Design and Ideal Truth
The Journal of the Asian Conference of Design History and Theory
ISSN 2189-7166

No. 5
2024

The Fifth Asian Conference of Design History and Theory
ACDHT 2023 TOKYO / 16-17 September 2023
Tsuda University, Japan

The Fifth Asian Conference of Design History and Theory
Design and Ideal Truth
ACDHT 2023 TOKYO / 16-17 September 2023
Tsuda University, JapanFirst published in March 2024 as an electronic journal.
Related Organizations- Japan Society of Design- Design History Workshop Japan- Design History Group, Japanese Society for the Science of Design
Edited by Tomoko Kakuyama, Keiko Hashimoto, Ritsuko Endo, Hiroka Goto, Fumi Narita, Mayuka
Sato, Yuki Shimizu and Hikari Takashiro
Published by The ACDHT 2023 TOKYO Executive Committee©The ACDHT 2023 TOKYO Executive Committee
ISSN 2189-7166
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.

ACDHT 2023 TOKYO Scientific Committee Members
Yoshinori Amagai
Christof Breidenich
Haruhiko Fujita
Keiko Hashimoto
Toshino Iguchi
Hisayasu Ihara
Tomoko Kakuyama
Ariyuki Kondo
Sonoko Monden
Shinsuke Omoya
Shoichiro Sendai
Mayuka Sato
Yasuko Suga

2

Keisuke Takayasu
Naoko Tanimoto
Hideo Tomita
Naoko Uchiyama
Wendy S. Wong
Chiaki Yokoyama
Noriko Yoshimura

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Fifth ACDHT 2023 TOKYO“Design and Ideal Truth”

1

Session I

Design as Social Activity
Social Design Approaching Social Work:On the Potential Interrelationships
Keisuke Takayasu

8

Folk Crafts or Mingei in the 20th and 21st Centuries
Haruhiko Fujita

16

Session II

Post-War Japan
Isamu Noguchi’s Bridge Railings in Post-War Imaginations of Hiroshima
Naoko Uchiyama

24

Commercial Interior Design as Irony:
A Case Study of Japan in the 1960s and 1970s
Keiko Hashimoto

36

Session III

Posthumanism
Virulence of Posthumanism in Art and Design and the Posthuman Turn
Christof Breidenich, Johannes Wassmer

48

Dehumanization or Communication:
A Design for a ‘Global Village’
Mariko Kaname, Shigeru Maeda

58

3

Session IV

Crafts as Cultural Resources‘Rescued’ Furniture:
Reviving and Reutilising Kyushu University’s Historical Furniture
Akiko Shimbo, Misako Mishima

66

Premium Bashōfu and Rough Bashōfu:
Producing, wearing, and discussing bashōfu, a traditional banana fiber textile from Okinawa
Rie Mori, Fumiko Kakihara, Yoko Nomura
76
Commerce and Craft in the Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book
Yuki Shimizu
84
Designing Disaster Prevention from a Clothing Perspective
Sonoko Suzuki

92

Session V

Design and Environment
Attention to the Body in Viennese Kineticism
Tomoko Kakuyama

104

The Effect of Sound in the Ceramic Works of Toshiko Takaezu
Yukiko Takase

114

Session VI

Architecture
For Democratization of 1989: Demonstration Space in 1950s Leipzig
Hideo Tomita

124

Ideal Community Based on the ‘Primitive Hut’:through Le Corbusier’s ‘Cabanon’
Shoichiro Sendai

132

Session VII

Inheritance of Design
Representation of Nature in Design- Shinzo Komuro and Christopher Dresser
Yuko Takeuchi

4144

A Study of Daoist Immortal Mao Nü:
Ming Dynasty Zhangzhou Ware Dish in the collection of the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
Mao Jiaqi
152

Session VIII

Design for the Future
Minimalism as Potential for Speculative Design to Envision Unlimited Futures
Christof Breidenich

162

Another Fashion Is Possible:
Practice of Making Fashion as Experimenting, Enacting, and Crafting the New Social Worlds
Keiko Onosoe Tatsuhana
172

5The Fifth Asian Conference of Design History and Theory
ACDHT 2023 TOKYO“Design and Ideal Truth”
The Asian Conference of Design History and Theory (ACDHT), established in 2015, is a small-scaleinternational conference dealing with various design-related topics and is held every other year. With
the cooperation of a number of related associations and academic bodies, the conference is held intandem with each group’s regular meetings and annual general meetings. A specific theme isestablished for each conference, and the event is notable for its small scale and its open and lively
discussions.
The theme of the fifth ACDHT, held at Tsuda University, Japan in 2023, was “Design and Ideal
Truth”. John Ruskin once said, “Art is not a study of positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth.”―― ACDHT 2023 TOKYO will apply Ruskin’s words to design, and consider the potential for
design to contribute, not only practically but also theoretically and spiritually, to furthering theideological and social development of humankind.
The purpose of the fifth ACDHT conference on “Design and Ideal Truth” is 1) to shed light on
Design as Humane Act and 2) to grasp more deeply Design as the Age of Post-Humanism.
This issue of The Journal of the Asian Conference of Design History and Theory, therefore, contains
a variety of papers presented at the following Sessions of the conference:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.

Design as Social Activity
Post-War Japan
Posthumanism
Crafts as Cultural Resources
Design and Environment
Architecture
Inheritance of Design
Design for the Future

We hope the ACDHT and its journal will provide continuing inspiration in the field of design history
and theory from global perspectives in the future.
March 2024, TOKYOThe ACDHT 2023 TOKYO Organizers

6Session I

Design as Social Activity

Social Design Approaching Social Work:On the Potential Interrelationships
Keisuke Takayasu
Osaka University

Abstract
Social design has a remarkable similarity to social work, particularly in its shared focus onaddressing clients’ problems and formulating strategies to solve them. When social design shifts its
focus from physical objects to creating systems, events, and communities, it becomes even more
like social work. However, despite these strong parallels, there is often a lack of mutual
understanding, possibly due to their different labels. First, this paper aims to explore the historicalintersection of social design with social work, particularly in the context of a community-based
approach. It will also argue that social design can draw valuable insights from the extensive
experience of social work, particularly in intervention theories, as designers also find themselves in
the role of outsiders. In addition, the paper will explore the potential contributions of social design
to the field of social work. While social design can act as a field of planning that promotes social
innovation, it also has the capacity to infuse aesthetic qualities not only into products, but also into
all activities aimed at addressing social problems. When social activities are inherently appealing,
individuals are more likely to actively participate and work together towards common goals.
Creating an environment that fosters enjoyment contributes significantly to the long-term successof social initiatives.
Keywords: Social Design; Community Design; Social Work; Community; Aesthetics

Introduction
Awareness of social design only grew as the social responsibility of designers was closely
examined, especially as the negative impact of commercial design became more apparent in thesecond half of the 20th century. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 21st century that the term‘social design’ gained widespread recognition. Today, social design is generally understood as aform of creative practice that prioritizes addressing social issues over the pursuit of profit as a
primary goal.
Social design can be compared to social work when it is about addressing clients’ problems
and developing strategies to solve them. When social design shifts its focus from practical tools tocreating systems, events, and communities, it becomes even more like social work. However,despite their strong similarities, these two fields often lack mutual understanding, perhaps due totheir different labels. This paper aims to explore the historical intersection of social design withsocial work, what social design can learn from social work and what it can contribute to the field ofsocial work.

8

Social Design Approaching Social Work

Three Stages of Social Design Development
At first glance, the debate around social design seems vibrant. Even without the term social design,
there are numerous methodologies and case studies addressing various social problems. However,social design has not been recognized as a field for a long time, and because of its nature of trying
to solve immediate problems, the history of social design has not been well described. Whileawareness of social design began to grow in the second half of the 20th century, discussions ofsocial design often refer to figures such as William Morris, which requires an acknowledgement of
the 19th century context when delving into the history of social design. For this reason, I havealready proposed a three-stage model for tracing the development of social design. I will firstreview this model. (1)The first stage of social design involves a contemplation of society with the aim of creating
aesthetically pleasing products as a response to labor-related problems. In the Western countries of
the 19th century, two different interests coexisted. On the one hand, charity workers were driven by
the urgency of addressing the labor problems caused by rapid industrialization and theimpoverishment of urban workers. On the other, artists, craftsmen and architects devoted theirtalents to creating beautiful decorations. In 19th century England, however, John Ruskin played a
key role in bridging these two different interests. He saw human work in the craftsmanship ofGothic artisans and celebrated the beauty of ornament created by human labor (2). Later, William
Morris took up the challenge of translating Ruskin’s ideals into practical reality (3).
The second stage of social design marks a clear awareness of its contribution to society, witha focus on creating what is truly essential, while reassessing designers’ responsibility for excessive
consumption (4). With the spread of mass production systems in the second half of the 20th
century, industrial design became a recognized profession. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, as
environmental concerns gained recognition and issues of social justice, particularly between Northand South, came to the fore, questions arose about the social responsibility of industrial designers.
Towards the end of the 20th century, industrial designers began to change their perspective. They
began to actively seek to create environmentally sustainable products and those that directly
addressed social issues.
The most influential book during this period was Victor Papanek’s 1971 book ‘Design for
the Real World’ (5). The book was critical of commercial designers for designing luxuries for a
handful of rich people while neglecting the essential needs of the majority. Papanek argues thatindustrial and advertising designers often show indifference to areas that are not economicallyprofitable, failing to contribute to the real needs of people in areas such as labor, education, health,and welfare. Papanek shows creations such as a brazier made from a number plate, an irrigation
pump made from old tires and a transport vehicle assembled from an old bicycle.
The third stage of social design is about actively shaping society itself, with a focus on
rebuilding broken social bonds to improve people’s quality of life. Even when the infrastructure isin place to improve people’s lives, it must be maintained by local communities. Similarly, it’s notenough to create convenient tools for social care; it’s vital that people can use them effectively. In
the 21st century, designers have become aware that the scope of design extends beyond physicalobjects. They recognize that their main task is now to create social systems, to initiate workshops
and to foster cooperation.
The third stage of social design revolves around Ryō Yamazaki. He openly defines his workas ‘community design’ (6), emphasizing that it’s not about creating physical things. Instead, he sees
his work as a means of connecting people. Originally trained in landscape design, he realized theimportance of people’s care in maintaining designed spaces such as parks and shifted his focus tothe crucial task of nurturing communities in need. The concept of community design seems to havelittle recognition outside Japan, and its development has been strongly influenced by his own
experiences. Within the field of social design, community design is often seen as an attempt to
9The Journal of the Asian Conference of Design History and Theory, No. 5, 2024.

ISSN 2189-7166

address social problems. However, Yamazaki offers a different perspective, seeing community
design primarily as a task of fostering cooperative relationships between individuals, empowering
them to tackle challenges independently. In essence, cooperation between people is an informal
relationship that cannot be designed directly.
A community is a group of members who share a sense of belonging and engage incooperative relationships. Community design is about fostering collaborative relationships in social
activities for people to address common challenges. Professional designers only play a role increating triggers, such as systems that support social activities or initiate events. They may also
design meeting spaces and printed materials. This preliminary work already involves citizen
participation. Community design aims at three outcomes: first, to make social activities inherently
attractive to encourage cooperative relationships; second, to turn social problems into non-issues
and maintain a good community; and third, to ensure that everyone leads a fulfilling life.
The three typologies described above represent stages in the evolution of social design, but
it’s important to note that each stage does not necessarily replace the previous one. Both the goal of
improving working conditions and the goal of responding to people’s real needs are still relevant
today. Rather than a linear progression, this three-stage model emphasizes the accumulation oftasks and experiences over time (Fig.1). Moreover, the roots of each stage can be traced back to theprevious one. In fact, the third stage, in which a designer’s primary role is to build relationships
between people, can also be observed in the earlier stages. This suggests that the creation ofcommunities was not initially seen as a task for designers. Nevertheless, the three-stage model
described here effectively captures the evolving mindset of designers in each historical period.

Figure 1: Accumulation Model

Parallel Histories: Divergence and Convergence
Next, after reviewing what social work is and how it has evolved, we will examine how social
design intersects with social work today. At its core, social work is a professional endeavor
dedicated to advancing social welfare by addressing diverse social problems. The definition
articulated by the International Federation of Social Workers in 2014 captures the meaning ofsocial work more broadly than is commonly thought. According to this definition, social work goesbeyond individual casework with households in need; it encompasses all social innovation efforts
aimed at improving human well-being.
10Social Design Approaching Social WorkSocial work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes socialchange and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people.
Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility, and respect for diversities arecentral to social work. Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities andindigenous knowledges, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges
and enhance wellbeing. The above definition may be amplified at national and/or regional
levels. (7)The origins of social work can be traced back to 19th-century Britain, following the Industrial
Revolution (8). During this period, charity networks started to emerge in response to the increasing
issue of poverty. From the outset, two distinct approaches became apparent. The first approach wasrepresented by the Charity Organization Society, which was established in 1869. This organization
conducted surveys in each district to identify those in need of assistance, aiming to empower themto achieve self-reliance. The second approach was exemplified by the Settlement Movement,
which began in the 1880s. This was a group of university students who ventured into impoverishedareas to address the social conditions contributing to poverty.
In the first half of the 20th century, social work with a focus on individuals in need ofassistance was established as casework carried out by trained professionals (9). In the second halfof the 20th century, however, criticism emerged that casework for individuals or families did notalways address the underlying causes of social problems. This criticism led to the rise of ‘radical’social work (10), which aimed to reform social systems, and community social work (11), which
aimed to promote mutual support within communities. Today, social work in developed countries
still emphasizes casework with individuals and families. However, it has also gained valuable
experience in the field of community social work, reflecting a more comprehensive approach to
tackling social challenges (12).
The origins of social design share common roots with the origins of social work, both
stemming from 19th-century charity efforts (Fig.2). One of the influential figures during thisperiod in 19th century Britain was John Ruskin, an art critic and social activist. Ruskin played apivotal role in inspiring artist-designers like William Morris and guided activists toward social
welfare initiatives. In contrast, during the 20th century, both design work, including social design,and social work were increasingly acknowledged as distinct professions.

Figure 2: Parallel Histories

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ISSN 2189-7166

The situation has changed in the 21st century. Community design, as a form of social design,
is not limited to the creation of products, but also involves thinking about social systems,
organizing workshops, and fostering relationships between people, and requires design thinking
from local people, social workers and others involved in the process. This dynamic makes
community design, as a form of social design, closely like community social work. Yamazaki, aprominent proponent of community design, also recognizes the striking similarities between thetwo (13). In Japan, a remarkable structure has emerged in which designers commissioned by thegovernment are actively engaged in community design as part of social welfare services.
Complementary Relation
Social design and social work share a common goal of enhancing people’s quality of life byaddressing social issues. As previously mentioned, they intersect in their community-focused
efforts. However, despite these similarities, both fields can remain somewhat disconnected. It’s
important to note that social design only gained widespread awareness in the second half of the20th century, whereas social work had already gained substantial recognition in the first half of the20th century. Consequently, social work has accumulated a wealth of practical experience and amore extensive body of theoretical research. Hence, our initial question is what social design canlearn from the knowledge of social work.
Social design has much to learn from social work. Among many issues, the most important is
the theory of intervention as a guide to practice (14). The importance of this lies in the fact thatdesigners, like social workers, often find themselves in the role of outsider when dealing withindividuals facing challenges (15). In social work theory, intervention represents the stage ofengagement with the person in question. It has been discussed in terms of ‘anti-oppressive’ practice(16), emphasizing sensitivity to the situation. Alongside the discussion of intervention, it’s also
important to refer to the discourse of care (17), which goes beyond nursing to encompass a broader
notion of consideration. These theoretical foundations can significantly enhance the approach toworking with people.
The next question is: what can social design contribute to social work? One of the mainfunctions of design is to plan the creation of new things or the initiation of new projects. Social
work, as defined by the International Federation of Social Workers in 2014, may encompass
activities aimed at social innovation. However, at least in Japan, the qualification system for social
workers typically emphasizes the ability to effectively manage existing welfare administration,with less emphasis on a mindset for systemic reform (18). In this context, social design, as aninherently planning field, can play an important role in identifying problems within the current
social welfare system and proposing improvements.
Social design as a design discipline extends its influence into the aesthetic realm byincorporating elements with aesthetic qualities beyond mere beauty (19). These include attributes
such as comfort, vibrancy, and relaxation. Social design makes a unique contribution byincorporating specific appeals into planned initiatives, especially when addressing social issues
such as care. It strives to ensure that the spaces used, the printed materials distributed, and otheritems involved in these initiatives are not only aesthetically pleasing but also imbued withprofound meaning.
Community Design is Still Design
The third stage of social design, community design, aims to encourage social activities with thecooperative relationship between people to independently address social problems they encounter.
12

Social Design Approaching Social WorkIn this approach, designers focus on designing the starting points. They design systems for citizen
participation, events that facilitate interpersonal connections and, if necessary, meeting spaces andprinted materials. This raises the question of how community design in Japan differs from previous
community development and community social work, and why community design is still design.
The distinctive role of design in planning isn’t limited to community design, as other formsof community work also involve planning. What distinguishes community design is its aesthetic
focus, in particular its emphasis on making social activities aesthetically attractive to encourage
active participation and foster cooperative relationships. Professional designers play a crucial rolein the preparatory work, developing systems to facilitate participation, organizing launch eventswith broad generational appeal, and creating aesthetically pleasing environments conducive tocooperation.
A notable example is the ‘Oi Oi Oi Exhibition’ initiative organized by Studio L (20). In 2018and 2019, Studio L, under the direction of Ryo Yamazaki, launched a ‘Design School’ program toaddress caregiver welfare issues. This initiative took place simultaneously in eight different regions
across Japan. The Design School program was designed to encourage participants to work together
to develop plans to improve caregiver welfare, an area that is often seen as challenging. Unlike
traditional schools, this program didn’t involve traditional teachers. Instead, it brought together
people working in the care and welfare sector with those involved in community development anddesign. These diverse groups met seven times to collaborate on improvement plans, which werethen presented at an exhibition in Tokyo for teams from different parts of Japan to share. The ‘Oi
Oi Oi Exhibition’ showcased 67 projects in total, including a company where people in need ofcare work for young people, tour guides led by elderly people who sometimes go to the wrong
places, and a circle where men who tend to be isolated can enjoy ‘feminine’ activities such asaromatherapy.
Conclusion
Social design has a strong similarity with social work in its common focus on addressing social
problems. Both have their origins in 19th century charity work and eventually developed into
distinct professions. In the 21st century, however, a specific type of social design, known in Japanas community design, which focuses on creating social systems, organizing events such asworkshops, and fostering connections between people, intersects with the efforts of community
social work.
In general, social design can gain valuable insights from the extensive experience of social
work, especially in relation to intervention theories, as designers also find themselves in the role ofoutsiders intervening in the lives of clients. Conversely, social design can serve as a planning fieldthat stimulates social innovation within contemporary social work practice. Considered as a formof design, social design can also make a significant contribution to the aesthetic field. It has thecapacity to infuse aesthetic qualities not only into useful devices, but also into social activities
themselves.
Notes
1. Keisuke Takayasu, “Shakai Dezain no Mittsu no Dankai [Three Stages of Social Design
Development],” a+a Bigaku Kenkyū [a+a Aesthetics Research] 14, (2023): 90-119.
2. John Ruskin, “The Nature of Gothic,” in Selected Writings, ed. Dinah Birch (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2004), 32-63.
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ISSN 2189-7166

3. William Morris, William Morris on Art and Socialism, ed. Norman Kelvin (New York: Dover,1999).
4. Nigel Whiteley, Design for Society (London: Reaktion Books, 1993).
5. Victor Papanek, Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change, 2nd ed.
(London:Thames and Hudson, 1984); Mateo Kries, Amelle Klein, and Alison J. Clarke, eds.,
Victor Papanek: The Politics of Design (Weil am Rhein: Vitra Design Museum, 2018).
6. Ryō Yamazaki, Komyunitī Dezain no Jidai [The Age of Community Design] (Tokyo: Chūkō
Shinsho, 2012).
7. This definition was approved by the IFSW General Meeting and the IASSW General Assemblyin July 2014.
8. John H. Pierson, A New History of Social Work (London and New York: Routledge, 2023);
Steve Rogowski, Social Work: The Rise and Fall of a Profession? (Bristol: Policy Press, 2020);
Terry Bamford, A Contemporary History of Social Work: Learning from the Past (Bristol:
Policy Press, 2015).
9. Elizabeth N. Agnew, From Charity to Social Work: Mary E. Richmond and the Creation of an
American Profession (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2004).
10. Roy Bailey and Mike Brake, eds., Radical Social Work (London: Edward Arnold, 1975). Mike
Brake and Roy Bailey, eds., Radical Social Work and Practice (London: Edward Arnold,1980). Michael Lavalette, et al., Radical Social Work Today: Social Work at the Crossroads(Bristol: Policy Press, 2011).
11. Peter M. Barclay, Social Workers: Their Role and Tasks (London: Bedford Square Press, 1982).
12. Paul Stepney and Keith Popple, Social Work and the Community: A Critical Context for
Practice (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).
13. Takashi Miyashiro, Hishinuma Mikio, and Kensaku Ohashi, eds., Komyunitī Sōsharu Wāku no
Aratana Tenkai [New Developments in Community Social Work] (Tokyo: Chūōhōki
Publishing, 2019), 38-54.
14. Victor Margolin and Sylvia Margolin, “A ‘Social Model’ of Design: Issues of Practice andResearch,” Design Issues 18, no.4 (Autumn 2002): 24-30.
15. Trevor Lindsay, ed., Social Work Intervention, 2nd ed. (London: SAGE Learning Matters,2013).
16. Jane Dalrymple and Beverley Burke, “Anti-oppressive Practice,” in The Routledge Handbookof Social Work Theory, ed. Malcolm Payne and Emma Reith-Hall (London: Routledge, 2019),
340-349.
17. Michael D. Fine, “Care and Caring,” in The Routledge Handbook of Social Work Theory.
18. Eisaku Ide, Kazue Kashiwagi, Tadasuke Kato, and Yasuharu Nakashima, Sōsharu Wākā:‘Mijika’ o Kakumei Suru Hito [People Revolutionizing the ‘Familiar’] (Tokyo: Chikuma
Shinsho, 2019), 84.
19. Robert Stecker, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art: An Introduction (Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, 2010).
20. Studio-L, ed., Oi Oi Oi Ten [Exhibition: Aging] (Tokyo: 3331 Arts Chiyoda, 2019).

14Social Design Approaching Social Work

Author Biography
Keisuke Takayasu
Keisuke Takayasu, a Professor of Aesthetics at the Graduate School of Humanities at Osaka
University, teaches courses in art and design. Takayasu has worked mainly with the history ofmodern design, aesthetics of craft and industrial products, and the theory of visual communication.
His recent interests cover the ethics of social design, aesthetics of critical design, and practice offood design. Takayasu teaches students enrolled in their Bachelors, Masters, and PhD level courses,
and has published several articles on the topics.

15

Folk Crafts or Mingei in the 20th and 21stCenturies
Haruhiko Fujita
Osaka University

Abstract‘Folk Crafts (Mingei)’ was a new concept of beauty coined by Yanagi Muneyoshi (1889-1961),
Kawai Kanjiro (1890-1966), and Hamada Shoji (1894-1978) in December 1925. The Japan Folk
Crafts Museum Establishment Prospectus was published in April 1926 including Tomimoto
Kenkichi (1886-1963). In 1928, the Folk Crafts Museum (Mingei-kan) was opened in Ueno, Tokyo.
In 1936, the Japan Folk Crafts Museum (Nihon Mingei-kan) was opened in Komaba, Tokyo.
Following the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Tokyo, the Kurashiki Folk Crafts Museum inOkayama Prefecture opened in 1948 after World War II. The first director of the Kurashiki Folk
Crafts Museum was Tonomura Kichinosuke (1898-1993). After opening the Kurashiki Folk Crafts
Museum, crafts museums were opened in the nearby Ohara Museum of Art in the 1960s and 1970s.
Kurashiki City in Okayama Prefecture is an important city for both modern art and traditional folk
crafts. In 1961, Serizawa Keisuke (1895-1984) drew a concept map for the Ohara Museum of
Crafts Gallery.
The China Academy of Art (CAA) is a provincial public fine arts college located in
Hangzhou City, Zhejiang, along with the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. The CAA is an
important art academy in China. The Bauhaus exhibition hall of the China Academy of Art is thelargest museum in Asia. Japanese architect Kuma Kengo (1954-) designed and opened the Crafts
Museum of the China Academy of Art in 2015.
Keywords: Art; Craft; Folk Crafts; Design; Academy of Art; Architecture

INTRODUCTION
Folk Crafts (Mingei), a term used in Japan in 1925-26, is somewhat similar to the Arts and Crafts
Exhibition, which opened in London, England in 1888. However, the 16th Arts and Crafts
Exhibition included a mass production section from 1935 onwards. The Japan Folk Crafts Museum,
which was held in 1936, emphasized single-produced crafts and traditional folk crafts, and thevarious folk craft museums that opened in various parts of Japan after World War II from 1948 also
valued original productions.
Folk Crafts (Mingei) is an abbreviation for ‘people's crafts,’ and the people and crafts were
the basis of folk crafts. The people are the many ordinary people who make up the nation andsociety. The masses and common people are ordinary people without any special status or property.
The people are also ordinary people, and they value the works of many people.
Folk Crafts (Mingei), which started in 1925, is basically the same even in the 2020s, almost ahundred years later, but there are some differences. The International Arts and Crafts exhibition
held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2005 also focused on Japanese Folk Crafts (1).

