Kimono in Ukiyo-e I (Ukiyo-e is a mass noun)

choi

Lee Lawrence, 'The Kimono in Print': Clothes as Canvas; A show highlights the iconic garment and its influence on printmaking. Wall Street Journal, Mar 1, 2021, at page A13.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the ... -canvas-11614427201

Note:
(a) "the 'Worcester Wedding Kimono' captivates the eye with its pattern of large interlocking octagons in a variety of rich reds, spring greens and soft yellows. * * * The kimono, commissioned by and for the Worcester Art Museum, was supposed to have appeared in a concurrent show organized in conjunction with Chiso, a kimono-making workshop in Kyoto in operation since 1555. * * * In this case, Imai Atsushiro, Chiso's senior designer, devised the composition * * * Nobody has ever crimped, pleated or ruched their fabric; nobody has ever significantly altered their basic T-cut" pf kimonos.
(i) Chisō Co, Ltd  株式会社 千總
(ii) The kanji 千 has Chinese pronunciation sen (as in 千と千尋の神隠し) and Japanese pronunciation chi (as in Chiyoda ku 千代田区 of Tokyo, where Imperial Palace -- 皇居, a residence, because Japanese emperor does not work -- is located)

Take notice that in the anime 千と千尋の神隠し, 荻野 千尋 OGINO Chihiro, after encountering the spirit, was renamed 千 (by the spirit). The 千 in 千尋 uses Japanese pronunciation, and 千 alone switches to Chinese pronunciation, for no particular reason.
(iii) 總 pronounced sō is Chiese pronunciation.
(iv) Chiso's senior designer has his name misspelled. It should be IMAI Atsuhiro, not IMAI Atsushiro.

IMAI Atsuhiro 今井 淳裕 (where Imai 今井 is the family name). The hiro is usually represented by kanji 広, with 弘, 宏 occasionally.
(v) English dictionary:
* ruche (n; (n; "early 19th century from French"-- hence the pronunciation): "a frill or pleat of fabric as decoration on a garment or soft furnishing"
https://www.lexico.com/definition/ruche

The Oxford English dictionary online does not have a definition as a verb. But a couple of online dictionaries do.
For a visual example, one can check en.wikipedia.org for ruche.

(b) "Immediately striking in the printed depictions [ie, in ukiyo-e prints] of kimonos is the endless variety and interplay of motifs [including] tiny 'fawn dots' * * * Occasionally, a full-fledged artwork fills the back of a kimono, the name the garment acquired in the mid-1800s and that translates simply as 'thing to wear.' Kikugawa Eizan's print from around 1830 depicts the courtesan Yoyoyama swiveling to show off the white-on-black brush painting of bamboo that fills the back of her garment, complete with the artist's [reddish and square] signature seals.  The way Yoyoyama gathers her silks creates a deep bend so that the bamboo tilts precariously inward."
(i) Use images.google.com and you will see what "fawn dot" is (googling the term does not help at all). fawn dot is the same as polka dot, but polka dot ay be big cicles, but not fwn dot. Fawn dot get its name from  white dots on a dawn (young deer, that is).
(ii) kimono "translates simply as 'thing to wear' "
(A) See (c) for definition.
(B) yukata
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukata  
is also kimono. Its kanji 浴衣 does not speak fully to the use. In summer, it is hot, so you wear indoors and outdoors -- by men and women, boys and girls.
(iii) "Kikugawa Eizan" is misspelled (by the Worcester museum, not the WSJ art critique, who inherits from the museum). It should be KIKUKAWA Eizan 菊川 英山, which I double check with ja.wikipedia.org, which shows hiragawa pronunciation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kikukawa_Eizan  
(1787 – 1867; a designer of ukiyo-e)
(A) The san is Chinese pronunciation of 山, which is softened to zan due to its position in the middle of a compound word/ term.
(B) The kiku is Chinese pronunciation for kanji 菊. Though Japanese emperor has the (English only, not Japanese) nickname Chrysanthemum Throne.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysanthemum_Throne  
(English for Japanese 皇位 kōi; Japan is the oldest continuing hereditary monarchy in the world)
Chrysanthemum is not natie to Japan, but introduced from China. Hence lack of Japanese pronunciation for 菊.
(iv) Yoyoyama of the Matsubaya
(A) Yoyoyama 世々山 was the prostitute's (or courtesan's) nom de guerre.  (Yo is defined in section (c).)
(B) The brothel she belonged in was Matsubaya 松葉屋.
(v)
(A) Worcester museum has the following caption for the ukiyo-e:
"Kikugawa Eizan (1787–1867), The Courtesan Yoyoyama of the Matsubaya with Her Two Young Female Attendants Standing Under Branches of Cherry Blossoms, ca. 1830, Publisher: Sanoya Kihei, color woodblock print with blind-printing (karazuri) and graduated colors (bokashi), John Chandler Bancroft Collection, [accession number:] 1901.59.2650"
(B) However, the title in this ukiyo-e is 松葉屋内世々山, and signed 英山筆.
(C) On my own I found the publisher of this ukiyo-e was
SANOYA Kihei  佐野屋 喜兵衛 (佐野屋 was his family name, according to ja.wikipedia.org; ki Chinese pronunciation of 喜).
https://www.worcesterart.org/exhibitions/kimono-in-print/
(D) For whatever reason, I fail to find this ukiyo-e online -- in either English or Japanese (including image search) -- despite diligent search for almost an hour.


