Social Classes, (c. 1836-1838)

Mother Teaching her Daughter Calligraphy, from the series, Twelve Occupations of Women, (c. 1798)

A Yoshiwara Analogue of the Story of Koko (Huang Xiang) one of the Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety, (c.1791)

Arno Yang: Wakashu Expectations

• The difference between wakashu as people, their societal expectations, and other’s perceptions.
• Wakashu Comparison to Other Cultures. (Ex. Pederasty)

Plate from the Erotic Book Mounds of Dyed Colors: A Pattern Book for the Boudoir First Month, Okumura Masanobu

Warren Cup, from 5-15 AD (Greco-Roman period), silver. 

Kylix (wine drinking cup), by the Brygos Painter, 5-6th century, red figure pottery

CK Viacrucis: Wakashu, a Third Gender?

• Does the unique social expectations, specifically sexual role, of wakashu qualify them as a “third” gender?

Isoda Koryusai. Samurai Wakashu and Maid.

Miyagawa Isshō. Samurai and Wakashu

Suzuki Harunobu. Plum Blossoms at the Edge of the Water, from Fashionable Versions of Poetry Immortals in the Four Seasons

Expression:

Maggie Smith: Edo Women Fashion/Costume Kimonos

• Upper Class Women: Sumptuary Laws, Rich Fabrics and Color, Embroidery, Seasonality, Expressing Wealth and Femininity.
• Courtesans: Breaking the Rules, Red (Safflower), Desire Through the Restricted Fashion
• Kabuki Performers: Trend-setters, Heavily Ornate, Theatrical, Onnagata

The Courtesan Takihime and Attendants (1795)

Kimono (Uchikake) (first half of 19th C) 

The Onnagata Actor Iwai Kumesaburo III as Sakura-hime and the actor Ichikawa Danjuro VIII as Kiyomizu Seigen (1852)

Oppression:

Zoey Zhang: Wakashu

• Symbolic Meaning and Identity Assosiated with Hair and Clothing

• Sakako and Disappearance of Wakashu
• Introduction of Western Culture

Wakashu with a Shoulder Drum by Hosoda Eisui (active 1790-1823), Sir Edmund Walker Collection

Detail of “Two Couples in a Brothel” (1769–70), by Suzuki Harunobu.

Woodblock print by Ishikawa Toyonobu, 1740, showing two actors portraying a wakahū (left and an adult man (right)

Ella Martin: Women’s Oppression

• The use of: objectification and romanticism as mechanism to further Opress Edo Period women, specifically the women of the Yoshiwara District.
• Exploration into women lack of rights, lack of choice, and the use of violence in order to estatblish and enforce women’s lower status and strict gende roles throughout the Edo Period.

“High-Ranking Courtesan” (Oiran), from the series Five Shades of Ink in the Northern Quarter (Hokkoku goshiki-zumi)

A Low Class Prostitute (Gun[Teppo]), from the series “Five Shades of Ink in the Nothern Quarter” (Hokkoku goshiki-zumi)

Street Scene in the Yoshiwara

Three Women Enjoying Literary Pursuits

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