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Folk Crafts or Mingei in the 20th and 21st Centuries

The Japan Folk Crafts Museum Establishment Prospectus, 1926
Kawai Kanjiro (河井寛次郎 1890-1966) and Hamada Shoji (濱田庄司 1894-1978) were ceramicartists who graduated from the Ceramics Department of the Tokyo Higher Technical School.
Tomimoto Kenkichi (富本憲吉 1886-1963) entered the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and majored inarchitecture and interior decoration (2).
Tomimoto went to London to study at his own expense in November 1908. Tomimotostudied stained glass in the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London in 1909. Tomimoto
returned to Japan in 1910 and later became a ceramic artist as well (3).
In April 1926, Yanagi Muneyoshi (柳宗悦 1889-1961), Kawai Kanjiro, and Hamada Shoji,
including Tomimoto Kenkichi, published the Japan Folk Crafts Museum Establishment Prospectus(4) (Fig 1).

Figure 1: The Japan Folk Crafts Museum Establishment Prospectus, 1926
Kawai Kanjiro, Yanagi Muneyoshi, Hamada Shoji, Tominoto Kenkichi
The Folk Crafts Museum in the Tairei Memorial Domestic Products Promotion, 1928
The Tairei Memorial Domestic Products Promotion Tokyo Exhibition was set up in Ueno Park.
The Folk Craft Museum, which was set up by Yanagi Muneyoshi, Takabayashi Hyoe (高林兵衛
1892-1950) and others, was a very traditional building (Fig 2), but the other buildings were ofmodern architecture. Many modern buildings were built in Ueno (5).
Kurahashi Tojirou (倉橋藤治郎 1887-1946), who served as secretary-general of the Tairei
Memorial Domestic Products Promotion Tokyo Exhibition and commissioned the exhibition at the
Folk Crafts Museum. Kurahashi also graduated from the Ceramics Department of the Osaka
Higher Technical School.
In 1931, Takabayashi and Yanagi opened the Japanese Folk Crafts Art Museum at
Takabayashi's home in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, but it was closed after only two
years.

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Figure 2: The Folk Crafts Museum, 1928
The Japan Folk Crafts Museum, 1936
Yanagi Muneyoshi moved to Kyoto after the Great Kanto Earthquake in September 1923, andmoved again to Tokyo, Meguro Komaba in January 1935. In March, Yanagi received an offer frombusinessman Ohara Magosaburo (大原孫三郎 1880-1943) for financial assistance in opening an
art museum, and in October 1936, Yanagi opened the museum next to his residence in Komaba,
Tokyo. The first Japan Folk Crafts Museum (日本民藝館) was opened (Fig 3).
The important Japan Folk Crafts Museum opened in Komaba, Tokyo in 1936 as Japanese
wooden buildings. Yanagi Muneyoshi House was designed by Yanagi himself. He purchased a
Nagayamon Gate along the Nikko Highway in Tochigi Prefecture (6). The Japan Folk Crafts
Museum was most necessary for the design of the main building because it is a wooden museum.
The Japan Folk Crafts Museum is important, but it was temporarily closed in March 1945,
when Japan was about to lose the war. They reunited in December 1945 after the war, but closed
again in January 1947. However, it was officially reopened in March 1947.

Figure 3: The Japan Folk Crafts Museum, 1936
After World War II, folk crafts museums opened one after another in various parts ofJapan
After the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, the Kurashiki Museum of Folk Crafts (倉敷民藝館) was
opened in 1948. The first director was Tonomura Kichinosuke (外村吉之介 1898-1993). After
opening the Kurashiki Folk Crafts Museum, crafts museums were opened in the nearby Ohara
Museum of Art in the 1960s and 1970s. Kurashiki City in Okayama Prefecture is an important city
for both modern art and traditional folk crafts (Fig 4).
18

Folk Crafts or Mingei in the 20th and 21st Centuries

Following the Kurashiki Folk Crafts Museum in Okayama Prefecture, a folk crafts museum
was opened in the prefectural capital of Tottori Prefecture in December of the following year, 1949.
It was established as the Tottori Folk Crafts Museum (鳥取民藝館) by Yoshida Shoya (吉田璋也
1898-1972), a doctor and folk arts activist, and was renamed the Tottori Folk Crafts Museum (鳥取民藝美術館) the following year (Fig 4). However, the English names are the same.
The Matsumoto Folk Craft Museum (Nagano) opened in 1962. The Kumamoto International
Folk Craft Museum and the Toyama Folk Craft Museum (Municipal Folkcraft Village) opened in
1965. After that, folk craft museums and craft museums were opened in various parts of Japan,
including Gifu, Ehime, Hyogo, Osaka, Kyoto, Shimane, Tochigi, Shizuoka, Tokyo, Aichi,
Yamagata, Miyagi prefectures.

Figure 4: Kurashiki Museum of Folk Crafts, 1948(left) / Tottori Folk Crafts Museum, 1949
Plan for Craft Art Gallery of Ohara Museum of Art, 1961〜1970
In 1961, Serizawa Keisuke (芹沢銈介 1895-1984) drew a concept map for the Craft Art Galleryof Ohara Museum of Art (大原美術館工芸館). Serizawa graduated from the Industrial Design
Department of the Tokyo Higher Technical School. The above diagram is the original plan of the
Ohara Museum of Art, and the Serizawa Museum was in the back right. The drawing below is
Serizawa’s proposal, and the Serizawa Museum is placed on the right side of the front as it istoday.
In 1961, Serizawa established a pottery museum that permanently displayed works byTomimoto Kenkichi, Bernard Leach (1887-1979), Kawai Kanjiro, and Hamada Shoji. In 1963, theMunakata Shiko (棟方志功 1903-1975) Print Gallery and the Serizawa Keisuke Dyeing Gallery
in the Craft Art Gallery of Ohara Museum of Art were also completed. In 1970, the third phase of
the Oriental Art Gallery of Ohara Museum of Art was completed, with Serizawa in charge. (Fig 5)

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Figure 5: Craft Art Gallery of Ohara Museum of Art, 1961, 1963, 1970.
Crafts Museum of the China Academy of Art, 2015
The China Academy of Art (中国美術学院 CAA) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, along with
the Central Academy of Fine Arts (中央美術学院 CAFA) in Beijing, is an important art academy
in China (7). The Bauhaus Exhibition Hall of the China Academy of Art is the largest in Asia or theworld's largest hall outside of Germany.
Japanese architect Kuma Kengo (隈研吾 1954-) designed and opened Crafts Museum of the
China Academy of Art (國美民藝博物館) in 2015 (Fig 6). Kuma Kengo’s roof tiles and glass tiles
are close to folk art (8). Kuma previously worked on postmodern architecture such as the M2
Building in Tokyo, but since then he has also focused on traditional Japanese and architecture
appropriate for all parts of the world. Kuma designed and constructed large buildings around theworld. He emphasizes properties and land in various places such as China, France, and British(Scotland) in his designs.

Figure 6: Crafts Museum of the China Academy of Art (國美民藝博物館), 2015, Kuma Kengo.
Kuma Kengo’s roof tiles and glass tiles are similar to the folk crafts of the China Academyof Art (Fig 7). Also in 2015, the School of Arts and Crafts or Handicraft Academy was opened in
the China Academy of Art (Fig 8). The Crafts Museum may have recently become a simple Art
Museum, but it attaches great importance to arts and crafts. Kuma Kengo’s tiles used for the roof
and glass are close to Mingei. The Crafts Museum is the largest museum of the China Academy of20

Folk Crafts or Mingei in the 20th and 21st Centuries

Art, so it recently became the Museum of the China Academy of Art. However, this Museum
values folk crafts from China and East Asia, including Japan (9).

Figure 7: The China Academy of Art, Crafts Museum, 2015, Kuma Kengo.
Figure 8: The China Academy of Art, School of Arts and Crafts (手工艺术学院), 2015
Conclusion
Folk crafts and folk crafts museums in the 20th and 21st centuries are interesting. Yanagi
Muneyoshi, Kawai Kanjiro, and Hamada Shoji, who started folk crafts, were involved not only inceramics, metalwork, and wood, but also in the production of buildings such as folk crafts
museums. Serizawa Keisuke was more of a dyer than a potter, but he showed an interest inbuilding craft museums and actually cooperated in the construction of many craft museums. Kuma
Kengo established the Folk Crafts Museum at the China Academy of Fine Arts in 2015, and thebuilding itself has become a museum of folk arts and crafts. Kuma Kengo is an architect who hasconstructed buildings all over the world, and also places importance on the architecture andlandscapes of each country. The International Arts and Crafts exhibition held at the Victoria andAlbert Museum in 2005 also focused on Japanese Folk Crafts.
Notes
1.

Karen Livingstone and Linda Parry, ed., International Arts and Crafts (London: Victoria andAlbert Museum, 2005), 296-337.

2.

Soetsu Yanagi with the cooperation of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, SOETSU YANAGI:
Selected Essays on Japanese Folk Crafts, trans. Michael Brase (Tokyo: Japan Publishing
Industry Foundation for Culture, 2017), 75-86.

3.

Kenkichi Tomimoto (Tokyo: The Asahi Shimbun Company, 1986), 171-197.

4.

Tanya Harrod, The CRAFTS in BRITAIN in the 20th Century (New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 1999), 180-192.

5.

100 Years of Mingei: The Folk Crafts Movement (Tokyo: The National Museum of Modern
Art, Tokyo, 2021), 76-77.
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6.

100 Years of Mingei: The Folk Crafts Movement, 114-115.

7.

Christine Tsui, “China and Design Education since 1949” in Encyclopedia of East AsianDesign, ed. Haruhiko Fujita and Christine Guth (Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020), 119-122.

8.

Kengo Kuma and Kenneth Frampton, KENGO KUMA: Complete Works (London: Thames &Hudson, 2018), 330-335.

9.

Haruhiko Fujita, The Century of MINGEI: Arts, Crafts, and Architecture of the World (Kyoto,
Tokyo: Tankosha), 藤⽥治彦『⺠藝の世紀』，淡交社，2024.

Author Biography
Haruhiko Fujita
Dr. Haruhiko Fujita is a Professor Emeritus at Osaka University. He studied with Reyner Banham(1922-1988) at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1979 and Vincent Scully(1920-2017) at Yale University in 1980. Around 2010, he served as deputy director of a design
school held every summer at the University of Bologna in Italy. He is currently mainly studying
the history of art and architecture education. He and Christine Guth edited and published theEncyclopedia of East Asian Design from Bloomsbury Visual Arts in 2020. He has held the “Arts &Crafts and Design: From William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright” exhibition at various museums inJapan, and has also held many commemorative lectures.

22

Session II

Post-War Japan

Isamu Noguchi’s Bridge Railings in Post-War
Imaginations of Hiroshima
Naoko Uchiyama
Hiroshima University

Abstract
In the early 1950s, Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) designed railings for two newly constructed bridges
in the centre of Hiroshima: the Peace Bridge and the West Peace Bridge. These bridges mark one of
the entrances to Peace Memorial Park, which was then under construction near ground zero of the1945 atomic bombing. The rising form of the Peace Bridge’s railings was prevalent in establishing
Hiroshima’s post-war image as a ‘city of peace.’ Although Noguchi was originally commissioned todesign a cenotaph, this plan was rejected, presumably because of the artist’s American citizenship.
The realisation of the bridge railings therefore embodies the somewhat mixed perception of Noguchi
as a Japanese American artist in post-war Hiroshima.
This paper aims to reveal further complexities in this reception by analysing the ways in which
the image of the two bridges appeared in the post-war discourse and representation of Hiroshima ina variety of media, from municipal publications, tourist advertisements and even post offices’ special
cancellation stamps to literature. Archival research has shown that the city of Hiroshima and someof the relevant bodies extensively used images of Noguchi’s railings from around the time of thebridges’ inauguration until the early 1960s. This decade coincided roughly with the domestic
promotion of the ‘peaceful’ use of nuclear energy after the tragedy of Hiroshima, a city that had
fallen victim to the ‘military’ use of the same energy. Nonetheless, some kept their distance from thecelebratory climate of the contemporary reception of Noguchi’s railings, particularly those who
opposed the remilitarisation of Japan’s and the US military presence. Noguchi’s American affiliation
was often implied in the context of this criticism. This paper considers the possibility that Noguchi’s
citizenship was also a matter of interest in relation to the two bridges in post-war Hiroshima, notonly as a contribution to the internationalism of the rebuilt city but also as a reminder of the bombing
and continued military presence.
Keywords: Peace Bridge; West Peace Bridge; Post-war Hiroshima; Isamu Noguchi; American
Introduction
In 1951, the Japanese American artist and designer Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was quoted in The
New York Times: ‘For years I’ve designed gardens and playgrounds—but they remained projects.
These things only come alive when people live with them. Then they give meaning and they take onmeaning’ (1). At the time, the Peace Memorial Park was under construction in the centre ofHiroshima under the initiative of the Japanese modernist architect Kenzō Tange (1913–2005), nearground zero of the atomic bombing by the United States on August 6, 1945. For this project, Noguchi
designed abstract modernist-style railings for two bridges, the Peace Bridge and the West Peace
Bridge, at one of the park’s entrances. The railings were inaugurated in June 1952, unlike his
proposed design for a cenotaph, which was never realised, presumably due to Noguchi’s American
citizenship (2). The Peace Bridge and the West Peace Bridge were named Tsukuru (To Build) andYuku (To Depart), respectively, and still stand in their original locations.
24Isamu Noguchi’s Bridge Railings in Post-War Imaginations of HiroshimaCompared to the extensive studies on Noguchi’s unrealised cenotaph, these two bridges havereceived less scholarly attention (3). This paper examines the reception of these bridges to reveal theways in which these railing designs ‘came alive in people’s lives,’ and Noguchi was identified
accordingly (4). By using socioculturally contextualised examples of reception, this paper aims toshed new light on Noguchi and his bridge railings in the post-war imaginaries of Hiroshima.
Bridge Images Reproduced in Hiroshima, 1950s–1960s
In the first decade after the inauguration of the two bridges, the railings were featured prominently
in official Hiroshima City publications (5). One of the earliest appearances of Noguchi’s railings on
the Peace Bridge was on the cover of the annual city guide, Shiseiyōran 1951 (Fig.1) (6). In theforeground is one edge of the railing, while the Atomic Bomb Dome (formerly Hiroshima Prefectural
Commercial Exhibition Hall) with newly built houses along the river can be seen in the background.
Also inside the guidebook, both the Peace Bridge and the West Peace Bridge were introduced withphotographs in the ‘City Construction’ section, along with the Peace Memorial Museum designed
by Tange and the ‘100-metre street,’ also known as Peace Boulevard (7). Between 1952 and 1961,
both bridges were included in the ‘Tourism’ section of the city guide as one of the tourist destinationsin post-war Hiroshima (8). The text accompanying Peace Bridge in Shiseiyōran 1952 (1953)
describes:
The railings of the Peace Bridge across the Motoyasu River located on the east side of the
Nakajima area . . . and the West Peace Bridge across the Honkawa River located on the west wereboth designed by Mr Isamu Noguchi, and his design with a fresh feeling is a masterpiece perfectfor the city of peace (9).

Figure 1: Cover of Shiseiyōran 1951 (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1952),
Hiroshima Municipal Archives, Hiroshima.
In the city guides, photographs of the two bridges or just the Peace Bridge often accompanied thetext (Figs. 2 and 3), except in 1957, 1960 and 1961. However, from 1963 onwards, the city guidemade almost no reference to the bridges or Noguchi, while other landmarks, such as the Atomic
Bomb Dome, Peace Boulevard and Hiroshima Castle (rebuilt in 1958), were often mentioned (10).
From Shiseiyōran 1989 (1990) to Shiseiyōran 2009 (2010), the guide’s appendices included shortlists of tourist destinations and facilities (from the 2007 edition, only the list of facilities). Although
Peace Memorial Park and Peace Boulevard were on the list, neither the Peace Bridge nor the West
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Peace Bridge appeared (11).

Figure 2 (left): “Heiwa Ōhashi,” Shiseiyōran 1953 (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1954), 293,
Hiroshima Municipal Archives, Hiroshima.
Figure 3 (right): “Heiwa Ōhashi,” Shiseiyōran 1955 (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1956),
248, Hiroshima Municipal Archives, Hiroshima.
During the decade in which Noguchi’s railings were mentioned in the city guide, the twobridges also appeared in relevant Hiroshima City publications. An early example is the 1953 poster
in which the railing of the Peace Bridge is depicted with flying white doves (12). Other examples
include posters for the Hiroshima Fukkō Dai Hakurankai (Hiroshima Restoration Exposition) in
1958 (13), the River Festival in 1960 (14) and for international tourists in 1961 (15). Noguchi’srailings were also popular in tourist brochures. An example from the mid-1950s shows the Peace
Bridge alongside a diagram of the atomic nucleus with the Atomic Bomb Dome in the background(Fig. 4) (16). Another from the late 1950s shows the bridge with the newly reconstructed Hiroshima
Castle (17).

Figure 4: Cover of the Hiroshima no Kankō brochure, c. 1955,
Hiroshima Prefectural Archives, Hiroshima.
The city’s extensive use of Noguchi’s railing designs, particularly those of the Peace Bridge,
in its publications presumably contributed to the formation of the city’s post-war image. For example,
Hiroshima Prefecture also used images of Noguchi’s bridge railings in its publications, such as the26Isamu Noguchi’s Bridge Railings in Post-War Imaginations of Hiroshima

1950s tourist brochure listing seasonal events (18). Another example is a set of tourist postcards
titled Kankō no Hiroshima (Tourist Hiroshima), which were probably produced in 1955 or 1956 (19).
Four locations were selected to represent Hiroshima Prefecture: Onomichi, Tomonoura National
Park, Itsukushima Shrine and Peace City Hiroshima. Here, the photograph chosen for Peace City
Hiroshima shows part of the Peace Bridge’s railing, with a young female figure in a dress looking at
the Atomic Bomb Dome in the distance (Fig. 5) (20).

Figure 5: “Heiwa no Miyako Hiroshima” from the postcard set Kankō no Hiroshima:
Setonaikai-hen Dai-1-shū, c. 1955–56, Hiroshima Prefectural Archives, Hiroshima.
Similar images can be found on the special cancellation stamps used by several branches of
the Japan Post in Hiroshima. In 1954, the Hiroshima, Hiroshima Ekimae, and Ujina branches adopted
a design depicting the Peace Bridge with the Atomic Bomb Dome and doves in the distance (Fig. 6)(21). However, all three branches stopped using this design in 1974 (Hiroshima Nishi [former
Hiroshima] branch), 1975 (Ujina branch) and 1976 (Hiroshima Chūō [former Hiroshima Ekimae]
branch) (22). The 1950s Peace Bridge design has survived on the stamp of the Hiroshima Naka
branch, which introduced the design in 1972 and still uses it today (23).

Figure 6: Japan Post special cancellation stamp used by the Hiroshima branch from January
1, 1954. Fūkei Sutampu Shū, 1988 ed. (Tokyo: Nihon Yūshu Shuppan, 1988), 513.
These examples show that in the mid-1950s, the railings of the Peace Bridge and the West
Peace Bridge were among the symbols in the imagination of Hiroshima, the ‘city of peace’ rebuilt
after its destruction by the atomic bomb. Of the two bridges, the Peace Bridge, with its striking
abstract design, was particularly favoured, presumably because its upward-curving shape reflected
the city’s revitalised atmosphere (as suggested, for example, in the text from the city guide quoted
above). The most significant example of such use is the cover of the August 6, 1952 issue of themagazine Asahigraph (Asahi Picture News). This issue is known for its social impact in postoccupation Japan, as it featured extensive photographs of the damage caused by atomic bombs (24).
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The cover shows a smiling young woman with the railing of the Peace Bridge in the background,affirming the bright future of the rebuilt city (25).
‘Nuclear Energy for Peace’
The extensive use of Noguchi’s railings from the early 1950s to the early 1960s roughly coincidedwith the domestic promotion of the ‘peaceful’ use of nuclear energy in Japan. The Soviet Union’s
successful test of the atomic bomb in 1949 undermined US dominance in the military use of nuclear
power. While the United States continued to project its military competence, it also began to promote
the international use of the same energy for peaceful purposes in order to reduce Cold War tensions(26). In 1953, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) delivered the famous ‘Atoms for
Peace’ speech to the United Nations General Assembly. After the San Francisco Peace Treaty cameinto force in early 1952, reports of unprecedented damage to Hiroshima and Nagasaki increased
dramatically in Japan (27). However, although criticism of the development of atomic and hydrogenbombs was growing among the Japanese population, not to mention Hiroshima, the use of nuclear
energy for ‘peaceful’ purposes was viewed rather favourably (28). As argued in previous studies, thisseemingly contradictory reaction was rooted in the pain of people who suffered indescribably fromthe atomic bomb (29). The use of nuclear power in an alternative context was understood as a wayof mourning the dead and giving meaning to the lives of the bomb victims (30). In other words, one
could be a victim of the atomic bomb and advocate the peaceful use of nuclear energy (31), althoughsuch a discourse was an ideal excuse for those in politics and industry who promoted the ‘peaceful’use of nuclear power (32).
In this context, relevant events took place in Hiroshima. In 1956, the Peace Memorial Museum
became the venue for Genshiryoku Heiwa Riyō Hakurankai (Atoms for Peace Exhibition), which
focused on the peaceful use of nuclear energy and was co-organised by Hiroshima Prefecture,
Hiroshima City, Hiroshima University, the Chūgoku Shimbunsha (local newspaper) and theAmerican Culture Centre of Hiroshima (33). In 1958, the Hiroshima Restoration Exposition washeld in central Hiroshima. One of the highlights of the event was an exhibition on atomic energy
based on the collection donated for the 1956 exhibition (34). The 1958 exhibit juxtaposed the‘peaceful’ use of nuclear power with the damage caused by the atomic bomb, testifying that ‘theimmensity of the atomic bomb experience led to the strong voice that longed for “peaceful use” [ofnuclear energy]’ (35).
Noguchi’s railings were used repeatedly in the publicity for the 1958 exposition. In addition
to one of the posters mentioned above, the cover of the brochure also featured the abstract form of
Noguchi’s railings for the Peace Bridge, although it was relatively small (Fig. 7) (36). The highly
abstracted form of the railings – particularly the disc-shaped edge design – echoed the dot motifs
scattered throughout the design. On this brochure, as in the exposition itself, the Peace Bridge is
depicted at the intersection of two of the three main venues (indicated by two white rectangles). The
image of the bridge can also be found on the special loop-line bus ticket (37) and on the packagingof Peace tobacco, which was specially designed for the event by Akira Uno (b. 1934) (38).

28Isamu Noguchi’s Bridge Railings in Post-War Imaginations of Hiroshima

Figure 7: Cover of the Hiroshima Restoration Exposition brochure (unfolded), 1958,
Hiroshima Municipal Archives, Hiroshima.
Voices of Unease
However, some voices did not necessarily share the enthusiasm for the newly built bridges. Ryōsaku
Takayama’s (1917–1982) painting Contradictory Bridge (1954) (39) may represent such an attitude.
The Peace Bridge is a monumental presence that seems to oppress the people of Hiroshima, whose
presence is represented by the naked female figure lying at the bottom (40).

Figure 8: Illustration by Hiroshi Manabe
Here is Japan (Osaka: Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, 1963), 10–11.
A similarly critical, but perhaps more direct, sense of discomfort with Noguchi’s railing can beseen in the illustration by designer Hiroshi Manabe (1932–2000) for the guidebook Here is Japan,
published in English in 1963 (Fig. 8) (41). The accompanying text reads, ‘It does not matter whether
you visit Hiroshima or not. One thing you should remember when you step on Japanese soil . . . “No
more Hiroshima”’ (42). Manabe’s illustration shows the now-familiar tourist image of Hiroshima –the Peace Bridge with the Atomic Bomb Dome in the background. But it also includes the mushroom
cloud and houses in the middle ground, suggesting the people who lived there when the bomb was
dropped or those who started their lives from scratch afterwards. At the bottom of the mushroom
cloud, where the bomb was supposedly dropped, Manabe depicts the disc-shaped edge design of
Noguchi’s bridge railing. The round shape clearly overlaps with the bomb, whose malevolence isemphasised by the black paint over the disc shape.
Some works in the literature show a similar sense of unease. In Kashū Hiroshima (1954), the29The Journal of the Asian Conference of Design History and Theory, No. 5, 2024.