(c) Jim Breen's online Japanese-English dictionary:
* kimono 着物 【きもの】 (n): "kimono; Japanese traditional clothing (esp. full-length)"

In Japan, kimono are not just women's clothing that we are familiar with.
* yo 世(P); 代(P) 【よ】 (n): "(1) (世 only) world; society; public [as in ukiyo-e]; (2) life; lifetime; (3) age; era; period; epoch; generation"
* keisei 傾城; 契情 【けいせい】 (n): "(See 傾国・けいこく) beauty"
* san-puku-tsui 三幅対 【さんぷくつい】 (n): "set of three"
* hanmoto 版元; 板元 【はんもと】 (n): "publisher
* uroko うろこ(P) 《鱗》 (n): "(1) scale (of fish, snake, etc)"
* shunpon 春本 【しゅんぽん】 (n): "pornographic book"
* soroi 揃い 【そろい】 (n): "set; suit"

(d) "Outside the pleasure quarters, that wealth fueled a desire for fineries, and since women were confined primarily to the domestic sphere, they could indulge themselves without worrying too much about being seen violating sumptuary laws. Ukiyo-e prints offered them virtual fashion shows, creating trendsetters in the process. In Ishikawa Toyonobu's 'Beauties of the Three Capitals,' made around 1740-50, for example, courtesans model styles from Osaka, Kyoto and Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Another contemporaneous Ishikawa print shows the Kabuki actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu I wearing a check pattern he introduced on stage in 1741 that later pops up on a courtesan's sash [See next posting's 6th ukiyo-e]. And notice the diffusion of stripes, which entered Japanese fashion as expensive imports from India and that local workshops then imitated. Here they appear on kimonos of both high- and low-ranking courtesans as well as that of a housewife."
(i) sumptuary (adj)
https://www.lexico.com/definition/sumptuary
(ii) ISHIKAWA Toyonobu  石川 豊信
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishikawa_Toyonobu
(1711-1785)
(iii) About "Beauties of the Three Capitals."

The following are from the collection of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (not Worcester museum, that is), so ukiyo-e is the same, its description are not.
(A) English title: A Triptych of Courtesans (Keisei sanpukutsui): Edo (R), Kyoto (C), Osaka (L).  
Japanese title:「江戸傾城三幅対右　京傾城三幅対中　大阪傾城三幅対左」
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/234523
("Ishikawa Toyonobu (Japanese, 1711–1785)
Publisher: Urokogataya Magobei (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
1750s
DIMENSIONS[:] Uncut hosoban triptych; 29.6 x 43.4 cm (11 5/8 x 17 1/16 in.)
CREDIT LINE[:] William S. and John T Spaulding Collection
ACCESSION NUMBER[:] 21.6860")
(B) In fact the Boston museum has a second ukiyo-e of this (from another donor, with a different accession number).

A Triptych of Courtesans of the Three Cities: Edo, Kyoto, Osaka
(Edo/Kyô/Ôsaka keisei sanpuku tsui)
三都契情三幅対　「江戸契情三幅対右　京契情三幅対中　大阪契情三幅対左」
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/212352
("Ishikawa Toyonobu (Japanese, 1711–1785)  
Publisher: Urokogataya Magobei (Japanese)
* * *
CREDIT LINE[:] William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
ACCESSION NUMBER[:] 11.19672")

契情, not 傾城, is found in the ukiyo-e, where you can also find publisher 板元. See (c) for definition.

British Museum says Urokogataya Magobei 鱗形屋 (actually Urokogataya alone stands or 鱗形屋, which per ja.wikipedia.org was his family name; the given name Magobei 孫兵衛 was not unique), the publisher of this particular ukiyo-e, was a male individual.

孫兵衛 may be pronounced sonbei oe magobei, where son and mago are the respective Chinese and Japanese pronunciations of kanji 孫 (meaning the same: grandchild)

三都 is translated in the WSJ review as three capitals. I would translate three cities: In 1868 Tokyo became Japan's capital and was renamed from Edo 江戸.

triptych
https://www.lexico.com/definition/triptych

(e) "The show also includes other sources [than ukiyo-e prints] . A dozen or so pattern books * * * A 1719 pattern depicts mice negotiating Rube Goldberg-like contraptions. And as risky as it is to include erotica in a show open to families, a tiny grouping about books [note 'books' -- not prints] known as shunpon serves a good purpose. Sex was an acceptable topic as long as it did not cross class lines, and few people other than the 'sour lemon-eaters,' as one 1660 text described strict Confucians, disapproved of shunpon. * * * They [Kimonos] are designed to show off their own beauty, not the body inside, so much so that the beautiful woman depicted in a print often turns out to be a Kabuki actor playing a role [all actors in kabuki 歌舞伎 are male; after actresses were banned in 1628. Per en.wikipedia.org]."
(i) "Yoshiwara makura-e 吉原枕絵 (1660, 13.7 × 20.3 cm), the earliest extant dated shunpon"

Most likely the quotation alluded to this book.
(ii) Unfortunately I fail to find online any part of 吉原枕絵, including the preface

choi

--------------text

Worcester, Mass.