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collection of tanka (Japanese poems of 31 syllables) by bomb victims, two poems refer directly to
the Peace Bridge. The poem by Tsuyako Adachi reads, ‘On Peace Bridge designed by Isamu Noguchi,
there march trucks of the National Safety Forces one after another’ (43). Another entry by Mamoru
Yamazumi observes, ‘There is Peace Bridge and Jeeps are passing by, while in the distance is thechain of mountains with floating red clouds’ (44). Although the cover of Kashū Hiroshima shows aphotograph of the Peace Bridge railing, neither of these poems refers to the bridge as a positive
symbol of the rebuilt city. Instead, in both cases, the bridge is juxtaposed with military vehicles. In
the first case, the trucks are those of the Japanese National Safety Forces, which were organised in1952 and emerged from their predecessor, the National Police Reserve, formed in 1950 in the wakeof the Korean War at the request of the General Headquarters (45). Adachi’s poem takes a cold lookat the contemporary remilitarisation of Japan (46), and Noguchi’s railing is described as the groundfor these forces. The jeeps in Yamazumi’s poem could be those of the National Safety Forces or the
US forces stationed in Japan. In the latter case, they may remind the readers of Noguchi’s American
citizenship.
An example of the American military power in relation to Noguchi’s bridge railing can befound in a collection of haiku (Japanese poetry of 17 syllables), Kushū Hiroshima (1955). Tokubei
Marumoto’s poem reads, ‘A camera and a prostitute come to Isamu’s bridge and sneer’ (47). This
poem may be a cynical allusion to the images of the Peace Bridge that were widely circulated during
this period, such as the photographs in city publications and postcards or even the cover of the Asahi
Picture News, some of which show young, smiling female figures with Noguchi’s railings. The actual
occupation of the women in the photographs has little bearing on the present analysis; instead, thispaper focuses on the use of the word prostitute in the poem. It is speculated here that the term
prostitute refers to sex workers (i.e. ‘pom poms’) who mainly worked for the US soldiers stationed
in post-war Japan.
Historian Kazuko Hirai, who has studied sexual violence during the Japanese occupation,
points to the sense of revulsion felt by Japanese veterans towards ‘pom poms.’ Their presence denied
the patriarchy that underpinned wartime militarism and served as a powerful reminder to the former
soldiers of their defeat (48). A similar sense of unease, rooted in the denial of Japanese masculinity,
can be observed in Marumoto’s work. In this poem, Noguchi’s bridge itself, by evoking the female
figures of contemporary publications, may be alluding to the male US soldiers in post-war Japanrather than simply describing a place (49).
Conclusion
The public reception of Noguchi’s railings in Hiroshima from the early 1950s to the early 1960s wasambivalent. While the bridges, especially the Peace Bridge, immediately became one of the mostprominent symbols of Hiroshima City’s reconstruction, other voices – particularly those who likely
opposed Japan’s remilitarisation and the continued US presence – were suspicious of this sense of
excitement. It is this complexity that foregrounds Noguchi’s American-ness. Noguchi’s bridge
railings were realised in contrast to his cenotaph design. Yet, his affiliation with the United States
was equally crucial in relation to the bridges. It was not only about bringing a sense ofinternationalism to Hiroshima’s reconstruction project (50) but also, as the research in this paper
suggests, a bitter reminder of the violence of war and its aftermath.
Beyond its ambivalent reception, however, what both the positive and critical attitudes to thebridge design had in common was the ‘feminisation’ of the pacifist post-war image of Hiroshima as
a victim of tragedy and a symbol of peace (51). This is particularly evident in the photographs of thePeace Bridge, with smiling young female figures representing peace and innocence, as well as in
Takayama’s painting, which depicts the victim as a young woman in need of rescue. Furthermore,
the haiku poem that juxtaposes Noguchi’s bridge with a woman who is supposedly a sex worker may
30

Isamu Noguchi’s Bridge Railings in Post-War Imaginations of Hiroshima

also be part of this patriarchal rhetoric. In this poem, the woman, who possibly alludes to male US
soldiers through the reference to Noguchi’s bridge, appears as a counterpoint to the symbol of
innocence, casting doubt on the celebratory mood. Left unseen by this feminisation are aspects such
as Japan’s militarism and colonialism, to which Hiroshima was also linked (52). This is a reminder
to further investigate the histories of Hiroshima and reexamine how the image of the city of peace
may have been constructed by obscuring incongruous voices.
Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the Comprehensive Science Promotion Project ‘Ajia no Naka no
Hiroshima to Nagasaki II’ (Hiroshima University, 2022) and JSPS KAKENHI Grant No.
JP23K12055 (2023–2027). The author would like to sincerely thank the archivists at the Hiroshima
Municipal Archives and Hiroshima Prefectural Archives for their guidance in researching the Peace
Bridge and the West Peace Bridge in various historical publications. The author is also deeply
grateful to the 2022 project members, Prof. Nobuo Mizuha, Dr Eri Nakamura and Dr Maika Nakao,
for their feedback on my research and our interdisciplinary discussions at the study sessions.
A Note on transliteration
Japanese words are rendered in the Hepburn Romanisation system.
Notes
1. Aline B. Louchheim, “Noguchi and ‘Sculptured’ Gardens: Artist in His Projects for Japan
Combines East and West,” The New York Times, September 30, 1951, 85,
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/09/30/105218833.html?pageNumber=8
5, accessed 12th February 2024.
2. In his 1968 autobiography, Noguchi recalled the rejection: ‘Was it because I was an American,
or was it a case of Giri not having the proper authorisation, to which my design fell victim?’(Isamu Noguchi, A Sculptor’s World [1968] [Göttingen: Steidl, 2004], 164). For further on the
cenotaph, see also note 3.
3. For the earlier studies of Noguchi’s Hiroshima experience, see, for example, Bert Winther, “TheRejection of Isamu Noguchi’s Hiroshima Cenotaph: A Japanese American Artist in Occupied
Japan,” Art Journal 53, no. 4 (1994): 23–27; Bert Winther-Tamaki, Art in the Encounter of
Nations: Japanese and American Artists in the Early Postwar Years (Honolulu: University of
Hawai’i Press, 2001); Shunya Echizen, “Isamu Noguchi no Hiroshima Shibotsusha Kinenhi An:
Sono Seisaku Jiki to Kigen ni Tsuite,” Bunkagaku Nempō, vol. 62 (2013): 296-319; Shunya
Echizen, “Isamu Noguchi ‘Hiroshima no Naki Hitobito no Tame no Kinembutsu’ Saikō,”
Bijutsushi, vol. 179 (2015): 117–132; Eri Terada, “Jitsugen Shinakatta Isamu Noguchi no
Gembaku Ireihi: Konseputo to Jidaihaikei ni Kansuru Kosatsu,” Tama Bijutsu Kenkyū, no. 6(2017): 59–74; Hiromi Matsugi, Isamu Noguchi no Kūkan Geijutsu: Kiki no Jidai no Dezain(Tokyo: Tankosha, 2021).
4. The author conducted research on these two bridges with Noguchi’s railings and ambivalence intheir reception. Naoko Uchiyama, “Tsukuru to Yuku ni Miru Isamu Noguchi no Modanizumu:
Hiroshima Heiwa Kinen Kōen no Tame no Heiwa Ōhashi to Nishi Heiwa Ōhashi no Rankan
Dezain o Megutte,” Ningen Bunka Sōsei Kagaku Ronsō 22 (2020): 29–38. This 2020 paper was
revised and included in Naoko Uchiyama’s “Beyond Received American Modernism: Isamu
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Noguchi’s Art and Itinerancy 1930s–1950s” (PhD thesis, UCL, 2021). Based on additionalarchival research, the present paper provides other examples of responses to these earlier studies
to consider the possible connection between the critical voices and Noguchi’s affiliation with theUnited States.
5. The archivists at the Hiroshima Municipal Archives provided the author with numerous
examples of images of the Peace Bridge in local publications, including posters and leaflets fromthe 1950s and 1960s, examined throughout this paper.
6. Shiseiyōran 1951 (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1952).
7. “Toshi Kensetsu,” Shiseiyōran 1951 (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1952), 180–192. The
photographs are on the unpaginated page in this section, while the reference to Peace Bridge andWest Peace Bridge is on p. 190.
8. “Heiwa Ōhashi,” Shiseiyōran 1952 (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1953), 262; “HeiwaŌhashi,” Shiseiyōran 1953 (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1954), 293; “Heiwa Ōhashi,”
Shiseiyōran 1955 (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1956), 248; “Heiwa Ōhashi,” Shiseiyōran
1956 (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1957), 111; “Heiwa Ōhashi,” Shiseiyōran 1957
(Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1958), 118–119 (no photograph); “Heiwa Ōdōri to HeiwaŌhashi,” Shiseiyōran 1958 (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1959), 96; “Heiwa Ōdōri to
Heiwa Ōhashi,” Shiseiyōran 1959 (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1960), 114. While theabove titles refer only to the Peace Bridge, both bridges are mentioned in the text (photographsof the two bridges can be found in Shiseiyōran 1958). Shiseiyōran 1954 was not published. In
the 1960 and 1961 editions, the two bridges are included in the list of ‘City Sightseeing’ (“Shinai
Kankō,” Shiseiyōran 1960 [Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1961], 94; “Shinai Kankō,”
Shiseiyōran 1961 [Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1962], 121).
9. “Heiwa Ōhashi,” Shiseiyōran 1952 (1953), 262. Translated from the Japanese by Uchiyama.
10. In Shiseiyōran 1969, the two bridges are mentioned only to explain the location of the Peace
Memorial Park, not specifically as tourist destinations (“Heiwa Kinen Kōen,” Shiseiyōran 1969
[Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho, 1970], 167). Other landmarks listed here were notnecessarily mentioned every year. No list of tourist destinations was provided from Shiseiyōran
1979 (1980) to Shiseiyōran 1987 (1988).
11. From Shiseiyōran 2010 (2011) onwards, no list of tourist destinations or facilities was provided.
12. According to the Hiroshima Municipal Archives, there is no original copy of this poster in theircollections. For this paper, the author has examined the design reproduced in “Ōgata Posutā
Zenkoku e,” Chūgoku Shimbun (January 25, 1953), 6.
13. Reproduced in Hiroshima Fukkō Dai Hakurankai Shi (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiyakusho,
1959), n.p. (frontispiece).
14. Reproduced in Hiroshima-shi Kankō Kyōkai, Hiroshima no Kankō, vol. 3 (July 25, 1960), 7(200013/30, Hiroshima Prefectural Archives, Hiroshima).
15. Reproduced in Hiroshima-shi Kankō Kyōkai, Hiroshima no Kankō, vol. 7 (January 1, 1961), 7(200013/33, Hiroshima Prefectural Archives, Hiroshima).

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Isamu Noguchi’s Bridge Railings in Post-War Imaginations of Hiroshima

16. Hiroshima-shi Shōkō-ka Kankō-gakari, Hiroshima no Kankō (c. 1955) (200013/3109, Hiroshima
Prefectural Archives, Hiroshima). The designer of the cover is unknown.
17. Hiroshima-shi, Kankō no Hiroshima (Showa era, post-war) (13000711/C1993-0775, Hiroshima
Municipal Archives, Hiroshima). According to the archives, the date could be narrowed toaround the late 1950s.
18. Hiroshima-ken Shōkō-bu Shōsei-ka, Kankō Gyōji no Shiori (1955) (200013/3107, Hiroshima
Prefectural Archives, Hiroshima).
19. Hiroshima-ken Shōkō-bu Shōsei-ka, Kankō no Hiroshima: Setonaikai-hen Dai-1-shū (postcardset) (c. 1955–56) (200013/102/1-4, Hiroshima Prefectural Archives, Hiroshima).
20. “Heiwa no Miyako Hiroshima” in Hiroshima-ken Shōkō-bu Shōsei-ka, Kankō no Hiroshima:
Setonaikai-hen Dai-1-shū (postcard set) (c. 1955–56) (200013/102/2, Hiroshima Prefectural
Archives, Hiroshima).
21. Fūkei Sutampu Shū, 1988 ed. (Tokyo: Nihon Yūshu Shuppan, 1988), 513. The Hiroshima
Ekimae branch was renamed the Hiroshima branch in 1958 and subsequently became theHiroshima Chūō branch in 1964 (now the Hiroshima JR Biru branch). The separate Hiroshimabranch was renamed the Hiroshima Nishi branch in 1958 and has retained that designation until
the present day.
22. Ibid., 352-353 and 513-514.
23. Ibid., 352. A different stamp design used by the Hiroshima Funairicho branch from 1985 shows
the cenotaph designed by Tange (1952) and the Peace Bridge (ibid., 359).
24. Cultural historian Akihiro Yamamoto points out that visual images of the damage caused by theatomic bombs appeared in media coverage after the end of the GHQ occupation, while works on
the bomb experience were written and published even during the occupation (Akihiro
Yamamoto, Kaku Enerugī Gensetsu no Sengoshi 1945–1960: “Hibaku no Kioku” to“Genshiryoku no Yume” (Kyoto: Jimbun Shoin, 2012), 79–80).
25. For an analysis of this cover design, see Uchiyama, “Tsukuru to Yuku ni Miru Isamu Noguchino Modanizumu,” 34; Uchiyama, “Beyond Received American Modernism,” 324-325.
26. Toshiyuki Tanaka and Peter Kuznick, Gempatsu to Hiroshima: “Genshiryoku Heiwa Riyō” noShinsō (Iwanami Booklet) (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2011), 5.
27. Yoshiaki Fukuma, “‘Gembaku no Akarusa’ no Yukue,” in Fukusū no “Hiroshima”: Kioku no
Sengoshi to Medeia no Rikigaku, eds. Yoshiaki Fukuma et al. (Tokyo: Seikyūsha, 2012), 48.
28. Ibid., 50.
29. Ibid., 51–53; Tanaka and Kuznick, Gempatsu to Hiroshima, 50–51.
30. Fukuma, “‘Gembaku no Akarusa’ no Yukue,” 52. Fukuma argues that the control of nuclear
energy for peaceful purposes was seen as an affirmation of the agency of the atomic bomb victims(ibid., 53).

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31. It is argued that the compatibility of the ‘peaceful use of nuclear energy’ with the experience of
the atomic bomb came to an end in the late 1960s (ibid., 60).
32. Tanaka and Kuznick, Gempatsu to Hiroshima, 51.
33. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United States Information Service (USIS), and the
US Embassy in Japan initially prepared the exhibition. Starting in Tokyo in late 1955 (organised
by Yomiuri Shimbunsha), the exhibit travelled to Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka,
Sapporo and Sendai (ibid., 33–34).
34. Ibid., 47–48.
35. Fukuma, “‘Gembaku no Akarusa’ no Yukue,” 60. Translated from the Japanese by Uchiyama.
36. Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima Fukkō Dai Hakurankai Rīfuretto (1958), (13000707/C1993-0771,
Hiroshima Municipal Archives, Hiroshima). The designer of the cover is unknown.
37. Loop line bus ticket for the Hiroshima Restoration Exposition (Peace Memorial Museum,
Hiroshima/displayed at the Before/After exhibition at the Hiroshima City Museum ofContemporary Art, Hiroshima, 2023).
38. Kinen Kankō Tabako Dezain, vol. 1 (Tokyo: Sembai Jigyō Kyōkai, 1972), p. 30 in the photographsection and p. 9 in the index (paginated separately).
39. Ryōsaku Takayama, Mujun no Hashi (Contradictory Bridge), 1954, Itabashi Art Museum,
Tokyo. This paper refers to the English title provided by Art Platform Japan. “Mujun no Hashi
Contradictory Bridge,” Art Platform Japan, National Center for Art Research,https://artplatform.go.jp/resources/collections/W516940, accessed November 28, 2023.
40. For an analysis of this painting, see Uchiyama, “Tsukuru to Yuku ni Miru Isamu Noguchi no
Modanizumu,” 35; Uchiyama, “Beyond Received American Modernism,” 332–334.
41. Here is Japan (Osaka: Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, 1963), 10–11.
42. Ibid., 10.
43. Original: ‘Isamu Noguchi no Sekkei ni Kakaru Heiwa Ōhashi o Rikuzoku to Hoantai no Torakku
Sugiyuku’ in Kashū Hiroshima, ed. Kiyoshi Toyoda (Tokyo: Dai-Ni Shobo, 1954), 9. Translated
from the Japanese by Uchiyama.
44. Original: “Akaki Kumo Tanabiku Yamanami To ni Shite Heiwabashi Kakari Jipu ga Hashiru,”
in Kashū Hiroshima (1954), 168. Translated from the Japanese by Uchiyama.
45. Regarding the remilitarisation of Japan, the author referred to Hideo Ōtake, Saigumbi to
Nashonarizumu: Sengo Nihon no Bōei-kan (Kōdansha Gakujutsu Bunko) (Tokyo: Kōdansha,
2005), ch. 2.
46. In the Hiroshima cultural circle of the early 1950s, where the atomic bomb experience began to
be collected and published, concerns about Japan’s remilitarisation and the Korean War wereshared (Fukuma, “‘Gembaku no Akarusa’ no Yukue,” 48–49). For the international backgroundto the Cold War politics and its possible impact on the rejection of Noguchi’s cenotaph design,34

Isamu Noguchi’s Bridge Railings in Post-War Imaginations of Hiroshimasee Matsugi, Isamu Noguchi no Kūkan Geijutsu, 106–107.
47. Original: “Kamera to Shōfu Isamu no Hashi ni Kite Warau,” in Kushū Hiroshima, eds. Toshio
Kagawa et al. (Hiroshima: Kūshu Hiroshima Kankō Kai, 1955), 166. Translated from theJapanese by Uchiyama.
48. Kazuko Hirai, Senryō-ka no Joseitachi: Nihon to Manshū no Seibōryoku, Seibaibai, “Shinmitsuna Kōsai” (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2023), 288. Hirai’s study also discusses the possible agencyof female sex workers in early post-war Japan.
49. A relevant example is the pairs of supposed US soldiers and Japanese women in the 1953 film
Hiroshima, directed by Sekikawa Hideo (Uchiyama, “Beyond Received American Modernism,”
335).
50. Uchiyama, “Tsukuru to Yuku ni Miru Isamu Noguchi no Modanizumu,” 36; Uchiyama, “Beyond
Received American Modernism,” 336–337.
51. On the feminisation of Hiroshima memory and the question of a unifying narrative, the author
referred to Lisa Yoneyama, Hiroshima Kioku no Poritikkusu, trans. Hiroaki Ozawa et al. (Tokyo:
Iwanami Shoten, 2005); Lisa Yoneyama, “Hiroshima de ‘Bōryoku, Sonogo’ o Tou Imi ni Tsuite:‘Kioku no Joseika’ no Ritorēsu kara” in Hibaku 70-nen Jendā Fōramu in Hiroshima ‘Zen Kiroku’
Hiroshima to Iu Shiza no Kanosei o Hiraku, ed. Kikue Takao (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Joseigaku
Kenkyūjo, 2016), 421–435.
52. Yoneyama argues that Hiroshima’s anti-nuclear pacifist stance, represented with femininity (i.e.
a woman as a victim of militant male violence, a woman with universal motherhood who longs
for peace, or a woman as a victim of militarism or invasion), may obscure aspects such as womenand men in reality, the plural complexity of Hiroshima/Japan’s history and power dynamics, thediverse state of identities, and even the presence of women in imperialism as members of the
Empire of Japan. As a result, while Japan’s victimhood is emphasised, its history of aggression,
such as military invasion and colonialism, would remain unexamined (Yoneyama, “Hiroshimade ‘Bōryoku, Sonogo’ o Tou Imi ni Tsuite,” 425–426).

Author Biography
Naoko Uchiyama
Naoko Uchiyama is an art history researcher and an Assistant Professor at Hiroshima University.
She explores the shifting, plural cultural identities of ethnic minority artists in the twentieth-century
United States through their transnational practices and views of cultural ‘others.’

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Commercial Interior Design as Irony:
A Case Study of Japan in the 1960s and 1970s
Keiko Hashimoto
Kindai University

Abstract
In Japan, commercial interior design, or the interior design of boutiques, retail stores, and restaurants,
used be the subject of art criticism. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the major design magazines Japan
Interior Design, Shoten Kenchiku, and Design frequently carried interior design reviews by up-andcoming art critics. Under such circumstances, ‘ironic design’ became one of the main concerns ofavant-garde designers in the 1970s. It was the design concept mostly argued by critic, Koji Taki on
Shiro Kuramata’s interior design. One of Kuramata’s shop interior used fluorescent tubes in place ofcolumns for display shelves. According to Taki, it expressed an ‘irony’ against the ‘system of things’
in which the showrooms always had separate lighting fixtures and display shelves. ‘Ironic design’
was practiced especially in the early 1970s but it went out of style soon after. The purpose of thispaper, therefore, was to examine the role played by the concept of ‘irony’ in commercial interior
design from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. It was assumed that what the ‘irony’ of the 1970s
brought to interior design in Japan was an attitude that viewed interior design as rhetoric. The conceptof ‘irony’ was popularized with avant-garde designers probably because ‘irony’ was a convenient
concept for giving a meaning to the minimalist interior design. Then, as a reaction to this attitude,
the commercial interior design in the postmodern era of the 1980s, was stripped of its ‘meaning’such as ‘irony’ and turned into a search for the sensual. Unlike Italian and American postmodernism,
there was no semiotic manipulation in the ‘postmodern interior’ in Japan in the 1980s. For Japanesedesigners, the ‘postmodern interior’ seems to have meant a departure from the semiotic manipulation
represented by the ‘ironical design’ of the 1970s.
Keywords: Keyword 1; Commercial interior design 2; Irony 3; Japan 4; The 1970s

1. Introduction
In Japan, commercial interior design, or the interior design of boutiques, retail stores, and restaurants,
has a history not found in other interior design categories. That is, commercial interior design used
to be the subject of art criticism. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the major design magazines Interior,
Shoten Kenchiku, and Design frequently carried interior design reviews by up-and-coming art critics
such as Koji Taki, Yusuke Nakahara, Yoshiaki Tono, and Takahiko Okada. They commented on shop
interiors and furniture in the same way as they commented on art. The interiors by Takashi Sakaizawa,
Shiro Kuramata, Sinya Okayama, Shoei Yoh, and Super Potato were similar to the art of their time.
However, art critics’ favorites were almost exclusively limited to Shiro Kuramata’s designs.
Taki developed a semiotic theory of Kuramata’s furniture and interiors, and Yoshiaki Tono exhibited
Kuramata’s glass furniture in his contemporary art exhibition, ‘Art Today ’77 (1).’The reason why Taki, Tono, and other critics were interested in Kuramata’s design is probably
because they saw the same conceptual manipulation as art in Kuramata’s design, whereas otherdesigners’ examples seem to be more or less similar to art only at the visual level. This would be
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obvious if we compare the two examples: the cafe Tomomatsu (Hachioji, Tokyo, 1970, Fig. 1), in
which Takashi Sakaizawa covered all the furniture with white plastic cloth, and Edward’s Head
Office (Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo, 1969, Fig. 2), in which Kuramata used fluorescent tubes as pillars
for display shelves. Both interiors seem to directly reflect the expression of contemporary art of thetime. The source of Tomomatsu is Christo’s packaging art, while that of Edward’s Head Office is
Dan Fravin’s fluorescent tube installation.

(left) Figure 1: Café Tomomatsu, Tokyo, 1970, designed by Takashi Sakaizawa.
(right) Figure 2: Edward’s Head Office, Tokyo, 1969, designed by Shiro Kuramata
In Taki’s interpretation, however, the design of the Edward’s Head Office had a meaning otherthan a reference to Fravin’s art. In this interior, fluorescent tubes are used in place of columns fordisplay shelves. According to Taki, it expressed an ‘irony’ against the ‘system of things’ in which
the showrooms always had separate lighting fixtures and display shelves. In this regard, unlike
Kuramata’s Edward’s Head Office, Sakaizawa’s Tomomatsu cannot be seen as an irony to theconventional system of things.
Even though Kuramata’s design was probably the only one evaluated as ‘ironic design’ by
renowned critics, ‘ironic design’ became one of the main concerns of avant-garde designers in the
1970s. In the January 1971 issue of the magazine SD, Taki’s critique of Kuramata, ‘Irony for Rational
Systems,’ was published. Later, at a roundtable discussion among designers in 1975, interior designer
Shoei Yoh looked back on the design movement up to that time and said, ‘Criticism and irony used
to exist as design, but criticism and irony will produce nothing from now on (2).’From Yoh’s statement, it seems certain that ‘irony’ existed as design. If so, how did it exist
and what impact did it have on the world of commercial interior design? The purpose of this study
is to find this out by examining the role played by the concept of ‘irony’ in commercial interior
design from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s.
Chapter 2 discusses what Taki meant by ‘irony.’ As appeared in the Oxford English dictionary,
the meaning of irony has acquired new meanings with the emergence of various art forms. In lightof the OED’s definition, the author will explore Taki's definition of ‘irony.’ Chapter 3 examines how
the concept of ‘irony’ argued by Taki was received by designers in the 1960s and 1970s throughexamples of interior works by Shinya Okayama and Shoei Yo. As the author mentioned above, design
as ‘irony’ was on the decline by around 1975, as Yo said, ‘… irony will produce nothing from now
on.’ Chapter 4, therefore, explores the reasons for the decline to clarify what irony brought to designin the 1960s and 1970s.

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2. Definition of ‘Irony’2.1. General Definition
The first definition of ‘irony’ in rhetoric published in the Oxford English Dictionary (hereafter OED)is ‘The expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typicallyfor humorous or emphatic effect; esp. (in earlier use) the use of approbatory language to imply
condemnation or contempt (cf. sarcasm n.) (3).’ This is the meaning of ‘irony’ as rhetoric, but theconcept of ‘irony’ has historically developed in its own way in philosophy, aesthetics, and literature.
The second definition of ‘irony’ in the OED is derived from one of the etymologies of theword, eironeia, which means ‘disguise (pretense, dissimulation)’ in classical Greek: ‘Dissimulation,
pretense; esp. (and in later use only) feigned ignorance and disingenuousness of the kind employedby Socrates during philosophical discussions (see Socratic irony n.); an instance of this. Cf. eiron(4).’ From this definition derives ‘Romantic Irony,’ which originated with the German Romantic
writer and critic Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829), meaning ‘An attitude of detached skepticism
adopted by an author towards his or her work, typically manifesting in literary self-consciousness
and self-reflection (5).’The OED’s third definition of ‘irony’ is ‘A state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately
contrary to what was or might be expected; an outcome cruelly, humorously, or strangely at odds
with assumptions or expectations (6).’ Dramatic irony, for example, is a concept that developed fromthis definition.
2.2 Taki’s Definition
As we have seen in the previous section, the meaning of the word ‘irony’ varies widely and depends
entirely on the field and context. Which definition of the word ‘irony’ did Taki use in his Kuramata
criticism? Let’s look at some of Taki’s statements. The first we see is Taki’s interpretation of Spring’s
Chair (1968), in which the chair legs are made of a large spring (Fig. 3).
A spring chair is not without consideration of the strength, elasticity, and height of the springs,
but the overall phase of the thing (...) does not arise from a consideration of their performance.
The idea of a single giant spring supporting the seat is not so much an idea of structural ingenuity
or eccentricity as it is irony in response to the conventional construction of the chair. This irony(an aesthetic that can be described as humor or nonsense) is not thereby detached from its function,
but much closer and more directly to the hidden center of the environment of human behavior. In
this light, it may be more accurate to say that the irony is not so much about the furniture as it isabout everyday life itself (7).

Figure 3: Spring Chair, 1968, designed by Shiro Kuramata
The meaning of ‘irony’ here seems to fit at least the OED’s first definition of ‘using language that
normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.’ In fact, in the quote, Taki
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paraphrases the word ‘irony’ as ‘an aesthetic that can be described as humor or nonsense.’
Indeed, sitting on this chair is a kind of humorous experience. When you sit on the chair, thechair sways in accordance with your movements when you talk or eat with the person across fromyou. A conventional chair normally supports a person's body without moving. So, the Spring Chair
can be seen as the antithesis of a conventional chair.
Nevertheless, Taki once explained what he meant by ‘irony’ in 1974 as follows:...Kuramata’s chairs, drawers, and lights are attractive because they are a kind of irony. In this case,irony means that each tool has within itself questions about sitting and light, but in other words, it
includes fiction (8).
Here, Taki explained that ‘irony’ is that ‘each tool has within itself questions about sitting and light.’‘Irony’ in this sense is consistent with the second definition of the OED. In other words, it is an irony
that Socrates, under the guise of ignorance, forces his interlocutor into reflection and leads him totrue knowledge by asking him questions and contradicting him (Socrates’ birthing technique). Thus,
the irony that Taki explained here can be seen as an attitude of fundamentally questioning thelegitimacy of existing interior design and product design.
Taki, therefore, used ‘irony’ in both the first and second definitions in the OED. Taki also
described Kuramata’s design as a ‘paradox,’ but in fact ‘irony’ in the antithetical sense is often usedalmost synonymously with ‘paradox,’ and such usage was emphasized by the New Critic in the
1950s, which must have been known to Taki.
The meaning of ‘irony’ in the domain of commercial interior design Japan in the early 1970s
can be thought of as an antithetical (contrariwise) or paradoxical design that fundamentally questions
the legitimacy of the existing systems of design as argued by Taki.
3. ‘Irony’ in Commercial Interior Design in the 1970s
3.1. ‘Irony’ in Okayama’s Design
How did the irony in Taki’s sense inspire the designers in the 1970s? First, let us look at therelationship between the concept of ‘irony’ and the design of Sinya Okayama's bar Modern Jazz &Soul Studio 14 (Kitashinchi, Osaka, 1978, Fig. 4).

Figure 4: Modern Jazz & Soul Studio 14, Osaka, 1978, designed by Sinya Okayama
Studio 14 has a number of identical sofas, some of which are actually light fixtures not sofas.
When the author asked Okayama in 2022 why the sofa and lighting were designed the same, hereplied, ‘A little irony (9).’ Exactly one year later, the author asked Okayama again why he had said,
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ISSN 2189-7166‘A little irony,’ he unexpectedly replied, ‘I don’t recall ever saying ‘irony.’ He then said, ‘If I said
so, it probably means that this light fixture has the original form of a sofa, but does not have thefunction of a sofa, but has a completely different function (10).’ Then, he recalled that the idea ofdesigning the lighting and sofa in the same shape was inspired by animal mimicry: ‘For example, achameleon changes color in response to its surroundings, and lighting becomes a sofa (11).’What the inspiration of animal mimicry suggests is that ‘irony’ may not be an appropriate
word to describe what Okayama had in mind as a design concept for Studio 14. Perhaps, Studio 14
should be described as interior design as ‘humor’ or a ‘trick.’ ‘Trick art’ and ‘trompe l’oeil’ were
popular in the 1970s, and creators like Okayama who loved surrealist art and contemporary avantgarde art at the time paid attention to them. The reason that Okayama unintentionally uttered theword ‘irony’ in the 2022 interview may be because the word ‘irony’ was completely imprinted on
Okayama in the 1970s. Moreover, using a word ‘irony’ for describing Studio 14 is not completely
wrong. As we have seen in the general definition of a word ‘irony’ in Chapter 2, ‘irony’ includes themeaning of humor. But in any case, it is more natural to assume he had ‘trick art’ or ‘humor’ in his
mind when he designed Studio 14, rather than something ‘ironic’.
Okayama also told the author about his thoughts on the ‘design concept’:
Each designer has his or her favorite image, and the meaning is usually an ‘afterthought.’
Therefore, when I wrote the design concept for a design magazine, it must have been written after
the design was completed and after rethinking how such a design came about (12).
If ‘meaning is usually an afterthought,’ meaning that designers always create design concepts after
the design is complete, then ‘irony’ popularized by Taki may have been the most convenient concept
to give meaning to minimalist and non-decorative interior designs. In the case of Studio 14,
Okayama’s first idea was to reduce the number of shapes to create a minimalistic and fictional
interior. As a result, he designed the lighting and sofa in the same shape. Then came ‘irony’ and‘paradox’ as the best way to present the ‘design concept.’
3.2. ‘Irony’ in Yoh’s Design
If for Okayama, the concept of ‘irony’ was a convenient concept for minimalist interior design, what
about the case of the design by Shoei Yoh who mentioned on ‘irony’ in 1975? In ‘Shoemaker
Cornaria’ (Nishitetsu Grand Hotel, Fukuoka, 1971, Fig. 5), one of Yoh’s highly acclaimed works,
the wall where shoes are displayed is a luminous wall using acrylic panels and 40-watt fluorescenttubes, and the sofa is also a luminous sofa with fluorescent tubes embedded in molded acrylic. Yohnotes the following:
The significance of these attempts lies not only in lighting that does not require so-called lighting
fixtures, but also in the search for an aesthetic exploration of surface light sources such as shoji
screens and andon lanterns using Japanese paper, the most excellent lighting control devices fromancient Japan. What is most significant, however, may be the fact that the furniture itself or theinterior itself becomes a luminescent object, providing the necessary brightness to the necessary
areas. A kind of visual experimentation that replaces the mass of substance with light is still tocome (13).

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Figure 5. Shoemaker Cornaria, Fukuoka, 1971, designed by Shoei Yoh.
First, ‘lighting that does not require so-called lighting fixtures’ can be considered an extension ofTaki’s theory. The idea that ‘the furniture itself or the interior itself becomes a luminescent object’reminds us of Kuramata’s Edward’s Head Office with which Taki developed his theory of ‘ironicaldesign.’However, Yoh also wrote that these walls and tables also take on lighting as ‘an aesthetic
exploration of surface light sources such as shoji screens and andon lanterns.’ Moreover, he wroteof Cornaria: ‘A kind of visual experimentation that replaces the mass of substance with light is still
to come.’ These statements by Yoh suggest that he reevaluated traditional Japanese interior designfrom an ‘ironical design’ perspective. Shoji or andon demonstrates a way of replacing the visible
mass of matter with invisible light. This can be seen as ‘ironic’ design in the sense of irony toward
the way we see things. In the case of Yoh, therefore, we do not know if the concept of ‘irony’ wasan ‘afterthought.’ His words rather indicate that the concept of ‘irony’ preceded the act of designing.
3.3 What ‘Irony’ Has Brought to Interior Design
The analysis of the manifestations of irony in the designs of Okayama and Yoh suggests thefollowing. First, even if designers described their designs as ‘ironic,’ it is likely that this explanation
was an afterthought. On the other hand, there may have been cases in which designers conceived ofimages (or forms, colors, materials) as ‘irony’ for specific things from the beginning.
Thus, how the concept of ‘irony’ was involved in act of designing may have been polarizing.
However, whether an ‘afterthought’ or not, the interior designs in which the irony concept was
discussed were generally minimalist design interiors. This means that ‘irony’ was a convenient word
term that gave meaning to the minimalist commercial interior in the 1960s and 1970s. Minimal
design interiors often combine multiple functions into one form, and this could be explained as irony
to the general relationship between function and form.
If the concept of ‘irony’ was ‘afterthought,’ why did designers try to give their designs ironic‘meanings’ that did not initially occur to them? By the 1970s, it was customary for designers to send
photographs of their designs with a text describing the ‘meaning’ of their designs to magazines andthe ‘meaning’ of their designs spread. What this phenomenon brought about was an interpretation ofinterior design as ‘language,’ or rhetoric, rather than as ‘objects’ or ‘space.’ Perhaps due in part toTaki's critique of Kuramata's design and its compatibility with minimalist design, ‘irony’ became aleading rhetoric in the interior design world (14).

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4. Skepticism about ‘Irony’4.1. Denial of ‘Irony’
It was at a round-table discussion in 1975 that Yoh made a statement against ‘irony’ in design, but it
was not until several years later that the denial of ‘irony’ or ‘design as rhetoric’ came to the surface.
First, Kuramata said in 1979, ‘I was surprised when people viewed my work as having an ironic
message, and I was inspired by that. Recently, however, I have abandoned that idea (15).’ Two years
later, in 1981, he wrote a short essay for Toyota Motor Corporation, commenting that he attempted
an ironic or paradoxical design to escape the spell of modern design, but in any case, it was also
modern design (16).
Kuramata came to think that his own expression of irony was just another modern design. In
other words, he concluded that as long as the target of irony is modern design, design as irony cannot
go beyond modern design. During the period between 1979 and 1980, when Kuramata wrote thesenotes, he was invited to Memphis, led by Ettore Sottsass, Jr. The playful design practiced by
Memphis may have influenced Kuramata to begin speaking out against ‘irony.’
Takashi Sakaizawa, who designed Tomomatsu, was also in contact with Alessandro Mendini’s
Alchimia at the time, and in 1980 he formed the group Poe Form with Sinya Okayama and others,
aiming for the same freedom of expression as Alchimia. The purpose of the group’s formation was
to bring back into the hands of designers the images that had been driven out by logic. In an article
about the formation of ‘Poe Form,’ Sakaisawa wrote the following:...It seems that in Japan today, interiors created by designers are evaluated according to the onedimensional view that logic determines the value of the interior. The logic is very one-sided, andthe best theories are those that embody conceptual art, and the influence of the former minimalist
art is particularly strong and is the main culprit in making interior design in Japan unsociable,
pretentious, and without smiles (17).
Although there is no reference to ‘rhetoric’ in Sakaizawa’s text, what Poe Form attacks is the act of
seeing design as logic, and this act is synonymous with seeing design as rhetoric. As a matter of fact,
Sakaizawa was a designer who developed logical design under the influence of art, as shown by
Tomomatsu. The same is true of Kuramata. Therefore, it was rather the designers who werepracticing ironic or logical design by the end of the 1970s who rejected ironic or logical design.
4.2. Design after the Denial of ‘Irony’
How did the move to reject ironcal designs affect the designers? In fact, Yoh’s design did not change
significantly; his Boutique Two (Minato-ku, Tokyo, 1984) is basically minimalist, as were his works
in the 1970s, although the presence of diagonal pillar-like objects shows the influence of thedeconstructionism of the time.
Kuramata’s design did not change significantly either. For the most part, the designs wereminimalistic and non-decorative, as was the design for ‘irony,’ and some of the furniture he designed
for the Memphis exhibitions was also symbolic. However, the furniture and its interiors made ofterrazzo encrusted with colorful glass shards were not consciously designed as rhetoric, butconcentrated on the beauty of form, material or color (Fig. 6). He wrote about his design after
rejecting ‘irony’ in 1981 as follows:
The spell [of modern design] has been broken a bit over the past few years and the concept ofdesign is about to change drastically in my mind. ...... human beings may be able to detect
directions and to express and react by sensibility instead of instinct. It may be the superiorsensibility of human beings that saves the radical functional beauty that is backed by rationality.
For sensitivity is the total of love (18).
42Commercial Interior Design as Irony

Figure 6: Boutique Issey Miyake Ginza Matsuya, 1983, Tokyo, designed by Shiro Kuramata
Sensibility is an element of design that is impossible to verbalize. Kuramata’s statement strongly
suggests that he was trying to escape from verbalizing design in order to explore his non-verbalized
sensibilities.
Sakaizawa celebrated freedom of color and image, as shown in his Poe Form entries (Fig. 7).
The chairs he exhibited at the first Poe Form exhibition in 1980 are postmodern in design. They look
like the combination of motifs from various historical styles, but perhaps he had no such idea.
Memphis and Alkimia were to attack elitism in design by daring to use ironic motifs and techniquesof historical styles, but this did not apply to the Japanese, who have a different historical style.
Okayama told the authors, ‘Simply, I liked what I saw in Memphis and Alkimia design. When we
did what we later called postmodern design, we had nothing to deny like the Italian designers. This
was true of Japanese postmodern design as well (19).’

Figure 7: Chair Last Victim, 1980, designed by Takashi Sakaizawa.
In fact, around 1981, Okayama’s designs have shifted to the use of bright colors and decorative
forms, which are considered so-called postmodern as shown in Pub Birgo (Osaka, 1981). Like
Sakaizawa, however, these motifs were not chosen for their ‘meaning’. The restaurant Rocky(Higashi Osaka, Osaka, 1981, Fig. 8), with its tiled, Greek temple-like façade with colonnades thatlooks as if it were dug out of the rock, seems to refer to historical styles, but it is not. Okayama
designed the form purely according to his own sensibilities.
As discussed above, the designs after the rejection of ‘irony’ were inspired by Italian radical
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design and used colorful colors, historical styles, and decorative forms that were later consideredcharacteristic of postmodern design. However, there was no semiotic manipulation like Italian andAmerican postmodernism, and Japanese postmodernism was purely inspired by the shapes andcolors of postmodernism outside Japan, as many people later recalled. One of the reasons for this isthat Japan does not have the same architectural and design traditions as Europe. Another reason
might be that Japan had already done ‘ironic design’ in the 1970s and was tired of semiotic
manipulation when it came to postmodern design. Postmodern design, which in Europe and America
was supposed to be semiotic, has been transformed into a formative exploration, at least in theJapanese interior design world.

Figure 8: Restaurant Hot Stone Dishes Rocky, Osaka, 1981, designed by Sinya Okayama
5. Conclusion: What Has ‘Irony’ Design Brought to Interior Design in Japan?
This study attempts to examine the role played by the concept of ‘irony’ in commercial interior
design in the 1970s. What the ‘irony’ of the 1970s brought to interior design in Japan was, above all,an attitude that viewed interior design as rhetoric. The concept of ‘irony’ was popularized with avantgarde designers probably because ‘irony’ was a convenient concept for giving a meaning to theminimalist interior design. Then, as a reaction to this attitude, the commercial interior design in the
postmodern era of the 1980s, was stripped of its ‘meaning’ such as ‘irony’ and turned into a search
for the sensual. Unlike Italian and American postmodernism, there was no semiotic manipulation in
the so called ‘postmodern interior’ in Japan in the 1980s. For Japanese designers, the ‘postmodern
interior’ seems to have meant a departure from the semiotic manipulation represented by the ‘ironicaldesign’ of the 1970s.
Nevertheless, this does not mean that the Japanese interior design world, which once
experienced ‘irony’ in design in the 1970s, has completely lost its expression of ‘irony toward thesystem of things.’ According to Oki and Watanabe, the exhibitions in the 1980s at Tokyo Designers
Space, a gallery established by designers in Aoyama, Tokyo in 1976, continued to question what theidea of interior design was through the presentation of designs as ‘objects (20).’ Such questions
naturally led to giving logic to the sensibility of postmodern design. While it is difficult to verbalize
sensibility and beauty, the fact that such efforts were made in the world of commercial interior design
is a phenomenon unique to Japan, and is certainly a result of the practice of ‘ironic design’ in the
1970s.
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Commercial Interior Design as Irony

Notes
1. Art Today 77: The Structure of Seeing was held at the Seibu Art Museum in Ikebukuro,
Tokyo, from July 7 to 27, 1977. Curated by Yoshiaki Tono, the exhibition featured six
artists: Shiro Kuramata, Keiji Usami, Tatsuo Kawaguchi, Satoshi Saito, and Kunikazu
Shima. All but Kuramata are fine artists.
2. Shoei Yoh, Shigeru Uchida et al., “Jugo nenkan no zokei design no sokuseki ha wareware ni
nani wo motarashitaka [What has 15 years of plastic art and design brought us?], Japan
Interior Design Fifteenth Anniversary Issue (Tokyo: Interior Shuppan, 1975): 146. The
quotation was translated from Japanese into English by Keiko Hashimoto.
3. “irony,” Oxford English Dictionary, accessed August 27, 2023, https://www-oedcom.rmx.clib.kindai.ac.jp/dictionary/irony_n?tab=meaning_and_use#64966
4. “irony,” Oxford English Dictionary.
5. “irony,” Oxford English Dictionary.
6. “irony,” Oxford English Dictionary.
7. Koji Taki, “Goritekiseido heno irony[Irony for rational systems],” SD 75(January 1971):
27. The quotation was translated from Japanese into English by Keiko Hashimoto.
8. Koji Taki, Shiro Kuramata, “Jibutsu no gyakusetsu[Paradox of things,]” Koji Taki, Taki
Koji taidanshu: yonin no designer tono taiwa [collection of dialogues by Koji Taki:conversation with four designers], (Tokyo: Shinkenchiku-sha, 1975), 192. The quotation
was translated from Japanese into English by Keiko Hashimoto.
9. Sinya Okayama in discussion with Keiko Hashimoto at Café Belle, Sheraton Miyako
Hotel Osaka, Uehonmachi, Osaka, August 24, 2022. The comment was translated fromJapanese into English by Keiko Hashimoto.
10. Sinya Okayama in discussion with Keiko Hashimoto at Café Belle, Sheraton Miyako
Hotel Osaka, Uehonmachi, Osaka, August 23, 2023. The comment was translated fromJapanese into English by Keiko Hashimoto.
11. Okayama in discussion with Hashimoto on August 23, 2023.
12. Okayama in discussion with Hashimoto on August 23, 2023.
13. Shoei Yoh, "Shoemaker <Cornaria,>" Japan Interior Design 149(August 1971): 52. The
quotation was translated from Japanese into English by Keiko Hashimoto.
14. In the field of architecture, the interpretation of architecture as rhetoric, such as irony andquotation, had already begun to spread through the introduction of Hans Hollein,
Archigram, Charles Moore, Robert Venturi, and other architects and their ideas, which
Arata Isozaki serialized in the magagine Bijutsu Techo from the late 1960s to the early
1970s. Taki’s interpretation of Kuramata's designs as irony designs was probably greatly
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ISSN 2189-7166influenced by Isozaki’s writings. The serial by in Bijutsu Techo were reprinted in Arata
Isozaki, Kenchiku no kaitai: 1968 nen no kenchiku jokyo [Architectural demolition: thesituation of architecture in 1968], Tokyo: Kajima Shuppankai, 1997.
15. Shiro Kuramata and Seitaro Kuroda, “Kuroda seitaro no irasuto rupo [Seitaro Kuroda’s
illustrated report,]” Design Age 1(1979): 11-12. The quotation was translated fromJapanese into English by Keiko Hashimoto.
16. See Shiro Kuramata, “Tannaru kinobi wo koeta saki koso, nihonjin no kansei no sekai[Beyond mere functional beauty is the world of Japanese sensibility,]” the brochure of
Toyota’s cars Soarer and Crown published in 1981. The quotation was translated fromJapanese into English by Keiko Hashimoto.
17. Takashi Sakaizawa, “Image karano tegakari: group Poe Form no kangaekata [Clues fromthe image: the group Poe Form concept],” Japan Interior Design 256(July 1980): 20.
The quotation was translated from Japanese into English by Keiko Hashimoto.
18. Kuramata, “Tannaru kinobi wo koeta saki koso, nihonjin no kansei no sekai.”
19. Okayama in discussion with Hashimoto on August 23, 2023.
20. Kenji Oki and Hisako Watanabe in discussion with Keiko Hashimoto at the Restaurant &Lounge “eu,” Sheraton Miyako Hotel Osaka, Uehonmachi, Osaka, August 26, 2023.
Photo Credits
1, 5, 6: Yoshiio Shiratori, 2: Mitsumasa Fujitsuka, 4: Fukumoto Masaaki,
8: Mitsutaka Hashimoto

Author Biography
Keiko Hashimoto
Keiko Hashimoto received BA (English Literature) from Keio University, Tokyo, MA (ArtHistory) from University of East Anglia, UK, and PhD (Design History) from Kobe
University, Japan. After working as a Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo,
and the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, she became an Assistant Professor at Kobe
Gakuin University, Kobe (2011-2106) and Associate Professor at Kindai University, Osaka(2016 to date). Her field of research is History of the 20th Century Art and Design, and she
is currently working on commercial interior and furniture design by Shiro Kuramata andother avant-garde interior designers in the late 20th century Japan. She recently wrote; ‘Book
2: Catalogue of Works’ in Deyan Sudjic, Shiro Kuramata (London: Phaidon Press, 2013);‘Kuramata, Shiro (1934-91)’ (book chapter) in The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Design, ed.
Clive Edwards (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016); Kuramata entries of Atlas ofFurniture Design (Weil am Rhein: Vitra Design Museum, 2019).

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Session III

Posthumanism

Virulence of Posthumanism in Art and Design and
the Posthuman Turn
Christof Breidenich
Macromedia University for Applied Sciences
Johannes Wassmer
Osaka University

Abstract
One of the most prominent challenges in the digital transformation is the design of virtualenvironments in a wide variety of contexts and innovation scenarios. Digital transformation and thevirtual environments raise questions regarding the need to technically supplement the physicalprerequisites of mankind and the societal pressure to technically enhance humans. Although the‘deficient ontology’ of man cannot be overcome, a contemporary design must be aware of possible
extensions of environments and bodies.
Under what conditions and common agreements may humans design themselves and theirenvironments beyond natural conditions? This design-theoretical question unites technical, mediatheoretical, and ethical aspects. Probably the most extreme utopia of a virtual reproduction is offeredby the discourses on transhumanism on the one hand and posthumanism on the other. Transhumanpositions seek to confirm the Enlightenment understanding that mankind is permanently progressing
towards the perfect human. In Gehlen, that is through technical improvements of body and aims at
immortality. In contrary, (technological) posthumanists take an ethical position and tie the path toperfection to the abolition of the human as a biological entity. They understand perfection as a perfectsimulation or already conceive of man as a cyborg of machine and organism.
The historical view of the concept of design opens an ever-expanding space of meaning. In
addition, new questions are currently being raised about the expansion of the concept of design
beyond the anthropocentric view (user, target groups) to a posthuman dimension.
Keywords: Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Posthuman Design, Body Art, Immateriality

Introduction
Media create virtual spaces. In those spaces the question of reality is permanently posed anew andthus also the question of the ideal of human existence in general. The French philosopher JeanFrançois Lyotard refers to electronic media and their increasing proliferation in postmodernity as the
beginning of the immaterial space in which people are bound to experiences and decisions. Bodies
no longer perceive themselves as their own bodies but outsource sensation to virtual bodies. The
dominance of the image reinforces the success of virtual worlds, which would be much harder toachieve in text cultures. The most extreme concept of (virtual) reproduction is offered byposthumanism, which transcends death through abolishing the concept of a biological human being.
In the sense of critical posthumanism, mankind is not permanently progressing towards the perfecthuman being. Instead, man is to be overcome.