Claiming the spotlight in the center of a large gallery, the “Worcester Wedding Kimono” captivates the eye with its pattern of large interlocking octagons in a variety of rich reds, spring greens and soft yellows. They are stylized maple leaves, inspired by the local landscape over different seasons—but they were not meant to be the centerpiece of “The Kimono in Print: 300 years of Japanese Design,” which explores the ways fashion and printmaking have intersected in Japan. The kimono, commissioned by and for the Worcester Art Museum, was supposed to have appeared in a concurrent show organized in conjunction with Chiso, a kimono-making workshop in Kyoto in operation since 1555.

Covid-19 disrupted that plan, and the museum’s curatorial team deftly adapted. They transformed “Kimono Couture: The Beauty of Chiso” into an online presentation about the history and making of kimonos, each installment pegged to a piece that would have been on display. The final section centers on this garment, the only one to travel here from Japan. In its new venue, surrounded by a selection of some 60 woodblock prints and illustrated books, most from the museum’s permanent collection, the kimono underscores the extent to which these garments act like canvases. Nobody has ever crimped, pleated or ruched their fabric; nobody has ever significantly altered their basic T-cut. All decoration and artistry takes place on their surfaces. In this case, Imai Atsushiro, Chiso’s senior designer, devised the composition, and a team of specialized artisans transferred it onto jacquard silk using five dyeing techniques, embroidery and gold leaf.

Immediately striking in the printed depictions of kimonos is the endless variety and interplay of motifs—flowers, fruits, leaves and grasses; clouds, waves, butterflies and phoenixes; checks, stripes, bold zigzags, tiny “fawn dots,” and on and on. Occasionally, a full-fledged artwork fills the back of a kimono, the name the garment acquired in the mid-1800s and that translates simply as “thing to wear.” Kikugawa Eizan’s print from around 1830 depicts the courtesan Yoyoyama swiveling to show off the white-on-black brush painting of bamboo that fills the back of her garment, complete with the artist’s signature seals.

The way Yoyoyama gathers her silks creates a deep bend so that the bamboo tilts precariously inward. The kimono might therefore be read as advertising not just her cultural refinement but also her effect on men. After all, ukiyo-e or “floating world” images tended to glamorize brothels as paradises of leisure that doubled as salons where artists, courtesans and Kabuki theater actors mingled with samurai and members of the increasingly prosperous merchant class.

Outside the pleasure quarters, that wealth fueled a desire for fineries, and since women were confined primarily to the domestic sphere, they could indulge themselves without worrying too much about being seen violating sumptuary laws. Ukiyo-e prints offered them virtual fashion shows, creating trendsetters in the process. In Ishikawa Toyonobu’s “Beauties of the Three Capitals,” made around 1740-50, for example, courtesans model styles from Osaka, Kyoto and Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Another contemporaneous Ishikawa print shows the Kabuki actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu I wearing a check pattern he introduced on stage in 1741 that later pops up on a courtesan’s sash. And notice the diffusion of stripes, which entered Japanese fashion as expensive imports from India and that local workshops then imitated. Here they appear on kimonos of both high- and low-ranking courtesans as well as that of a housewife.

The show also includes other sources. A dozen or so pattern books give us a taste of the fun that women had mixing and matching motifs, watching styles shift over time, and choosing what mood to express, from dramatic to erudite to whimsical. A 1719 pattern depicts mice negotiating Rube Goldberg-like contraptions. And as risky as it is to include erotica in a show open to families, a tiny grouping about books known as shunpon serves a good purpose. Sex was an acceptable topic as long as it did not cross class lines, and few people other than the “sour lemon-eaters,” as one 1660 text described strict Confucians, disapproved of shunpon. Widely circulated, they were beautifully made and, while artists depicted genitalia with gross exaggeration, they lavished great care and precision on clothing, whether it was being worn or temporarily discarded.

For all the emphasis on heterosexual sex, however, gender seems irrelevant when it comes to kimonos. They are designed to show off their own beauty, not the body inside, so much so that the beautiful woman depicted in a print often turns out to be a Kabuki actor playing a role. Always, surface decoration reigns supreme. This helps explain the refinements in printing techniques we see over the three centuries covered in the show, from monochromatic prints to ever-richer colors and additional accentuating techniques. It also helps explain the puzzling fact that remarkable artists routinely marked, say, the bend of a leg with a realistic crease but then preserved the integrity of a decorative motif across the fold. Like the show and its catalog, the artists had the kimono’s best interest at heart.