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Virulence of Posthumanism in Art and Design and the Posthuman Turn

With our paper we bring contemporary concepts of art and design into contact with those ofan ethical and technological posthumanism against the background of the technical, mediatheoretical, and ethical challenges of a digital world. For this purpose, we make use of two tools:First, Rosa Braidotti’s division of the posthumanist project into the four core areas of self, species,
death, and theory (Tool 1) and second, Klaus Krippendorff’s concept of a ‘trajectory of theartificiality’ (Tool 2). Based on these two tools, we search for answers to our two core questions insix short steps of argumentation: First: How can the posthumanist demands for life after the self, thehuman species, death, and theory be translated into posthumanist design? Secondly: Whatconsequences can this have for praxis and what spaces of possibility do they create?
Definition: What is Posthumanism?
Transhumanists transfer the idea of enlightenment to understand the history of mankind as a progressto the human body. Condorcet’s idea ‘that nature has set no term to the perfection of human faculties;
that the perfectibility of man is truly indefinite’ (1) is transferred to the human being: The
perfectibility of the individual is incalculable. At the same time, transhumanists assume that mankind
needs perfectibility as it is a deficient being. This idea first originated with Johann Gottfried Herder.
In his Treatise on the Origin of Language he writes: ‘That man is far inferior to animals in strengthand certainty of instinct [...] is certain’ (2). Animals are thus physically and instinctively far better
equipped. Nevertheless, man is evolutionarily far more successful at present. For this reason Herderwrites: ‘Instead of the instincts other hidden forces must sleep in him!’ Namely the freedom of theintellect: ‘One calls this whole disposition of his forces, as one wants, understanding, reason,reflection, etc.’ (3) Intellect instead of instinct, then.
Arnold Gehlen picks up on this when he describes man as a ‘deficient being’ and pursues thenecessity of man to procure ‘prostheses’ for himself with the intellect. This ability more thancompensates for its evolutionary disadvantages compared to animals. With his concept of man as‘deficient’ he had wanted to point out man’s inability to live without technology. Gehlen even goesso far as to conceptualize technology as the true human being: Like mankind, technology is also
nature reworked. (4) This ‘lack of ontology’ (5) of man is a necessary condition of the transhumanist
attempt to perfect man prosthetically: Only if there is a lack, I can add something that makes up forthis lack and, for example, improves the physical abilities of the human being or delays death.
Technological and ethical posthumanism is quite different. It is true that here, too, the humanbody is understood as a technological, cybernetic system. However, the body is no longer integrated
into a modern paradigm of progress, but on the contrary detached from it. Instead of a progressoriented position, an ethnically based position is taken that abandons the concept of man as a
biological entity. In The Posthuman, Rosa Braidotti distinguishes four fundamental posthumanist
positions: ‘Self,’ ‘Species,’ ‘Death’ and ‘Theory’. We want to make use of those four fundamental
concepts in the following to discuss possibilities of how design can consider posthumanist positions
by means of some examples. In doing so, we are by no means concerned with a transhumanist,
progress-ideological perfection of humans beyond themselves. We thus orient ourselves to
Braidotti’s mainly ethical posthumanism.
Tool 1: Posthuman Understanding of ‘Self,’ ‘Species,’ ‘Death,’ and ‘Theory’
Posthumanists do not aim at the ethical handling of the categories of ‘self,’ ‘species,’ ‘death,’ and‘theory’ in society and consequently also in art and design. Rather, these categories are to be
overcome. What does it mean to overcome these categories and how can this overcoming be
imagined?
a) Self Humanistic perspectives start from a self-image of man, as Braidotti shows when she
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writes about the ‘Vitruvian ideal of Man as the standard of both perfection and perfectibility’ (6).
This ideal of a theoretical perfection and practical perfectibility of man is shaken with feminism
since the 1970s. At the latest with the emergence of gender theory this program collapses: Where nobinary oppositions of men and women exist anymore, but only a ‘queer space’ of difference, noabsolute identification can take place and no perfection can exist. This ends the concept of a perfectand perfectible ‘self’. The focus is no longer on self-determination, but on a new subjectivity: ‘The
posthuman subjectivity I advocate is rather materialist and vitalist, embodied and embedded, firmly
located somewhere.’ (7)b) Species Other concepts are taking its place. It has been proposed to conceive of man only
as an animal. This would solve the problem of the anthropocentric ‘self’, but it would transfer it toa speciesism, which would only apparently solve the problem of speciesism: The species would nolonger be ‘human’ but ‘animal’. Another consideration has proved more promising. The dissolutionof the binary human/machine opposition in poststructuralism: ‘The posthuman predicament is suchas to force a displacement of the lines of demarcation between structural differences, or ontologicalcategories, for instance between the organic and the inorganic, the born and the manufactured, flesh
and metal, electronic circuits and organic nervous systems.’ (8) Donna Haraway develops theconcept of the cyborg in this context. A cyborg has no identity as a human being or a technical entitythat is freed from organic boundaries. In A Cyborg Manifesto, she defines the posthuman and supragender cyborg as ‘a creature in a post-gender world; it has no truck with bisexuality, pre-Oedipal
symbiosis, unalienated labor, or other seductions to organic wholeness through a final appropriationof all the powers of the parts into a higher unity.’ (9)c) Death With the disappearance of the individual ‘self’ as well as the difference between man
and machine, death is no longer an absolute boundary at which man would define himself. What
Heidegger understood as the core of human being, the ‘being-towards-death’, no longer exists: itloses its significance. If fear of death forms the basic motivation of human action, in posthumanism
it is the ‘productive aspect of the life-death continuum’ (10). Instead of the end, the focus is on thenow. At the same time, a technological eternity comes into play: the infinite perfectibility of man(Condorcet) is replaced by a posthuman not-anymore temporality. Oliver Krüger has stated in thisregard that the technological overcoming of mortality would ‘surpass biological being in all its
qualities.’ He therefore connects the ‘immortality question in conjunction with the vision of
immeasurable intelligence and power’ and declares both to be the ‘two central analytical axes [...]of technological posthumanism.’ (11)d) Theory The entity-formerly-known-as-man becomes a simulating quantity: an entity
within a network that runs between actors, where actors are all entities involved in an event or aprocess. In this process, these entities no longer are to be understood as instantiations of binary
oppositional structures (man/woman, life/death, etc.). Instead, they build singular figurations. Thus,
they no longer are representations of theoretical concepts and ideas but singular entities:‘For example, figurations such as the feminist/the womanist/the queer/the cyborg […] are nomere metaphors, but signposts for specific geopolitical and historical locations. As such, they express
complex singularities, not universal claims. A figuration is the expression of alternative
representations of the subject as a dynamic non-unitary entity; it is the dramatization of processes of
becoming. These processes assume that subject formation takes place in-between nature/technology;
male/female; black/white; local/global; present/past – in the spaces that flow and connect the binaries.
These in-between states defy the established modes of theoretical representation because they are
zigzagging, not linear and process-oriented, not concept-driven.’ (12)Tool 2: Krippendorff’s trajectory of the artificiality
Design can be described with the universalistic principle ‘Everything is Designed’. This view not50Virulence of Posthumanism in Art and Design and the Posthuman Turn

only addresses the individual perspective of a person, but also finds a common ground in the needthat design must always exist to support human being. Derived from this, products, services, andcommunication should and must always be understandable, convincing, and appropriate. People act
partly passionately, partly rationally and thus set the framework for the creative demands of usercentered design. To fulfil these demands, design cannot be reduced to pictorial and artistic design.
Rather, aspects of society and economy as well as technical challenges must be considered. It is fairto say that the HfG Ulm is in this regard the core of a new way of thinking about design. Many of
the teachers who worked there, such as Klaus Krippendorff, Thomas Maldonado, Horst Rittel, Bruce
Archer or Gui Bonsiepe, still stand to this day for authoritative theories around an expanded concept
of design.
In his publication The Semantic Turn: A New Foundation for Design (13), Klaus Krippendorff
describes the development of the meaning of design. He identifies the design of products and objects
at the lowest level of his concept of an ascending line of design as the most original form. Via thedesign of services and identities, he finally arrives at the design of discourses. In terms of thechallenge of posthumanism, the question arises as to whether and, if so, to what extent the trajectoryshould be extended. Krippendorff’s idea to apply the concept of design to discourses and to use selfreflexibility currently forms the end point of the trajectory. The trajectory demonstrates design isseen not only as an aesthetic task, but also as a process-driven methodology within complex
problems. This understanding of design paved the way to conceive design as a scholarly discipline
and thus also as an object of research as well as a method for research. But what happens when thevirulence of non-human actors increasingly comes to the fore? Who conceives, designs, andproduces artifacts, services, interactions, society, and courses in the context of artificial intelligenceand increasing posthuman technologies? And how can this development be linked to Krippendorff's
trajectory?

Figure 1: Own graphic after The Trajectory of the Artificiality, in: Klaus Krippendorff,
The Semantic Turn. A new Foundation for Design, p.6

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Braidotti’s four posthuman categories ‘self’, ‘species’, ‘death’ and ‘theory’ can be assigned to
Krippendorff’s model in a classical understanding. In particular, the extension of design beyond thedesign of objects (level 1) makes the path of artificiality an illuminating starting point for a debate
on post- and transhuman aesthetics. First, level 6, that of discourse, offers an open platform for all
debates that go beyond the physical requirements of design level 1. Beyond this, however, thefollowing will differentiate more precisely the extent to which levels 2 to 5 allow sufficientconnections.
The current societal debate on gender identities opens a fluid space of possibilities for the selfthat reach beyond traditional and rigid binary understanding of sex and gender. In stage 2 of the
trajectory, the task of design is extended to the charging and recognition of objects and subjects as
identities. The principle of personal identity is characterized by the power and obviousness of adifference to everything else. This distinction makes it possible to characterize a situation as
unmistakable and recognizable, for example in terms of effective marketing. In this way, new andinnovative ‘selves’ beyond the understanding of identity as unequivocal can be created. These canovercome old social roles and create alternate identities that work both in terms of marketing andhelp build an open and diverse society. Take brands and services that go beyond their physical andservice-orientated roles. The dimension of the human species in the context of non-human beingsand machines described by Braidotti is reflected in several stages of the trajectory. Level 4 with its
networks offers the obvious possibility of interaction with non-human network partners. The
dissolution of the human being through death only appears to be the final frontier. Alternate formsof existence are confronting with new tasks in design, e.g. the ‘survivability’ of digital content, which
continues to exist after the death of the subjects responsible for it. This raises not only legal andethical questions, but also pragmatic questions relating to technology and design. The trajectory does
not yet provide any approaches in this respect. Especially this is true for a posthumanist approach toovercome theory and direct the focus of design interest onto singularities, non-unitary units andprocesses. Hence, we suggest implementing a new level in Krippendorff’s trajectory: A level that
opens an expanded field for non-human qualities beyond discourses that are reduced to human actors.
A level that reaches beyond a human-centered world and focuses on an environment- centereddimension.

Posthumanism
not human centered –but environment centered

Figure 2: Extended graphic after The Trajectory of the Artificiality, in: Klaus Krippendorff,
The Semantic Turn. A new Foundation for Design, p.6
Concretizations: posthumanism in art and design
Modernism and postmodernism have been exploring basic concepts of post- and transhumanism
through extreme artistic positions for over a hundred years. The Futurists’ glorification of technology
and simultaneous neglect of nature and the organism in the first decade of the 20th century already52

Virulence of Posthumanism in Art and Design and the Posthuman Turnsignified a conscious rejection of traditional representations of the human being in favor of distorted
and flowing formal inventions. The famous Futurist sculpture, by Umberto Boccioni, Unique Formsof Continuity with Space (1913), which melds human forms with mechanical ones.

Figure 3: Unique Forms of Continuity with Space (1913), Museum of Modern Art, New Yorkhttps://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/posthumanism-contemporary-art (viewed, Sept., 11th, 2023)
Artists such as Stelarc and Orlan have been working on improving and enhancing the bodyand its individual appearance since the 1960s. Stelarc is an Australian performance artist who
believes the human body is obsolete. Although transhumanism is a relatively new concept in modern
culture, visionaries like Stelarc have been exploring the idea of merging human flesh and machinefor years. The French artist Orlan works with various artistic means and defined the terms ‘Body Art’and ‘Carnal Art’ in 1989. She makes her body available as a field of experimentation for medical
interventions and modifications of various kinds. This at first hand transhumanist project touches on
various posthumanist aspects as it renders the question of Orlan’s identity obsolete, as her appearance
disappears through the permanence of change.

Figure 4: Stelarc and his mechanical arm
https://fahrenheitmagazine.com/de/Kunst/Visuals/Nutzen-Sie-die-Kapazit%C3%A4t-desK%C3%B6rpers-den-bioartistischen-Vorschlag-von-Stelarc (viewed Sept. 11th, 2023)

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What began with Orlan became much more prominent in art and design throughout the last
decades. The task of connecting people with machines lies in the broad-based endeavors ofinteraction and experience design. This is followed by: ‘Machine learning, artificial intelligence,
algorithms, big data, automation technology, and robotics are currently being applied in a wide rangeof fields, and designers are just beginning to understand the implications of these developments fordesign practice. (14)’ Another approach is the concept of speculative design, which goes beyond
practical design production and deals with the areas of the possible and the fictional. The aim is tocriticize existing conditions of living and use design practice to show how attitudes and attention canbe directed towards relevant discourses. Speculative design does not want to be user-friendly but
enters the field of user-unfriendliness as thematized by Anthony Dunne. User friendliness refers toanticipating the needs of users. User unfriendliness challenge the user by asking for a new attitude
and opinion for improvements and changes. (15)Conclusions: Posthuman Design – a new level on the trajectory?
We added a further level of Krippendorff’s trajectory model to discuss the two questions set out atthe beginning, ‘how can the posthumanist demands for life after the self, the human species, death,and theory be translated into posthumanist design?’ and ‘what consequences can this have for praxis
and what spaces of possibility do they create?’. The theoretical complexity that design has to face
increases with each stage of the trajectory. The posthumanist discourse is adding a new dimension
to the focus of design, which was before centered solely on humans. Currently this is not yet
conceivable as a part of the trajectory model, not even at the sixth level, as it represents aparadigmatic innovation not only for the requirements and challenges in design. With a new seventh
level of the trajectory we implement those tasks into Krippendorff’s model and hope to open new
possibilities to describe design and art phenomena from Orlan to Dunne. Even if the six levels
currently allow technoid and post-humanistic aspects of ‘self,’ ‘species’, ‘death’ and ‘theory’ in avariety of contexts, a seventh level would finally open up new dimensions of artificiality exclusively
in the context of non-human actors.
Notes
1. Marquis de Condorcet, Progress of the Human Mind, (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson
1955), 4.
2. Johann Georg Herder, Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache, welche den von der
Königl. Academie der Wissenschaften für das Jahr 1770 gesetzen Preis erhalten hat,(Berlin: Voß 1772), 31 (“Daß der Mensch den Thieren an Stärke und Sicherheit desInstinkts weit nachstehe, […] ist gesichert.”).
3. Johann Georg Herder, Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache, welche den von der
Königl. Academie der Wissenschaften für das Jahr 1770 gesetzen Preis erhalten hat(Berlin: Voß 1772), 38, 42 (“Es müsse statt der Instinkte andre verborgne Kräfte in ihm
schlafen! […] Man nenne diese ganze Disposition seiner Kräfte, wie man wolle, Verstand,
Vernunft, Besinnung u.s.w.”).
4. Cf. Arnold Gehlen, Man in the age of technology, transl. Patricia Lipscomb, foreword byPeter L. Berger (New York: Columbia Univ. Press. 1989).

54Virulence of Posthumanism in Art and Design and the Posthuman Turn

5. Erich Hörl, Die künstliche Intelligenz des Sinns. Sinngeschichte. und Technologie im
Anschluss an Jean-Luc Nancy, in: Zeitschrift für Medien- und Kulturforschung (ZMK), 1(2010), No. 2, S. 129–147, 137, https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/18456.
6. Rosi Braidotti, The Posthuman (Cambridge: Polity 2013), 23.
7. Rosi Braidotti, The Posthuman (Cambridge: Polity 2013), 51.
8. Rosi Braidotti, The Posthuman (Cambridge: Polity 2013), 89.
9. Donna Haraway, A Cyborg Manifesto. Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the
Late Twentieth Century, in: Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (NewYork: Routledge 1991), 149-181, 150.
10. Rosi Braidotti, The Posthuman (Cambridge: Polity 2013), 132.
11. Oliver Krüger, Virtualität und Unsterblichkeit. Gott, Evolution und die Singularität im
Post- und Transhumanismus (Freiburg i.Br.: Rombach 2019), 70f. („Der künftige Menschsoll jedoch nicht nur die Sterblichkeit überwinden, sondern auch das biologische Dasein
in all seinen Qualitäten übertreffen. [...] Die Unsterblichkeitsfrage in Verbindung mit der
Vision unermesslicher Intelligenz und Macht bilden die zwei zentralen analytischen
Achsen der nachfolgenden Ideengeschichte des technologischen Posthumanismus.“).
Krüger is primarily referring to technological post-humanism. However, his position canalso be applied to the theoretical perspectives of Haraway and Braidotti.
12. Rosi Braidotti, The Posthuman (Cambridge: Polity 2013), 164.
13. Cf. Klaus Krippendorff, The Semantic Turn. A new Foundation for Design (Boca Raton:
Taylor & Francis 2006).
14. L. Forlano, Posthumanism and Design. She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, andInnovation, 3 (2017), No. 1, 16–29, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2017.08.001.
15. Anthony Dunne, Hertzian Tales: Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience, andCritical Design (Boston: MIT Press 2008), 35.

Author Biographies
Christof Breidenich
Head of the Design Study Program at the Macromedia University for Applied Sciences, and a Media
Design Professor at the university’s campus in Cologne, Germany.
c.breidenich@macromedia.de
Johannes Wassmer
Associate Professor, Specially Appointed, Graduate School of Humanities, Osaka University(Handai), Japan; PhD 2017 with a dissertation on acceleration and history in First World War western
front novels, research on modern literature, scripture, sign theory, aesthetics; last co-edited volume:‘Epistemologien der Geste. Körper, Medien, Künste [Epistemologies of Gesture. Bodes, Media, Art],
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ISSN 2189-7166

Berlin/Boston 2023; current book project: Schrift und Präsenz. Grundlegung – Kulturgeschichte –Episteme [‘Writing and Presence. Foundation – Cultural History – Epistemes’]; contact:jwassmer@let- osaka.u.ac.jp

56Dehumanization or Communication: A Design for a‘Global Village’
Mariko Kaname
Atomi University
Shigeru Maeda
Kyoto Seika University

Abstract‘Dehumanisation is the chief symptom of the Modern World’ (‘The New Egos’, p.141). This phrase
is attributed to Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957), a leading figure of Vorticism, the British avant-garde
art movement. It appeared in Blast No. 1, published in 1914. Lewis practiced geometric abstraction
as pursued by the avant-garde groups of his contemporaries. Moreover, at the beginning of the 20th
century, he predicted the advent of a new world in which complex sensory media and machines
would dominate humanity. In a modern society where machines undertake labour, there is no needfor human bodies; ‘machinery went straight to nature and eliminated the middleman, Man’
(Diabolical Principle, p.162). In Blast, mechanised humans were described as‘dehumanized’andvisualised in insect-or robot-like forms. Lewis’s prediction about this future humanity—referred toas New Egos—being governed alongside animated machines by an elite hierarchy and ultimately
merging seems like something out of a science fiction novel. However, this dystopia has partiallybeen realised in the 21st century. Nevertheless, Lewis’s prescience has remained buried andunnoticed in the history of modern and contemporary art and design for a long time. This paper
examines Lewis’s conception of new urban design from the 1910s to the 1950s regarding both hisgraphic and literary works and crystalises their emergent ideas. Examining specific examples will
reveal that his ideas are linked to the negative aspects of contemporary digitally connected society,culminating in his own use of sarcasm and satire.
Keywords: Dehumanization; Wyndham Lewis; Communication Media; Vorticism; Marshal
McLuhanIntroduction
Vorticism—the first British avant-garde art movement—is often associated with two key individuals.
The first is the American-born poet Ezra Pound, and the other is Wyndham Lewis. In 1914, amagazine titled Blast was launched as this movement’s journal (1). In it, their manifesto and severalof Lewis’articles were published. In one article, Lewis noted,‘Dehumanization is a major symptomof the modern world’(2). While Pound primarily focused on literary pursuits with a brief foray intomusic, Lewis dedicated himself to painting and writing until he struggled with blindness in his later
years. While Lewis’painting career has been largely overlooked, we aim to illuminate both facets of
his creativity. Moreover, we explore whether these aspects still impact our interpretation of his works
today.

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Dehumanization or Communication

Dehumanization as a symptom
The dehumanizing highlighted by Lewis was reiterated in an essay titled ‘Inferior Religion’, whichappeared in Wild Body, a collection of short stories published in 1927. There, he wrote:
The fascinating imbecility of the creaking men machines, that some little restaurant or fishingboat works, was the original subject of these studies... The boat’s tackle and dirty little shell, or
the hotel and its technique of hospitality, keeping the limbs of the men and women involved in amonotonous rhythm from morning till night, that was the occupational background... The wheel
at Carisbrooke imposes a set of movements upon the donkey inside it, in drawing water from thewell, that it is easy to grasp. But in the case of a hotel or fishing-boat, for instance, the complexityof the rhythmic scheme is so great that it passes as open and untrammelled life (3).
Here, Lewis compared people to a donkey forced to walk in an infinite orbit of large wheels to draw
water from a well. In addition, he indicated that in the case of the man-machines, this infinite orbit
was so complex that no one realised it was a closed and constrictive system.
Lewis saw this public ignorance as partly caused by the media, implying the masscommunication media in the contempory sense. In the late 1920s, he stated that ‘these democratic
masses could be governed without a hitch by suggestion and hypnotism — Press, Wireless, Cinema’(4). This peculiar attitude against the media from which Lewis drew this diagnosis was often
misleading. His 1931 pamphlet entitled Hitler was viewed as a blatant appeasement to Nazi Germany.
Hence, Lewis and his writings have been publicly alienated and ignored since the 1930s.
In recent years, Lewis’s career as a painter has returned to the spotlight, with a major
retrospective exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2008 and Madrid in 2010. In
2017, an exhibition entitled ‘Wyndham Lewis — Life, Art, War’ was held at the Imperial War
Museum in Manchester. In parallel with these trends, during a 2011 international conference on
Marshall McLuhan, the influence of Lewis — who relocated to North America during World War II— on the young McLuhan was highlighted. This observation prompted a reassessment of Lewis’sachievements. During the conference, it was noted that McLuhan’s ‘global village’ builds uponLewis’s idea of a ‘big village’. Moreover, the Oxford University Press is currently in the process of
publishing the comprehensive works of Wyndham Lewis. This recent revival of Lewis will enable
us to observe an overall picture of his activities. This paper aims to expand upon existing speculations
regarding the concept of ‘design’, contributing to a contemporary understanding with broad
implications.
Media effect and counter-media
We must remember that before the Second World War, when Lewis was primarily active, the word
‘media’ was used almost exclusively as the plural of ‘medium’. It is generally understood that
McLuhan initially used the word ‘media’ to designate communication channels in the late 1950s.
Examining the juxtaposition of ‘Press, Wireless, and Cinema’ in Lewis’s earlier quote, consideringthat ‘wireless’ referred to ‘radio’ in the early 20th century in the UK, it’s evident that Lewis wasaddressing what we now instantly associate with the term ‘mass media’.
We have already highlighted El Lissitzky’s reference to the magazine Blast in several articles(5). Moreover, it is almost certain that Kurt Schwitters was influenced by Blast when he designed
his magazine, Merz. However, as Lewis recounted in later years, Blast itself was published to counterthe propaganda of the Italian Futurists adopting the same manner they used:
In that futurist future of which Marinetti ranted, there would be no place for the civilized arts...
Anyhow, I did, even in 1913, have glimpses of a ‘world without art’ — of a barren world, such as
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is all round us now. And I did, at the time, go into action myself against this philosophy of actionfor-action’s sake (6).
Futurism is heavily criticised and accused of false novelty in Blast: ‘Futurism, as preached by
Marinetti, is largely Impressionism up-to-date. To this is added his Automobilism and Nietzsche
stunt’ (7). If we observe the page layout of Blast, it becomes evident that it is a pastiche of theadvertisements prevalent in the newspapers of that era. The magazine cleverly appropriates the
Futurist propaganda format with even greater pretence Notably, its content constitutes a sharp
critique of Futurism.
Closely examining Lewis’s criticisms in Blast within their proper context will reveal what
Lewis was anxious about Futurism and what he prepared for it. Continuing the previous quote, hedenounces Futurism: ‘Futurism … is a picturesque, superficial and romantic rebellion of young
Milanese painters against the Academism which surrounded them’. For Lewis, who himself hadstudied Bergson, the Futurist understanding of Bergsonian philosophy was one-sided in that it
emphasised only the former of the binary opposition that Bergson explained as follows:[W]e have to do with two different kinds of reality, the one heterogeneous, that of sensible
qualities, the other homogeneous, namely space. This latter, clearly conceived by the human
intellect, enables us to use clean-cut distinctions, to count, to abstract, and perhaps also to speak(8).
Of course, it was the latter reality that was important to Lewis, who was a painter and a writersimultaneously. Nevertheless, as Lewis saw it, the Futurists emphasised the former reality tomobilise them for war. Lewis wrote in Blast: ‘A civilized savage, in a desert-city, surrounded by very
simple objects and restricted number of beings, reduces his Great Art down to the simple blackhuman bullet’ (9). Hence, according to Lewis, the true work of the Futurists was not in poems or
paintings, but in the masses transformed into munitions or war-machines through Marinetti’s
agitation, limited to their senses and reactions.
In his 1915 painting The Crowd, Lewis sought to portray gathered masses as diminutive insects
alongside onlookers on the same canvas to highlight the perilous nature of the situation (10). In
the foreground at the lower left of this painting, several figures are depicted under the French flag,
one looking up to the upper right. They first look at the insect-like people who, under the influenceof the Second Enclosure Movement, were liberated from the feudal system. However, as they marchunder the red flags, they are re-organised and eventually turn into a power source trapped in thewheel at Carisbrooke Castle in the upper right corner of the canvas. This painting communicates thatfor Lewis, there was no distinction between the right and the left concerning the mobilisation of the
oblivious mechanised masses. In the 1918-1919 war painting A Battery Shelled, the contrast between
the masses transformed into munitions and the onlookers is heightened by presenting the latter in amore naturalistic style (11).
From architecture/urban design to communication media
Despite Lewis’s criticism of Futurism’s agitation, his fears materialised as the First World War
erupted shortly after the release of the first issue of Blast. The Vorticists and many of their associates
served in the army; hence, Blast ended its brief run after publishing only a second issue titled ‘War
Number’ in 1915. When Lewis returned to London following the war, he saw the Bloomsbury Groupand other intellectuals, many of whose members remained in London under the guise of
conscientious objectors, advertising ‘new art’ or ‘amateurism’ for their own benefit.
In his 1919 pamphlet entitled The Caliph’s Design, Lewis presented a distinctive worldview
60Dehumanization or Communication

through art, distancing himself from both Futurists and certain British intellectuals who urged public
involvement in political or social causes (12). The subtitle ‘Architects! Where is your Vortex?’
indicates its connection to ongoing Vorticist explorations.
In 1914, Lewis and other Vorticists raised public awareness of the vortical dynamism of its
own latent energy. Lewis felt that the urban environment of the time was the primary reason for the
failure of Vorticism, as it buried their art among various other modern art styles. Hence, he purported
that architects, as the ultimate designers of the urban environment, were needed to achieve this goal,
and wrote The Caliph’s Design. In his 1934 essay ‘The Plain Home-Builder’, Lewis recalled that:
Vorticism was a movement initiated by a group of painters, but it was aimed essentially at anarchitectural reform... My pamphlet entitled Architects, where is your Vortex? (written a coupleof years after the war) demonstrates this fact sufficiently plainly even in its title. And what I, as avorticist, was saying to the architect was: ‘Produce a shell more in conformity with the age inwhich we live! If you do not do so, it will be in vain for us to produce pictures of a new andcontemporary nature (13).’Thus, Lewis’s interest seems to have shifted from individual artworks to the environment in which
they were placed. However, the urban planning he advocated for in The Caliph’s Design was not
feasible. As mentioned earlier, Lewis sought to realise two realities of the world simultaneously in
his artistic expression. One was a primordial and heterogeneous reality of sensible qualities, and theother a homogeneous reality called ‘space’ conceived by the human intellect. A three-dimensionalbuilding that encompasses these two realities at the same time cannot be realised, even with the helpof a good architect. Moreover, even if such a structure could be constructed, an autocratic caliphamassing enough power to dominate an entire city was implausible within the framework of British
parliamentary democracy. As a result, after 1926, Lewis almost abandoned painting and devoted
himself to writing. Finally, in 1931, he published his infamous work, Hitler.
In August 1937, Lewis revisited Berlin for the first time since 1931. It is plausible that he might
have heard about the Degenerate Art exhibition opening in Munich in July of that year. Disappointed
mainly by its anti-Semitic policies, Lewis left Nazi Germany. After returning to London, he soonfled to Canada to avoid the war. There, he saw the people of North America, free from their origins,
gathering like rootless plants. In his 1949 book America and Cosmic Man, Lewis summarised his
experience as follows:
I am quite serious when I say that this is what heaven must be like—agreeably inhuman, naturally;a rootless, irresponsible city..., where the spirit is released from all the too-close contacts withother people..., but where everything is superficially fraternal (14).
Conclusion
In Lewis’s 1941 pamphlet published in Canada, he introduced the concept of a ‘rootless’ existence
to characterise maritime nations like the UK and the United States, contrasting it with the German
fixation on ‘Lebensraum’ or living space. Nevertheless, such a mode of existence was alreadyremarked on in the first issue of Blast: ‘The human form still runs, like wave, through the texture orbody of existence, and therefore of art... THE ACTUAL HUMAN BODY BECOMES OF LESSIMPORTANCE EVERY DAY ’ (15). In his 1919 book, he wrote:
As already his body in no way indicates the scope of his personal existence … it cannot more inpictorial art be used as his effective delimitation or sign. But that is not to say that a piece ofcheese or a coal scuttle can. There is inorganic world an organism that is his; and which, as much

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as his partially superseded body, is in a position of mastery and higher significance over the cheeseand saucepan (16).
Lewis’s positive reinterpretation of this ‘rootless’ mode of existence was based on his experience inNorth America, where he witnessed the development of various media (especially media in
McLuhan’s sense). It is unquestionable that this experience also led Lewis to the concept of the ‘big
village’; consider Lewis’s often quoted words in America and Cosmic Man: ‘...the earth has become
one big village, with telephones laid on from one end to the other, and air transport, both speedy andsafe’ (17). A space where people with rootless temperaments could talk and meet across distances,
but never fueled by artificial causes, was the heaven Lewis dreamed of.
Thanks to the Internet and more advanced air transportation, we are closer to heaven today
than Lewis ever dreamed of. Nevertheless, social media is once again fueling excessive sympathy
towards a handful of ‘influencers’ and fostering nationalistic behaviour among the younger
generation; Lewis may have been wrong in his predictions, but his negotiations with the media offer
us at least two lessons. On the one hand, if Lissitzky or Schwitters genuinely viewed Blast’s design
as progressive, it suggests that parody might be less effective against the media. Instead, embracing
the satire found in Lewis’s literary works or visual compositions could be more effective. As seen in
Lewis’s paintings, these may prompt individuals to view themselves with detachment.
On the other hand, one might posit that architecture and urban planning have diminished in
effectiveness. Following Lewis’s approach, it becomes essential to differentiate between
communication and transportation media. A thorough analysis of their channel compositions andtheir impacts on individuals is warranted. Here again, a ‘detached’ viewpoint is needed for thisexamination. McLuhan noticed this when he wrote in his 1969 book, Counterblast: ‘Any medium,by dilating sense to fill the whole field, creates the necessary conditions of hypnosis in that area.
This explains why at no time has any culture been aware of the effect of its media on its overall
association, not even retrospectively’ (18). However, considering Lewis’s achievements, we must go
beyond McLuhan’s distinction between ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ media. We must explore the number andnature of media senders and receivers, scrutinise the nature and configuration of their channels andmessages, and consequently interrupt these communication media (19).
Notes
1.

The magazine is avairable on: “Modernis Journals Project,” accessed Feb 12, 2024,
https://modjourn.org/journal/blast/.

2.

Wyndham Lewis, “The New Egos,” in Blast, no.1, reprinted & edited by B. Morrow(Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow, 2002), 141.

3.

Wyndham Lewis, The Wild Body (London: Chatto and Windus, 1927), 232-33.

4.

Wyndham Lewis, “Appendix to Book One” in Time and Western Man, reprinted & edited by P.
Edwards (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow, 1993), 117.

5.

Mariko Kaname, “The Development of the British Avant-Garde and Print Media in the Early
20th Century: In Reference to Vorticism,” in The Proceedings of 10+1 International Committee
for Design History and Studies (ICDHS Barcelona, 2018), 73-76.

6.

Wyndham Lewis, Anglosaxony: A League that Works (Toronto: Ryerson, 1941), 46-7.

62Dehumanization or Communication

7.

Wyndham Lewis, “The Melodrama of Modernity,” in Blast, no.1, 143.

8.

Henri Bergson, Time and Free Will, trans. F. L. Pogson, (London: George Allen; New York:
Macmillan, 1912), 97.

9.

Wyndham Lewis, “The New Egos,” in Blast, no.1, 141.

10. The image is avairable on: “Tate,” accessed Feb 12, 2024,
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lewis-the-crowd-t00689.
11. The image is avairable on: “Imperial War Museum,” accessed Feb 12, 2024,
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/16688.
12. Wyndham Lewis, The Caliph’s Design (Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow, 1986).
13. Wyndham Lewis, “Plain Home-Builder: Where is Your Vorticist?,” in Wyndham Lewis on
Art: Collected writings 1913-1956, edited by Walter Michel & C. J. Fox (New York: Funk
& Wagnalls, 1969), 278.
14. Wyndham Lewis, America and Cosmic Man (New York: Doubleday, 1949), 167.
15. Wyndham Lewis, “The New Egos,” in Blast, no.1, 141.
16. Wyndham Lewis, The Caliph’s Design, op.cit. 78.
17. Wyndham Lewis, America and Cosmic Man, 21.
18. Marshall McLuhan, Counterblast (London: Rapp & Whiting, 1970), 23.
19. On Lewis’s interruption in communication media such as telephone, see Wyndham Lewis,“What it feels like to be an enemy,” in Wyndham Lewis on Art: Collected Writings 19131956, edited by Walter Michel & C. J. Fox (London: Thames & Hudson, 1969), 267.
Author Biographies
Mariko Kaname
Mariko Kaname is a Professor at Atomi University, specialising in Aesthetics. She and Shigeru
Maeda are currently engaged in a research project on ‘Wyndham Lewis’s Thoughts on Media’,supported by a JSPS KAKENHI Grant, Number JP19K00137. This paper is part of the report on the
results of this project. Her Japanese translation with explanatory comments of Lewis’s pamphlet,
The Caliph’s Design, will be published by SuiseiSha in 2024.
Shigeru Maeda
Shigeru Maeda is a Professor of Aesthetics and Film Studies at Kyoto Seika University. He translated
Lewis’s pamphlet, Anglosaxony: A League that Works into Japanese, and the translation with adetailed commentary was published in three instalments in the Journal of Kyoto Seika University(2019, 2020, 2021).

63

Session IV

Crafts as Cultural Resources‘Rescued’ Furniture: Reviving and Reutilising
Kyushu University’s Historical Furniture
Akiko Shimbo
Shibaura Institute of Technology
Misako Mishima
The Kyushu University Museum

Abstract
This paper discusses ‘rescuing’ objects, focusing on furniture, and examines how this idea reflects
and can contribute to ‘ideal truth’ of design in relation to consumption/use, disposal andreuse/reutilisation. The paper begins by seeking the basis of the notion of ‘rescuing’ objects, looking
at the definitions of the English words ‘rescue’ and ‘salvage’, as well as the Japanese word ‘resukyu’.
Referring to customs in material culture and folklore, this paper explores the possibility of analysing
furniture from the viewpoints of personification and sanctity. The paper then analyses the language
used by the Kyushu University Museum and its supporters. When Kyushu University (establishedin 1911) began to move to a new campus in 2005, many pieces of historical furniture that had beenused were discarded. The museum started to ‘rescue’ them in 2008 and has conducted a project of‘open preservation’: reuse of them not only on campus but also in shops and other facilities outside
the campus. When the museum appealed for the costs of transport and repairs of discarded pieces offurniture through cloud funding in 2018, the word ‘rescue’ was used to describe them. The
personification of the furniture was also seen in the donors’ comments. The paper concludes with an
examination of some shops outside the campus that use the furniture loaned by the museum,
conducting interviews concerning their views on reviving and reutilising it. The example of Kyushu
University’s historical furniture demonstrates that the furniture that has literally supported people’s
lives was saved by people, including those who are not related to the university, and is reutilised inother places. This also indicates that objects can be ‘rescued’ and deserve to be treated with respect,which ultimately leads to long-term use of products and even exemplifies eternal life.
Keywords: Furniture; Rescued; The Kyushu University Museum; Material culture

1. Introduction
While ‘humane act’, one of this conference’s topics, is usually directed at humans and animals, thisword could also be used for objects. In this context, this paper discusses rescuing discarded objects,
focusing on furniture, to explore people’s awareness of the lives of products, which are as precious
as those of humans. The paper begins by seeking the basis of the notion of ‘rescuing’ objects, looking
at the definitions of the English words ‘rescue’ and ‘salvage’, as well as the Japanese word ‘resukyu’.
In particular, furniture is closely connected to the everyday life of people in homes and outside homes.
Referring to customs in material culture and folklore, this paper explores the possibility of analysing
furniture from the viewpoints of personification and sanctity.
The paper then analyzes the language used by the Kyushu University Museum and its
supporters. When Kyushu University began to move to a new campus in 2005, many pieces of66‘Rescued’ Furniture

historical furniture that had been used in the faculties were discarded. The museum started to rescue
them and has conducted a project of ‘open preservation’: reuse of them not only on campus but also
in shops and other facilities outside the campus. When the museum appealed for the costs of transportand repairs of discarded pieces of furniture through cloud funding in 2018, the Japanese word
‘resukyu’ was used to describe them. The personification of the furniture was also seen in the donors’comments.
The paper further examines people’s views on reviving and reutilising the once or almost
discarded furniture by conducting interviews with shops outside the campus that use the furnitureloaned by the museum. The example of Kyushu University’s historical furniture demonstrates thatthe furniture that has literally supported people’s lives was saved by people, including those who are
not related to the university, and is reutilised in other places. This indicates that objects can be saved
and deserve to be treated with respect, which ultimately leads to long-term use of products and even
exemplifies eternal life.
2. Objects’ Lives
As mentioned earlier, ‘humane act’ is usually directed at humans and animals, but not at objects(1),because objects have no life. In relation to this, the word ‘rescue’ is used both for humans and objects
in English, with the definitions in separate categories in the Oxford English Dictionary.(2) According
to it, the word ‘rescue’ began to be used for humans in circa 1330, while it started to be used for
objects later than for humans, just ante 1413.(3) As far as the examples listed in OED are concerned,
the word ‘rescue’ can be used for objects that are important or valuable, as the following examples
indicate: ‘To rescue our Native Language’ (1754); ‘The papyrus fragments rescued from the ruins of
Herculaneum’ (1875); and ‘rescuing Scotland’s forgotten literary legacy’ (1997).(4) Conversely, theword ‘salvage’ in English is almost exclusively used for objects and began to be used in a later period,
1889.(5) The word ‘salvage’ has also a more contemporary and practical meaning that first appearedin 1943: ‘To save and collect (waste material, esp. paper) for recycling’.(6) While the English word
‘rescue’ is thus used both for humans and objects, and the word ‘salvage’ is used for objects, it isworth noting that the use of both words for objects began from a later period.
Similarly, the Japanese word ‘resukyu’, which originates from the English word ‘rescue’,mainly means saving human lives, especially victims of disasters, distress, or accidents.(7)Nevertheless, the word also started to be used to mean saving cultural heritage, especially after the2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Indeed, although the book titles that include the Japanese word
‘resukyu’ in the catalogue of the Japan National Diet Library deal with saving humans, animals aswell as PCs and soft wares, some titles with ‘cultural heritage resukyu’ began to appear after 2012.(8)These pieces were mainly designated/registered cultural assets or items from museums’ collections.
Therefore, it is also likely that the Japanese word ‘resukyu’ is mainly used for humans and objects
that are as precious as human lives. This Japanese word ‘resukyu’ was used to describe saving
Kyushu University’s historical furniture from discarding, as will be seen later, although the pieces
had not been officially accepted as important objects because they were mere objects for daily use.
Customs concerning the sanctity and personification of objects may provide a clue as to why
they could be treated almost as humans, which leads to the idea that their lives should be saved. In
Western countries, there is a precaution that touching or knocking wooden objects wards off badluck, based on the belief that these objects were originally made from sacred trees, especially oak,which had ‘protecting powers’.(9) In Japan, although it has been said that pillars, such as daikoku
bashira and kojin bashira, and kitchen stoves (kamado) are the places where gods dwell and protect
the family and home(10), the association of specific furniture with such customs needs further
research.

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3. ‘Rescued’ Furniture: A Case Study of Kyushu University’s Historical Furniture
In this context of the discussion of ‘rescuing’ objects, furniture can show appropriate examples
because it is closely connected to everyday life of people both in and outside homes. The second partof the paper therefore analyses the language used by the Kyushu University Museum and its
supporters concerning ‘rescued’ furniture, paying attention to personification. When Kyushu
University began to move to a new campus in 2005, many pieces of historical furniture that had beenused since its establishment in 1911 were discarded on campus.(11) The university museum’s ‘rescue’team consisting of interdisciplinary specialists, Misako Mishima from botany, Shozo Iwanaga fromarchaeology and Shigejiro Yoshida from forest science, started a full-scale rescue of the furnitureand equipment in 2009.(12) Then, Mishima proposed a new concept ‘open preservation’ (‘zaiyahozon’ in Japanese) and started to organise a project on ‘open preservation’, the reuse of the once oralmost discarded university’s historical furniture not only on campus but also in shops and otherfacilities outside the campus and homes to continue to be used and, at the same time, preserved ineveryday life as ‘cultural heritage in use’ (‘katsuyo bunkazai’ in Japanese) .(13)First, personification is seen in the organiser’s method for saving the lives of objects: ‘triage’.
When the museum appealed for the costs of transport and repairs of discarded pieces of furniturethrough cloud funding in 2018, before the final move of some faculties to the new campus, theJapanese word ‘resukyu’ was used to describe them.(14) Because of the lack of storage space, themuseum had to pick and choose the furniture immediately on the site and transport only selected
pieces to the storage facilities.(15) Mishima focused on the concept of the medical term ‘triage’ usedin disasters to set the standard for selecting discarded pieces of furniture.
Although the word ‘triage’ originally meant ‘[t]he action or process of classifying, sorting, or
separating out wool or another commodity according to quality’ in the period between the earlyeighteenth century and the late nineteenth century, according to OED, this meaning is no longer inuse.(16) However, since the early twentieth century, the word has been used as a medical term, which
is directed at first military casualties and later patients, as the definition indicates: ‘The action orprocess of making a preliminary assessment of patients (originally military casualties) in order todetermine the urgency of their need for treatment and the nature of treatment required’.(17) Thus,
the word is now commonly used as a medical term aimed at humans, as the latter meaning indicates.
Drawing an example from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Bureau of Public Health’s
standard for triage, it ranks the groups of patients in priority order according to the level of urgency
and severity of injures or illness, putting a tag of a specific colour to each rank: red to the top priority,and then yellow, green and black at the lowest.(18) Mishima developed this method for triaging
discarded pieces of furniture, and Ryuji Arai then adjusted the standard and elements from theviewpoint of a specialist in twentieth century Japanese furniture:
A1: Complete condition (with the manufacturer’s label). To be saved and kept—Blue or yellow
A2: Complete condition (with the manufacturer’s label). To be saved and required to be repaired—Red
A3: To be reused as a material—Brown
A4: Under consideration - BlackA5: To be loaned to other institutions—Pink (19)Mishima’s idea was thus the application of the method originally used to save human lives tosaving objects in a limited time and space.
The personification of the furniture was also seen in the donors’ comments on the 2018 cloudfunding website: ‘the furniture has watched over the university and its students’; ‘the desk has
supported their research’; ‘the desk that married into another place’; ‘the furniture starts to live its
68‘Rescued’ Furnituresecond life’ and ‘… the desk is born again and will support other people’s lives’.(20) Here, furniture
functions as the subject of the sentence, which is grammatically not normal in the Japanese language.
People’s support for saving the university’s furniture indicates their will to make it continue
to live as companions of humans. It is not limited to graduates of the university but is shared by those
who are not related to the university. Even though people lived in different ages and places fromthose where the furniture was made and used, they donated to the museum’s idea in order to showrespect for the fact that the furniture has lived and supported humans over a long time. Finding value
in the discarded historical furniture as it is, they also made a donation to express their wishes to makeit continue to live for the future.

Figure 1: The use of Kyushu University’s Furniture in the University Museum’s botanical exhibition
room

Figure 2: Kyushu University’s Furniture in the University Museum’s new storeroom (desks andtables)69

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Figure 3: Kyushu University’s Furniture in the University Museum’s new storeroom (cabinets)
4. Shop Owners’ Views on Historical Furniture
The furniture that had supported humans and, in return, was saved by many people beyond theoriginal owners and users—the university and its members and continue to live for other uses and inother places as a communal heritage. Through their practice the new keepers of these pieces ofrescued furniture demonstrate that, like humans, objects should also be treated with respect. We
interviewed four shop owners, to whom the museum had loaned the rescued furniture by email fromlate August to early September 2023. Three of them are bookshops with cafés, and the other is aprefectural art museum’s café.
The first question is as to what shop owners felt when they decided to use the once or almost
discarded furniture in new places away from the original place. All the shop owners are aware of thetime the furniture spent. The owner of Daidai Shoten, a bookshop with a café in Kumamoto, answers
that she felt as if she had carried on the memories that existed within the objects.(21) Similarly, theowner of another bookshop with a café called ‘Rural Reading’ in Niigata says that she feels as if she
had something to be handed down or was holding a baton to be passed for a while.(22) She thinks
that, for furniture, she is just one of many people it has met. In addition to her memory as a graduate
from the university and awareness of the furniture as a link between her and her grandfather, who
had also spent time on the same campus with the furniture, she also thinks that the furniture has‘bigger stories’ in itself and that her and her family’s stories are just part of them. These owners thus
display the feeling that they are part of a long history of the furniture.
The owner of the café at the Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art further draws attention to
the time accumulated in the furniture. According to her, some visitors say that they feel the passageof time in the 60-year-old museum building and relax with its nostalgic atmosphere.(23) In her view,
both buildings and furniture accumulate time within them. Even though she did not live in thatbuilding or did not use that furniture, she can feel from the texture that it shared the same age as she
lived in. She also states that both buildings and furniture can convey the spirit of the age to people
who were not born in the period, without words. She says, while new things are convenient and lookpleasant, they make her anxious as if she were rootless. Alternatively, buildings and furniture, inwhich the passage of time is engraved, calm her down. She says, even though the furniture’s
whereabouts seem to be lost, it can play not only a functional role, as a desk or a bookshelf, but also
a new role. Interpreting her words, this ‘new role’ may be the foundation on which humans should
lay their own.
Furthermore, the manner in which humans treat objects is connected to how humans consider
life. When the owner of a bookshop, Natsume Shoten in Fukuoka decided to borrow the university’sfurniture, she hoped that taking great care of a period of the furniture’s life would make its further
years better.(24) She also states that the expression of objects changes depending on how they are70‘Rescued’ Furniture

treated. Thus, the owner treats the furniture similarly to humans. Like humans, objects reflecthappiness, and such a well-treated life continues for a longer time.
The second question is whether the shop has any policy to continue to use Kyushu University’s
historical furniture at the shop, a new place for the furniture. All of them considered the harmony of
the old furniture and the interior of the shops, most of which were built 50, 60, or 70 years ago.(25)The owner of Daidai Shoten in Kumamoto answers that she takes care of it not to be damaged
because it has been cherished for a long time and keeps in mind that the harmony of the old furnitureand newly installed ones is maintained.(26) The owner of ‘Rural Reading’ in Niigata also considers
the interaction between the ‘genuine time’ the old furniture has and the interior of the shop.(27)
While the owner of Natsume Shoten in Fukuoka also tried to harmonise the 50-year-old building,which had formerly been a hair dresser’s shop, with the university’s furniture, she thought that she
wanted to use the furniture in its original state as much as possible.(28) Echoing her answers to thefirst question, she says that in order to convey to visitors that the furniture is precious and encouragethem to treat it carefully, the shop owners themselves always treasure it. Thus, once or almost
discarded furniture moved places to live, casting a light of time over the surroundings and protecting
and being protected by humans.
Three of the four owners say that they are willing to explain Mishima’s idea, ‘open
preservation’ (‘zaiya hozon’ in Japanese) to visitors who show an interest in the furniture or theinterior of the shop.(29) The practice of the new keepers of the rescued furniture demonstrates thatthe time the furniture had spent and brought to the new places deserves to be respected, and theobjects that are treated with respect would continue to live for centuries. In that meaning, objects
surely have life.
Conclusion
The Japanese word ‘resukyu’, which originates from the English word ‘rescue’ mainly means saving
human lives, especially victims of disasters. The Japanese word ‘resukyu’ was used to describesaving Kyushu University’s historical, but everyday, furniture from being discarded. As this paper
has analysed, the language used by the Kyushu University Museum and its supporters indicates the
personification of the furniture. As the final part of the paper has examined, the words of the shop
owners who use the university’s furniture demonstrate that the time the furniture had spent andbrought to the new places deserves to be respected. At the same time, objects that are treated withrespect would continue to live for centuries, which embodies the ultimate truth of using products.
This may further lead to immortality that humans themselves never achieve, and without humans’
succeeded hands, objects would never achieve.
Notes
1. The entry of the word ‘humane’, Oxford English Dictionary Online (Oxford University press)
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/humane_adj?tab=meaning_and_use&show-allquotations=true (accessed on 8 September 2023).
2. The entry of the word ‘rescue’, Oxford English Dictionary Online (Oxford University press)
www.oed.com/dictionary/rescue_v?tab=meaning_and_use#25919961 (accessed on 8 September2023).
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.

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5. The entry of the word ‘salvage’, Oxford English Dictionary Online (Oxford University press)
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/salvage_v?tab=meaning_and_use#24435993 (accessed on 8
September 2023).
6. Ibid.
7. The three major Japanese dictionaries, for example, include the words ‘resukyu tai’, meaning a
rescue team, and define it as a team for saving human lives in such situations. The entries of theword ‘resukyu’ in the following Japanese dictionaries: Kojien, Seisenban Nihon Kokugo
Daijiten, and Meikyo Kokugo Jiten.
8. The catalogue of the Japan National Diet Library, accessed on 18 September 2023.
9. E. and M.A. Radford, The Encyclopedia of Superstitions (Oxford, 1995), 60-1, 252-253. Akiko
Shimbo, Furniture-Makers and Consumers in England, 1754-1851: Design as Interaction(Ashgate 2015, Routledge 2016), 1 has referred to this.
10. Takao Mori (ed.), Sumai no Minzoku Jiten [Encyclopaedia of Housing Folklore] (Tokyo:
Shufusha, 2019), 404, 406, 433.
11. Misako Mishima and Shozo Iwanaga “Kyushu Daigaku Sogo Kenkyu Hakubutsukan
Daiichibunkan no Sasshinteki Katsuyo (1) Keii [Innovative Usage of the Kyushu University
Museum Annex 1: (1) Circumstances],” Kyushu Daigaku Sogo Kenkyu Hakubutsukan Kenkyu
Hokoku [Bulletin of The Kyushu University Museum]12 (2014): 57.
12. Misako Mishima et al., “Katsuyo Bunkazai to shite no Rekishiteki Mokusei Juki no
Zaiyahozon [Open Preservation of Historical Wooden Furniture and Equipment as Cultural
Heritage in Use]” (Toyota Foundation 2017 Research Grant Program Report TYTID D17-R0714 (2023)), 2-4.
13. Misako Mishima, “Kyushu Daigaku no Rekishiteki Mokusei Juki no Hozon to Katsuyo no
Aratana Arikata ni Mukete [New Perspectives of Preservation and Usage of the Kyushu
University’s Historical Wooden Furniture and Equipment]”, Kyushu Daigaku Sogo Kenkyu
Hakubutsukan Kenkyu Hokoku [Bulletin of The Kyushu University Museum]15-16 (2018): 6667.
14. The 2018 cloud funding website: “Rekishiteki na Mokusei Gakkokagu wo Sukue! Kyudai Juki
Hozen Katsuyo Purojekuto [Save the Kyushu University’s Historical Wooden Furniture! The
Preservation and Use of Kyushu University’s Furniture and Equipment]”
https://readyfor.jp/projects/kyudai-furniture (accessed in May 2023).
15. This and the following reference come from Mishima et al. “Katsuyo Bunkazai to shite no
Rekishiteki Mokusei Juki no Zaiyahozon” (2023), 6.
16. The entry of the word ‘triage’, Oxford English Dictionary Online (Oxford University press)
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/triage_n?tab=meaning_and_use#17792601 (accessed on 12
September 2023).
17. Ibid.
18. https://www.hokeniryo.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/iryo/kyuukyuu/saigai/triage.html accessed on 1272

‘Rescued’ Furniture

September 2023); Mishima et al. (2023) refers to TMG’s method. Mishima et al. “Katsuyo
Bunkazai to shite no Rekishiteki Mokusei Juki no Zaiyahozon (2023), 6.
19. Ibid., 6, 29.
20. The 2018 cloud funding website: “Rekishiteki na Mokusei Gakkokagu wo Sukue!”
https://readyfor.jp/projects/kyudai-furniture (accessed in May 2023).
21. An interview to Daidai Shoten, a bookshop with a café in Kumamoto by email (1 September2023).
22. This and the following two references come from an interview to Rural Reading, a bookshop
with a café in Niigata by email (1 September 2023).
23. This and the following six references come from an interview to the café at Fukuoka
Prefectural Museum of Art by email (11 September 2023).
24. This and the following reference come from an interview to a bookshop, Natsume Shoten in
Fukuoka by email (11 September 2023).
25. The interviews to four shops conducted above.
26. The interview to Daidai Shoten by email (1 September 2023).
27. The interview to Rural Reading by email (1 September 2023).
28. This and the following reference come from the interview to Natsume Shoten by email (11September 2023).
29. The responses to the interviews conducted above.

Author Biographies
Akiko Shimbo
Akiko Shimbo is a professor at Shibaura Institute of Technology in Japan. Her research field is thehistory of material culture, especially furniture and houses. She has been involved in Kyushu
University’s historical furniture project since 2016. She is the author of the book Furniture-Makers
and Consumers in England, 1754-1851: Design as Interaction (Ashgate 2015, Routledge 2016).
Misako Mishima
Dr. Misako Mishima is a professor at the Kyushu University Museum in Japan. Her background isbotany, and she manages the herbarium of the university. She started practical museum research in2006 and has been leading the historical furniture project at Kyushu University since 2009.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the owners of Daidai Shoten, Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art Café,
Rural Reading, and Natsume Shoten for answering the questions and the Toyota Foundation for theirpast research grant (TYTID D17-R-0714, 2018-2022). We are also grateful to the ACDHT
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Conference referees for their helpful comments and editorial advice. We also thank our proof readers
for checking the English of this article.

74

Premium Bashōfu and Rough Bashōfu:
Producing, wearing, and discussing bashōfu,
a traditional banana fiber textile from Okinawa
Rie Mori
Japan Women’s University
Fumiko Kakihara
Japan Women’s University
Yoko Nomura
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST)

Abstract
Bashōfu is woven from threads of fibers extracted from the Itobashō wild banana plant (Musabalbisiana var. liukiuensis). Because clothing made of bashōfu is light and breathable, all classes ofpeople of the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429 - 1879) favored it in the highly humid summer. Bashōfu wasroughly classified into two quality levels: premium bashōfu for high-class people’s clothing and for
trading, and rough bashōfu for the masses.
Nowadays only premium bashōfu is produced as a sophisticated traditional craft in Okinawa,
and attracts both academic and public interest. We have, however, proceeded with scientific research
into rough bashōfu to investigate the potential of rough bashōfu as a wearable textile. Why has roughbashōfu been overlooked up to now?
Some attention was paid to bashōfu by the mingei (folk craft) movement and the Japanesekimono market, but only in general, which led to rough bashōfu for the common people being
neglected or forgotten. In 1942, during the Pacific War, the Japanese philosopher and the mingei
movement leader Sōetsu Yanagi published The Story of Bashōfu, in which he praised its beauty andauthenticity. However, he did not distinguish premium bashōfu from the rough type, and simply
stated that the best place for bashōfu production was the former capital, Shuri, because clothing forthe royal family had been produced there. After the collapse of bashōfu production following the1945 Battle of Okinawa and the subsequent US military occupation, Toshiko Taira, who was
encouraged by the the mingei movement, succeeded in re-starting bashōfu production in Kijoka,
Okinawa around 1950. Thereafter, she and her colleagues met the demand from US soldiers, and in
the late 20th century, from the Japanese kimono market. The Japanese government designatedBashōfu in Kijoka as an Important Intangible Cultural Property in 1974, two years after Okinawa’s
reversion to Japanese administration from the US military government.
In this study, we will examine reasons why rough bashōfu had been neglected in Okinawan
and Japanese history and look at its potential as a future textile.
Keywords: bashōfu; banana fiber; Ryukyu; the folk craft movement; Important Intangible Cultural
Property76

Premium Bashōfu and Rough Bashōfu

Introduction
Bashōfu is woven from threads made of fibers extracted from the leaf sheaths of the itobashō wild
banana plant (Musa balbisiana var. liukiuensis). Because clothing made of bashōfu is light andbreathable, all classes of people of the Ryūkyū Kingdom (1429 - 1879) favored it in the highly humid
summer. Bashōfu was largely classified into two quality levels: premium bashōfu for high-classpeople’s clothing and for trading, and rough bashōfu for the masses (Fig. 1).
Nowadays only premium bashōfu is produced in Okinawa using sophisticated traditional
techniques, and attracts both public and academic interest. As a result, rough bashōfu for the common
people has tended to be neglected or forgotten. We have, however, proceeded with scientific research
into rough bashōfu to investigate the potential of rough bashōfu as a wearable textile.
In this paper, we will examine why rough bashōfu came to be neglected in Okinawan andJapanese history and look at its future potential as a textile from the viewpoint not only of design
history but of human life sciences.

Figure 1. Pieces of bashōfu
Left: Premium bashōfu for Kimono sash; Right: Old bashōfu for ordinary people
History of Bashōfu
The Ryūkyū Kingdom era
The Ryūkyū (Okinawan) islands are located southwest of the Japanese archipelago. The Ryūkyū
Kingdom reigned there from the 15th century until 1879, when Japan militarily annexed it andcreated Okinawa Prefecture. The kingdom’s prosperity derived from trading international products
and local specialties, including textiles (1). Premium bashōfu has been prized in mainland Japan
since the premodern era. Premium bashōfu was called Nīgashī or Nīgashī basā, and bashōfu forcommon people was called Yanbaru basā. Yanbaru refers to the forested northern part of Okinawa
Island. Basā is the old name for bashōfu. Nīgashī is the bleaching or whitening step of bashōfu
threads, a process that enhances dyeing.
In the Ryūkyū Kingdom, the royal family members and aristocrats wore clothes made ofpremium bashōfu as well as ramie, silk, and cotton. They sometimes wore clothes made of mixed
woven textiles such as bashōfu and silk, bashōfu and cotton, or silk and cotton (2). On the other hand,the common people made and wore rough bashōfu, an easily-obtained type of fiber, the raw materialof which was easy to grow around their houses.
In terms of fabric design, most premium bashōfu had varieties of stripes and plaid with kasuri
ikat patterns on red or yellow backgrounds. The finest quality plain green bashōfu was worn by theprinces as the highest grade formal costume (3). Rough bashōfu for common people, on the other
hand, appeared to be unbleached and have simple and narrow stripes (4).
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Under the rule of the Japanese empire
The Japanese government unilaterally absorbed the Ryūkyū Kingdom into one of their domains in
1872. They then sent military troops to the Shuri Royal Palace and compelled the Ryūkyūan royalfamily to move to Tokyo, and in 1879 designated Okinawa as a Prefecture (5).
The Ryūkyūan people continued producing and wearing bashōfu. While rough bashōfu was
still made and worn by common people, premium bashōfu was produced for exporting to theJapanese mainland and Taiwan (6). This was when varieties of patterns, such as kasuri and hanaori,
were developed for export (7).
The Japanese philosopher and mingei (folk art) movement leader Sōetsu Yanagi published‘Bashōfu in Okinawa’ in 1939, during the second Sino-Japanese War (1937 - 45), and The Story ofBashōfu in 1942, during the Pacific War (1941 - 45). In these writings, he praised its beauty andauthenticity. However, he did not distinguish premium bashōfu from the rough type, and simply
stated that the best place for bashōfu production was the former capital, Shuri, because clothing forthe royal family had been produced there (8) (9).
The Okinawan Islands were required to act as ‘shields’ for mainland Japan during the 1945
battle of Okinawa. They were attacked fiercely by the Allies, and one-fourth of the population of themain island of Okinawa were killed.
Under the occupation of the US Army
After Japan’s defeat, the Ryūkyū Islands remained under occupation by the US Army until they
reverted to the Japanese administration in 1972. Most of the itobashō plants on the Okinawan islands
were supposedly burned during the fighting and as part of the army’s countermeasures against
mosquitoes. The US Army did in fact establish a community workshop for producing bashōfu in
Kijoka in July 1945, but it was soon closed down (10). Kijoka was a village in the northern part of
the Okinawa mainland that had prospered from bashōfu production since the mid-19th century.
In December 1946, Toshiko Taira, from a distinguished family in Kijoka, came back to
Okinawa from mainland Japan, where she had been encouraged by the mingei movement to revive
bashōfu in Okinawa (11). She succeeded in re-starting bashōfu making in Kijoka around 1950, andthanks to her hard work, production increased gradually, with products catering to the demands of
the US soldiers and of Japanese people (12). Taira and her colleagues produced tablecloths andcushion covers to be sold at souvenir shops for US soldiers, and zabuton (floor cushion) covers andobi sashes for the Japanese market (13).
After reversion to the Japanese administration
In 1974, two years after Okinawa’s reversion from the US military government to the Japaneseadministration, the Japanese government designated bashōfu in Kijoka as an Important Intangible
Cultural Property, with the Kijoka Bashōfu Preservation Society, headed by Toshiko Taira, as theholder group. Some of the conditions for its designation were: [1] The fibers must be extracted from
itobashō; [2] the threads must be dyed with plant dyes; [3] kasuri (ikat dyeing) must be done byhand; and [4] the material must be hand-woven (14). As a result of this designation, bashōfu in
Kijoka was officially and publicly recognized as possessing major historic and artistic value.
Consequently, premium bashōfu achieved fame and high prices in the Japanese kimono market.
In spite of Yanagi’s claim that bashōfu had been produced for the common people as well as
the royal family and aristocrats, the focus since the mid-1960s has been on making it a high-quality
fine craft, particularly after its designation as an Important Intangible Cultural Property. It wasstressed that thinner the fiber, the better the quality, and weaving it together with other fibers isstrongly discouraged. Today, only premium bashōfu is produced as a very high-level traditional craft
and attracts both public and academic interest. Typical designs of today’s premium bashōfu consist78Premium Bashōfu and Rough Bashōfu

of fine kasuri ikat patterns such as crosses or swallows on light yellow or indigo blue backgrounds.
Meanwhile, the production of rough bashōfu for ordinary people was rapidly declining, andknowledge of its production techniques was mostly lost.
Experimental Demonstration
The premium bashōfu production process is considered fully traditional, as it requires a high levelof skill and intuition on the part of the artisan at each step (15). It must also use high quality material,
harvested only from 2-3-year-old plants, well-trimmed in the traditional manner. Premium bashōfu
is made using a complicated and time-consuming production process.
As we mention above, the production of rough bashōfu for ordinary people declined rapidly,
and full knowledge of the method used was lost. How was bashōfu for ordinary people made? Wehave engaged in scientific research into rough bashōfu. Our investigation of local historical records
suggests that all methods used the same alkali degumming process for the extraction of itobashō
fibers; however, variations in the process were found (16). Sometimes unregulated itobashō plants
were also used as raw materials. We were aware that Ryūkyūan people had developed sophisticatedconditions to make premium bashōfu. On the other hand, they might have sought the simplest
techniques for making bashōfu for personal or family use. This prompted us to use scientific methods
to study how itobashō fibers for bashōfu are affected by the extraction method.
Because our investigations of local historical records describing bashōfu suggested that ordinary
Ryūkyūan people had simplified the conditions at each step of the process for making bashōfu for
their personal use, we extracted itobashō fibers using a simple method that did not depend on thespecial skills or intuition that artisans currently use for premium bashōfu making, such as byemploying materials harvested from itobashō plants that are too young or too old to be used forpremium bashōfu making (17). We boiled the stiffest and least usable materials of each harvested
plant, called waha in bashōfu craft making, in an alkali solution of pH 11.5 (e.g., 0.5 % K2CO3)
without any adjustments for 15 minutes. The boiled materials were then thoroughly rinsed with tap
water, and the fibers were separated from the clean materials for morphology observations (Fig. 2).
The average thickness of our fibers exceeded 90 micrometers, whereas that of the fibers madeby artisans is 76 micrometers. In traditional premium bashōfu making, thick fibers are unpreferable
and worthless to make kimonos due to their undesirably high stiffness. Our fibers could therefore
not match the quality needed for fine craft making.
Textiles combining itobashō and other types of threads were used for clothing for high-classand ordinary people in the past (e.g., itobashō threads as the weft and silk threads for warp for highclass cloth, and itobashō and ramie for lower-class cloth).
Using this historical adaptation (e.g., simple extraction process) and some modern skills (e.g.,
enzymatic treatments to enhance the softness of fibers), we have potential to make new textiles in
the future.

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Figure 2. Scientific investigation of bashōfu fibers: Materials and extracted fiber observations
Conclusions
The Okinawan Islands, reigned over by the Ryūkyū Kings, were annexed to Japan in 1879, attacked
by the Allies in 1945, occupied by the US military until 1972, and ultimately reverted to Japan.
Throughout these years, bashōfu production met the demands of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, Japaneseconnoisseurs, the Japanese kimono market, the US military, and local Okinawan people. The
conditions of the bashōfu production method were varied to meet these different demands.
Because our research is based on human life sciences, the re-creation of bashōfu used byordinary people was a strong research motivation. Human life sciences is an academic field that
focuses on the everyday lives of ordinary people, in which scholars aim to solve the problems weface daily and enhance overall quality of life. In Okinawa, rough bashōfu had long been used byordinary people for everyday and work clothes. Research and discussions on bashōfu throughcollaboration between human life sciences and design studies is potentially fruitful for both fields.
Notes
1. Wendy Matsumura, The Limits of Okinawa: Japanese Capitalism, Living Labor, andTheorizations of Community (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2015), 29-30.
2. Tokubetsu-ten ‘Kokuho Okinawa Ryūkyū Okoku no Bi’ Jikko Iinkai, Kokuho Okinawa
Ryūkyū Okoku no Bi [National Treasure: The Beauty of Okinawa Ryūkyū Kingdom](2008), 33.
3. Tokyo National Museum et al. eds. Ryūkyū: Special Exhibition Commemorating the 50th
Anniversary of Okinawa’s Reversion to Japan (Tokyo: NHK et al., 2022), 334-335.
4. Ibid., 328.
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Premium Bashōfu and Rough Bashōfu

5. Wendy Matsumura (2015), ibid., 37-42.
6. Kijoka no Bashōfu Hozonkai, Kijoka no Bashōfu [Bashōfu of Kijioka] (Ogimi: Kinjoka noBashōfu Hozonkai, c. 2003), 96-97.
7. Ibid.
8. Soetsu Yanagi, “Okinawa no Bashōfu [Bashōfu in Okinawa],” in Yanagi Soetsu Zenshu[The Complete Works of Yanagi Soetsu] (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 1981, originallypublished in 1939), vol. 15, 29.
9. Soetsu Yanagi, “Bashōfu Monogatari [The Story of Bashōfu],” in Yanagi Soetsu Zenshu[The Complete Works of Yanagi Soetsu] (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo 1981, originallypublished in 1943), vol. 15, 383.
10. Kijoka no Bashōfu Hozonkai. (c. 2003). ibid., 98.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Okinawa-ken Kyoikucho Bunkazaika. Minna no Bunkazai Zukan [The Illustrated Book
of Cultural Heritage for All] (Naha: Okinawa-ken Kyoiku Iinkai, 2021), 66.
15. Kijoka no Bashōfu Hozonkai, Kijoka no Bashōfu Eisā Gi [Bashōfu Eisā Gi of Kijioka](Ogimi: Kijoka no Bashōfu Hozonkai, 2009), 27-43.
16. Fumiko Kakihara, Koji Koizumi, Toshio Sasaki, and Yoko Nomura, “Facile Extractionof Bashōfu Fibers,” Journal of Home Economics of Japan 72, no.12 (2021): 818-828.
17. Yoko Nomura, Fumiko Kakihara, Koji Koizumi, “Utilization of Bashōfu Fibers from
Neglected Materials in Traditional Craft Making,” Proceedings from ICCT 2022:
International Conference on Clothing and Textiles 2022. (Seoul, 2022), 95-97.

Author Biography / Author Biographies
Rie Mori
Rie Mori is Professor of Fashion History at Japan Women’s University. Her research interest ismodernization of fashion in East Asia. Her publications include “The Kimono Exposed: ThroughModernization and Imperialization,” in Created and Contested: Norms, Traditions, and Values inContemporary Asian Fashion, eds. Emi Goto and Chika Obiya (Tokyo: Research Institute for
Languages and Culture of Asia and Africa, 2022), 51-68.
Fumiko Kakihara
Fumiko Kakihara is Research Fellow in Fashion Science at Japan Women’s University. Her research
81The Journal of the Asian Conference of Design History and Theory, No. 5, 2024.

ISSN 2189-7166interest is Okinawan traditional textiles in everyday life.
Yoko Nomura
Yoko Nomura is Science and Technology Associate of Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
Graduate University (OIST). http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6366-497X

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Commerce and Craft in the Illustrated Companion
to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book
Yuki Shimizu
Tsuda University

Abstract
A Handbook for Travellers published by the British publisher John Murray, was one of the leading
guidebook series in the 19th century, covering not only Europe but also popular ports of call. The
fourth edition of Murray’s guidebook on Japan, A Handbook for Travellers in Japan (1894), has aphoto album titled Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book (1894), which serves as
an addendum and is not found in any other books in the series. Although it has ‘Murray’s Japan
Guide-Book’ in the title, the album was published not by John Murray but by Kazuma Ogawa, aJapanese photographer. This paper discusses the conversion and adaptations in photographic formats
made for different purposes by comparing his other works on a companion album.
As it is a ‘companion’ piece, it had a role in promoting the guidebook and helped achievecommercial value. Simultaneously, it put Ogawa’s photographic craft works into mass production.
Rather than taking new photographs for the work, Ogawa adapted works from his other collotype
prints, which was his speciality, and introduced halftone printing, which was cheaper and could be
mass-produced. This was his second introduction of a halftone print, but it was employed from amore commercial perspective. Ogawa also reorganised and published this guidebook supplement
into a two-volume photographic collection for Japanese readers titled Nihon Hyakkei (『日本百景』
A Hundred Views in Japan, 1894). He changed the form again and expanded countrywide readerships.
Ogawa took advantage of the opportunity to produce a photo book as an addendum to theguidebook, transforming expensive technical work into a more commercial product for a Japaneseaudience depending on its intended use. This transition in format not only broadened the readershipbut also added new value to the same work, and expanded the possibilities of photography.
Keywords: Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book; A Handbook for Travellers inJapan; Nihon Hyakkei; Kazuma Ogawa; Photography

Introduction
The 19th century was a period of development in the travel industry and Japan became a popular
port of call when it opened its ports to the powers. Guidebooks were one source of information for
those who travelled to Japan. In particular, A Handbook for Travellers series published by the
publisher John Murray was a leading guidebook (1). The series was famous for its wide range of
information, from practical information (e.g. actual roots and fees) to academic knowledge (e.g. alist of celebrated personages or even that of gods and goddesses).
The fourth edition of the guidebook contains a photo album called Illustrated Companion to
Murray’s Japan Guide-Book (1894). Similar to Murray’s guidebook, it has a red binding and a title
in gold. Each photograph has page numbers from Murray’s guidebook describing the sections
represented by the photo.
However, Murray did not publish the Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book.
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The colophon states that the printing press and publishing sales office was ‘Ogawa Photo Press
Branch’ (小川写真製版所支店) , and that the compiler and publisher was ‘Kazuma Ogawa’ (小川一眞) (2). Kazuma Ogawa (1860–1929) was a photographer who studied in the United States andworked with foreigners in Japan, such as William K. Burton (1856–1899), who designed Ryounkaku,
and geologist John Milne (1850–1913), on photography and bookbinding. 「小川写真製版所支店(Ogawa Photo Press Branch)」was a printing house run by Ogawa, which suggests that this photobook was planned and published under Ogawa’s leadership.
The reason that the Japanese were able to produce an addendum to Murray’s guidebook isrelated to copyright issues. At the time, Japanese copyright was held by the author and could betransferred (3). The authors of the guidebook, Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850–1935) and William
Benjamin Mason (1858–1923), transferred the copyright to Rokuichiro Masushima (増島六一郎,
1857–1948), who in 1885 became the first headmaster of the Igirisu Law School, the predecessor of
the current Chuo University (4). Masushima was closely related to Ogawa in that he became Ogawa’s
guarantor. This relationship may have led Ogawa to become the publisher of the fourth edition of A
Handbook for Travellers in Japan, enabling him to produce a photographic collection.
A detailed booklet on Ogawa was published by Akiko Okatsuka in 2022, but there is no
mention of the Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book, although its Japanese edition
Hihon Hyakkei (『日本百景』) (1894) is mentioned in the chronology at the end of the book.
However, this work provides evidence of Ogawa’s search to expand the significance of photography,
and is also important in considering the marketing strategy of how to market a guidebook, a work
aimed at people who come to see Japan from the outside. This paper explores the relationshipbetween the Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book and A Handbook for Travellers
in Japan as well as its marketing strategy.
1. Chamberlain’s Commercial Intentions: Connecting Guidebook and Photography
Some might think that the Illustrated Companion would have referred to Murray’s completed
guidebook and prepared the photographs accordingly, but this is not the case. For example,
concerning Hakone, the third edition of A Handbook for Travellers in Japan states: ‘Hakone is cooler,
1,000 ft higher, affords more privacy, and has a charming lake where one may bathe, boat, and go
on water picnics’ (5).
In the fourth edition, a line is added: ‘The view of Fuji, too, and the reflection of Fuji in thelake (Hakone no Saka-Fuji) form a great attraction’ (6). The 23rd photograph in the Illustrated
Companion, ‘Fuji for Lake Hakone’, shows a view of Mt Fuji from the lake, where the lower righthand corner is marked ‘MURRAY’, p. 130 (7). This suggests that Chamberlain added a description
to match the photograph of the Illustrated Companion, and that there was some correspondence
between the two men during the production of the guidebook.
Let us start by discussing A Handbook for Travellers in Japan to reveal Chamberlain’s
marketing strategies. W. B. C. Lister states the following about the third edition, which was the first
Murray guidebook undertaken by Chamberlain:This handbook was a unique title in the series in that it was printed in the country concerned (tosecure Japanese copyright), and the marketing of the work was entirely in the hands of the two
authors, save for a small part of each edition advertised and sold by Murray in London. The final
seven editions of Japan were effectively published by Chamberlain and Mason themselves,
merely using Murray’s name as a "flag of convenience." (8)Chamberlain used the Murray name as a ‘flag of convenience’ which means ‘a flag indicating that a

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vessel has been registered under a foreign flag to avoid certain duties, charges, etc.’ (9), and it also
implies that though Chamberlain used the name ‘Murray’s Handbook’, a large part of the marketing
was in his hands. Chamberlain attempted to reduce the price of the fifth edition from 20 shillings to
15 shillings (10), indicating his involvement in its sales.
Chamberlain asked Murray to publish 5,000 copies of the fourth edition (11), which has
published more than 5,000 copies (12). This is almost double and five times the circulation of thethird and second editions, respectively. Chamberlain published more than twice as many copies of
the third edition as the second edition by Ernest Mason Satow (1843–1929) and Albert George
Sidney Hawes (1842–1897) (13). This suggests that his style of marketing the guidebook was
successful and that the sales performance gained here gave momentum to the mass publication of
the fourth edition.
To expand his marketing to the fourth edition, he considered expanding the number of readersof the guidebook. The preface of the Illustrated Companion is as follows.
Murray’s Guide-Book to Japan being in the hands of every intelligent traveller and foreign
resident, I hope to render a service to the public by the issue of this little album of views of themost interesting and most beautiful places therein mentioned. A reference is given in each case to
the page of Murray (4th Edition) where the description will be found. By the mutual light which
text and illustration thus throw on each other, even those persons who are prevented from visiting
every place themselves, may obtain some idea of the natural and artistic beauties with which ourdearly loved Japanese fatherland is so richly dowered. (14)Ogawa declared the name and edition and mentioned that ‘intelligent travellers and foreign residents’
own the guidebook and wish to serve ‘the people in general’. As mentioned above, the fourth edition
has been published more than twice as many times as the third edition, and it is inferred that theauthors of the guidebook must have overcome the limitations of simply targeting the readily
available audience.
If there was a photo book corresponding to the fourth edition, it would have provided a new
way to enjoy querying photos and descriptions, even if you had an earlier edition. In addition,
because photographs can be enjoyed simply by looking at them, it would have been a good
opportunity for people to develop an interest in the guidebook. Thus, photo books have the potential
to increase the number of sales.
The copyright reverted to the authors, Chamberlain and Mason, from the fifth edition, and nofurther photo books were produced after the fourth edition. However, using photographs was not the
only way Chamberlain marketed his work.
Ogawa, together with Burton and Charles Dickinson West (1847–1908), a professor at Tokyo
Imperial University, founded the Photographic Society of Japan to develop and improve
photographic techniques in Japan. Chamberlain’s name appears on the membership list of 1894 (15)and 1895 (16), when the fourth edition was published.
The Photographic Society of Japan published both Japanese and English versions of its bulletin,
and nearly 40% of its members were foreign residents. Some members may have wanted to tour
scenic areas for photography, and English speakers who enjoy photography may have been keen toincorporate it into their guidebook’s readership.
Chamberlain’s membership in the Photographic Society of Japan was intended to broaden thebuying audience. There were more advertisements in the sixth edition than in any of the otheradditions. It contained advertisements in photo studios, several of which were run by members of
the Photographic Society of Japan when Chamberlain was a member. It can be seen that this networkof the Photographic Society of Japan financially supported the guidebook series from the fourth
edition onwards.
86Commerce and Craft in the Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book

From the above, it seems that the Illustrated Companion was planned to promote the sales ofthe large print of A Handbook for Travellers in Japan and to broaden the target audience to include
more than just tourists. By linking guidebooks with photography, Chamberlain aimed to broaden thebuying public and attract sponsors. He was a pioneer in the coexistence of guidebooks andphotography, which became common among later generations.
2. Ogawa’s Marketing Strategy: Craft and Commerce
The previous chapter examined the intentions of Chamberlain, the author of A Handbook for
Travellers in Japan, towards the Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book. The
following section discusses Kazuma Ogawa, the creator of the photo album.
It can be considered that the scenic locations throughout Japan were an ideal subject for Ogawa
to create his work. Based on the advice of Nagamoto Okabe (1855–1925), the godfather of Ogawa’s
photo studio (Gyokujunkan), Ogawa produced collections of photographs of Japanese scenic spots
for foreigners, publishing Sights and Scenes on The Tokaido and The Hakone District in 1892 andThe Nikko District in 1893.
The two volumes published in 1892 were also in Chamberlain’s possession and remained in
the University of Tokyo. Chamberlain used maps and other information from photo albums as
references when he produced the fourth edition. This suggests that Ogawa could have shown his
work to Chamberlain and explained his concept of album-making.
Furthermore, the subject allows the reuse of photographs that have already been taken, and theIllustrated Companion is based on many of Ogawa’s previous photographs. For example, ‘Pilgrims
to Fuji’ has the same photograph in Plate XI of Sights and Scenes on The Tokaido (1892). ‘Yomeimon Gate, Nikko’, ‘The Red Bridge, Nikko’, ‘Oratory of Iemitsu’s Mausoleum, Nikko’, and ‘39.
Nikko’ are from The Nikko District (1893).
Plate V of Sights and Scenes on The Tokaido contains the same photographs as Scenes From
the Chiushingura and the Story of Forty-Seven Ronin, which Chamberlain owned. There is adifference between this case and the case adopted for the Illustrated Companion, entitled ‘9. Gravesof the Forty-Seven Ronins’. There are also differences in printing techniques between the two; thebook of Tokaido and the book of Chiushingura are both printed using collotype printing, but theIllustrated Companion is printed using halftone printing.
According to George C. Baxley, an antiquarian bookseller who handles many of Ogawa’s
works, the halftone printing is of a lower quality than the collotype printing, but it can print fasterand cheaper, and thus he insists ‘this book as Kazumasa Ogawa’s first significant entry into the mass
marketing of photographic images’ (17). In collotype printing, Ogawa’s speciality produces exquisite,near-photographic images by direct plate-making from the negative; it can only print approximately
500 sheets per plate (18). The Illustrated Companion which includes 100 plates costs 2.50 yen, while
the collotype album Sights and Scenes on The Tokaido which contains 20 plates with 44 images,
costs 5 yen. This suggests that using the halftone print allowed the authors to reach a wider audienceat a lower price and was likely a ‘significant entry into the mass marketing of photographic images’.
Seeing this conversion in another way, he turns his special craft and delicate technique into a
mass-produced product that can be offered at a lower price. Ogawa transforms his craft into acommodity. Subsequently, Ogawa continued to modify his work. At the beginning of the 20th century,
Ogawa published The Russo-Japanese War Photograph Album (1904–1905), which was printed inboth collotypes and halftones. According to Okatsuka, the collotype version was produced bymilitary personnel and a few others, whereas the halftone version was produced by the general public(18). While Ogawa was mastering collotype printing, he was also adding to mass production.
The adoption of halftone printing took place partly because the technology itself was also newat the time. The first halftone work printed by Ogawa was Ayame-San: A Japanese Romance of the87The Journal of the Asian Conference of Design History and Theory, No. 5, 2024.

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Twenty-third Year of Meiji (1890) (1892). This romantic novel by James Murdoch is illustrated
entirely with photographs. In the preface, William K. Burton, who took the photographs, mentions‘So far as I am aware this is the first book that has been illustrated with a true half-tone
photomechanical reproduction printed with the letterpress’ (19). In other words, Ogawa opened new
possibilities for the use of halftone printing with letterpresses in Ayame-san.
In 1983, Ogawa travelled to the United States as a member of the Universal Photographic Fair,
held in conjunction with the World’s Columbian Exposition, and photographed the exposition site(20). According to Okatsuka, Ogawa recognised the usefulness of halftone printing, which was
gaining popularity in Chicago. Ogawa purchased printing machinery and equipment, a set of printing
materials, and Arnold’s photographs of the Expo site in the USA, and held a photographic exhibition
upon his return (21). Ogawa opened a reticule-printing business in 1894, the year Illustrated
Companion was published. It was considered to be a good advertisement for Ogawa’s new printing
business, with 100 halftones.
The overlapping market objectives of the two – Chamberlain to promote A Handbook for
Travellers in Japan and Ogawa to advertise his new business – have important implications in termsof the representation of Japan. The first is that it gives the work of a foreign author in the form ofphotographs. Ogawa published Supplement to Landscape Gardening in Japan (1893) as asupplement to architect Josiah Conder’s (1852–1920) Landscape Gardening in Japan (1983). This
describes what the Japanese gardens described in Landscape Gardening in Japan look like, by using
collotype pictures. In this way, Ogawa participates in the representation of works written in English
about Japan with his photographs. The first difference between this work and that of Illustrated
Companion is that the Supplement is independent of Landscape Gardening in Japan, and theSupplement itself has its own text by Conder.
The pictures are printed in collotype, and the binding is also more focused, indicating that it
was produced with more money. However, this work is more expensive and targets a limited segmentof the population – the intelligentsia with a deep interest in Japanese culture. The Illustrated
Companion, by contrast, is aimed at the same audience that picks up Murray’s guidebooks, which
had often been found in the hands of visitors to Japan, and expanded its readership beyond theknowledge base. At the time, there were optional tours to Japan, so tourists such as the Globetrotter
could view a large number of photographs within the album by Japanese photographers.
As the preface mentions ‘even those persons who are prevented from visiting every place
themselves, may obtain some idea of the natural and artistic beauties with which our dearly loved
Japanese fatherland is so richly dowered’ (22), the sheer volume of photographs also means that it
can contribute to raising awareness of Japan to those who have not yet visited the country.
The ability to sell the book cheaply was also considered important in the dissemination process.
As mentioned above, some of Ogawa’s collotype photo books cost 5 yen, the same as the startingsalary of a public primary school teacher in Tokyo in 1893 (23). In other words, collotype-printed
photographic books were extremely expensive for the Japanese and were considered inaccessible tomany people.
However, if the photobooks were sold at a lower price, it could be expected that theopportunities to see them would increase. Ogawa reorganised the Illustrated Companion’s
photographs, adding titles in Japanese, and published them in two volumes, entitled Nihon Hyakkei(『日本百景』) (1894). According to the colophon, Nihon Hyakkei was published on the same day
as the Illustrated Companion, indicating that a Japanese edition was envisioned during the
production stage (24).
Although the two books contain the same photographs, the order of the photographs is different.
The Illustrated Companion was published in the order in which Murray’s related sections appeared,
whereas the route of Nihon Hyakkei was divided. This may be a result of considering which picture
to use for the climax. Fuji, a symbol of Japan, and the people who climbed it at the end of the book88Commerce and Craft in the Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Bookseem to have had the effect of impressing the viewer with ‘the natural and artistic beauties of ourdearly loved Japanese fatherland’. By using halftone printing, Ogawa was able to reorganise aphotographic collection that had been produced for an overseas market in a way that was more
compliant with Japanese tastes and to give it back to the Japanese reader.
The Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book, therefore, was a perfect venue for
Ogawa to showcase his experience and stock of work, as well as his newly introduced halftone
printing. The introduction of halftone printing enabled Ogawa to reach a wider, as halftones could
be mass-produced at a lower cost than collotype printing. It also gave Japanese people theopportunity to view hundreds of photographs taken by Japanese photographers in the form of Nihon
Hyakkei.
Conclusion
The Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book can be considered an attempt by
Chamberlain, the author of A Handbook for Travellers in Japan, and Ogawa, the producer of thephoto book, to expand their market. The fact that the copyright was held by Chamberlain rather thanJohn Murray linked Murray’s Guide-Book, one of the leading guidebooks to Japan, with photography.
The use of halftone printing, which can be mass-produced, made it easier for travellers to experience
Japan as captured by Japanese photographers. It was also possible to deliver their work to theJapanese people.

Notes
1. William Brian Collins Lister, A Bibliography of Murray’s Handbooks for Travellers (Dereham:
Dereham Books, 1993), viii.
2. Basil Hall Chamberlain and William Benjamin Mason, A Handbook for Travellers in Japan 4thed. (London: John Murray, 1894), iii.
3. The Cabinet Official Gazette Bureau, Hourei Zensho Meiji 2nen [The Statute-book 1887](Tokyo: The Cabinet Official Gazette Bureau, 1887), 250-251.
4. Chuo University History Department, Taimu Traberu Chudai 125: 1885→2010 [Time Travel
Chuo University 125: 1885→2010]. 2nd ed. (Tokyo: Chuo University History Department,
2011), 2-3.
5. Basil Hall Chamberlain and William Benjamin Mason. A Handbook for Travellers in Japan 3rded. (London: John Murray, 1893), 105.
6. Basil Hall Chamberlain and Benjamin William Mason. A Handbook for Travellers in Japan, 4th.
(London: John Murray, 1894), 130.
7. Kazumasa Ogawa, Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book (Yokohama: Kelly &Walsh, 1894), 23.
8. William Brian Collins Lister, A Bibliography of Murray’s Handbooks for Travellers (Dereham:
Dereham Books, 1993), xxvii.

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9. Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “‘flag of convenience’ in flag, n.⁴, sense 1.f”, September 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1137015037
10. William Brian Collins Lister, A Bibliography of Murray’s Handbooks for Travellers (Dereham:
Dereham Books, 1993), xxvi.
11. Hisako Ito, Sekai Manyu-ka tachi no Nippon - Nikki to Ryokouki to Gaidobukku [Japan of theWorld Trotters - Diaries, Travel Writings, and Guidebooks] (Yokohama: Yokohama Archives ofHistory, 2001). 31.
12. William Brian Collins Lister, A Bibliography of Murray’s Handbooks for Travellers (Dereham:
Dereham Books, 1993). xxviii.
13. Hisako Ito, Sekai Manyu-ka tachi no Nippon - Nikki to Ryokouki to Gaidobukku [Japan of theWorld Trotters - Diaries, Travel Writings, and Guidebooks] (Yokohama: Yokohama Archives ofHistory, 2001), 30.
14. Kazumasa Ogawa, Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book (Yokohama: Kelly &Walsh, 1894), Preface.
15. Photographic Society of Japan, Report of the Annual Meeting of the Photographic Society ofJapan for 1894 (Tokyo: Mishima Insatsujo, 1894), 14.
16. Photographic Society of Japan, Report of the Annual Meeting of the Photographic Society ofJapan for 1895 (Tokyo: Mishima Insatsujo, 1895), 17.
17. George C. Baxley, Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book Kazumasa Ogawa,1894 [100 Plates]. 2023. http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/ogawa/ogawa_murray.shtml(accessed 11 25, 2023).
18. Akiko Okatsuka, Teikoku no Shashinshi Ogawa Kazumasa [Kazuma Ogawa, Photographer ofthe Empire] (Tokyo: Kokusho Kankokai, 2022), 271.
19. James Murdoch, Ayame-san, Japanese Romance of the 23rd Year of Meiji (1890) (Yokohama:
Kelly & Walsh, 1892), v.
20. Akiko Okatsuka, Teikoku no Shashinshi Ogawa Kazumasa [Kazuma Ogawa, Photographer ofthe Empire] (Tokyo: Kokusho Kankokai, 2022), 221.
21. Akiko Okatsuka, Teikoku no Shashinshi Ogawa Kazumasa [Kazuma Ogawa, Photographer ofthe Empire] (Tokyo: Kokusho Kankokai, 2022), 225.
22. Kazumasa Ogawa, Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book, (Yokohama: Kelly &Walsh, 1894), Preface.
23. Takuro Morinaga, ed., Bukka no Bunkashi Jiten -Meiji, Taisho, Showa, Heisei [Encyclopaedia of
the cultural history of prices - Meiji, Taisho, Showa, Heisei] (Tokyo: Tenbo-sha, 2008), 398.
24. Kazumasa Ogawa, Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book (Yokohama: Kelly &Walsh, 1894), Colophon.

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Author Biography
Yuki Shimizu
Yuki Shimizu is an Associate lecturer in Tsuda University studying perspective of the British toward
Japan in the 19th century to the early 20th Century through photographs and guidebooks. Presented
at ACDHT Tokyo (2017), ACDHT Fukuoka (2019) and ACDHT Osaka (2021)

91Designing Disaster Prevention from a Clothing
Perspective
Sonoko Suzuki
Keio University

Abstract
In 2018, after experiencing destructive torrential rains in western Japan, I became intrigued by therole that clothing plays in saving lives. Research on disaster prevention clothing is usually focusedon protecting the physical body, at times also discussing how to make disaster prevention clothing
more ‘fashionable’. However psychological dimensions are usually ignored, in spite of the fact thatbody and mind are inseparable. Thus, in this study, I challenge and redefine the concept of disasterprevention clothing by considering it in relation to the whole ‘living entity’ (ikimi/ 生き身). To
achieve this, I conducted interviews with involved groups, such as disaster victims and clothing
manufacturers.
Using the KJ method, I then spatially arranged 70 themes after analyzing and organizing
interviewee expressions into groups. Finally, I interpreted the relationships between those themes
via 16 story-based essays, while reflecting and connecting them to my experience.
The process leads me to propose the word ikasarerufuku for disaster prevention clothing. The
word encompasses the characteristics of garments that protect the whole ‘living entity’, expanding
the concept of disaster prevention clothing to include not only the physical but also the psychologicalwell-being of people facing, escaping, and recovering from disaster.
Keywords: Disaster prevention; Clothing; Fashion; Media; Environment

1. Introduction
Can’t clothing protect people’s lives from natural disasters?
In 2018, during a journey to western Japan, I encountered torrential rainfall. Damage causedby heavy rainfall is on the rise: according to a 2019 report by the World Meteorological Organization(WMO), meteorological disasters have increased fivefold in the past 50 years due to climate change(1). In 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) conclusively attributed thecause of global warming to human activities for the first time (2).
As someone working in the fashion industry, clothing had been my livelihood. But after adirect encounter with extreme weather, I came to a renewed realization of the growing role thatclothing plays in protecting human bodies and human lives. In 2019, the United Nations identified
the fashion industry as the second most polluting industry in the world (3) – making it a major
contributor to extreme weather caused by climate change.
1.1. Existing research
Referring to previous studies of ‘fashion clothing’ research, this section discusses previous studiesof ‘disaster-proof clothing’. Below are three perspectives (A, B, C) derived from existing researchin fashion studies that are essential to consider when thinking about disaster prevention clothing;92

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1.1.1. Fashion / Clothing research
A. Physical protection perspective
・ Clothing is given to humans as soon as they are born, ‘dressing’ is taken for granted and notthought about (4, 5).
・ Physical protection is too pervasive to be discussed (6,7).
My perspective on A is that only when I was soaked in a torrential rain disaster, and my clothes did
not work to protect me, did I realize the importance of protecting myself with clothing.
B. General fashion perspective
・ Modes of fashion/fashion phenomena (8).
・ Changing clothing and appearance of certain groups of people (9).
B is the meaning of the word fashion that people imagine when they hear the word fashion or
clothing in general.
C. Perspective that the clothes we wear create our hearts and express our minds
・Clothing cognition in which the garment worn represents the wearer’s mind (10).
・Fashion as the living skin of society (11).
C is a point not discussed in the current disaster-prevention clothing study.
1.1.2. Disaster prevention clothing
In research on disaster prevention, the term ‘disaster prevention clothing’ is used only for thefollowing two purposes: ‘physical protection’ or ‘uniforms’, The term ‘disaster prevention clothing’is used in the sense of physical protection and ‘signs’ indicating a uniform-like appearance. The
research of Kadota et al. (12,13) is limited to the design of physical protection against the causes ofdeath in natural disasters and the addition of the essence of fashion. Research on materials for disasterprevention is discussed, such as those that protect against fire and chemical threats (14,15,16).
However, research on the design of disaster prevention clothing in the sense of identifying thetype of disaster and protecting oneself from that disaster with clothing has only been conducted in
Kadota.
From the viewpoint of fashion and clothing research, only A (Physical protection perspective)
and B (Fashionable perspective) have been discussed, but C, the ‘mind,’ has not been discussed. The
human body cannot be separated from the ‘mind’ and the ‘body’. By combining the two, I believethat we can protect ourselves from natural disasters.
1.2 Purpose of this research
In current research, ‘disaster-prevention clothing’ is discussed only in terms of physical protection
and fashion – but I propose that disaster-prevention clothing should be designed to protect the whole‘living entity’ (ikimi (生き身)), as our body and mind always co-exist and co-depend. I consider theterm ikimi (生き身) to refer to body and mind together, and examine what kind of clothing protects
both the physical and the psychological/mental (see Fig. 1).

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Figure 1 : Definition of the Ikimi(生き身) (Living Entity) protected in this study.
(Illustration by Sonoko Suzuki 2023)
The purpose of the study is:
1. To show the range of ways in which clothing protects people in situations of natural
disaster.
2. To create a more complete alternative to the term ‘disaster-prevention clothing’.
I attempt to replace the term ‘disaster-prevention clothing’ with a term that people are morefamiliar with. In addition, this research deals with more than just clothing. That is, clothing isdependent on the ‘environment of the place’, depending on which it may or may not function.
2. Methods
To capture the still little-explored phenomenon of disaster-prevention clothing, it seemed to use
qualitative research. Twenty people were interviewed using semi-structured interviews and theresults analyzed using the KJ method. The KJ method, devised by cultural anthropologist Jiro
Kawakita, is used to summarize heterogeneous data. In this study, I interviewed individuals fromvarious fields regarding a garment not clearly defined as ‘disaster prevention clothing’. Due to thefundamentally different and heterogeneous nature of the data, I opted to use the KJ method to analyze
and clarify it. This method aims to compile raw material from chaotic realities.
Self-reflection was also used and the results integrated with the results of the KJ method analysis,
which were summarized in 16 essays.
2.1. ParticipantsParticipants were mainly men and women in their 20s to 60s who had experienced earthquakes,
tsunamis and torrential rains, as well as local government officials and educators in the affectedareas, NPO staff, garment designers and employees of workwear brands.
Additional interview Participants / A total of seven additional interviews were conducted withthree Tohoku Electric Power Company officials, local government officials, Self-Defense Force

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officials and tsunami survivors, who were considered necessary to further deepen the units derived
from the KJ method analysis.
2.2. Interview methodology
Two methods of interviewing were used: semi-structured interviews and unstructured interviews.
The following questions were prepared for the semi-structured interviews. (All additional
interviews were conducted using an unstructured interview technique.)
1. Please tell us as much as you can remember about your own behavior at the time of thedisaster, in chronological order, from the time you were evacuated to the present day.
2. Looking back on the time of the disaster, what events do you remember most?
3. What were the things that were needed in the shelter when you were evacuated?
4. What disaster preparedness measures are currently in place?
2.3. Structuring Data Using the KJ Method
From the raw data of 20 interviewees, I extracted 867 tags that I consider important (①). The dataof those relations that are close to each other were overlaid, resulting in 232 units (②). Furthermore,
the descriptions in (②) were interpreted and covered on each other, resulting in 70 units (③). These
70 units were placed in a spatial position, and the relationships between the units were interpreted
and described in connection with my own experience. Where necessary, unstructured interviews
were conducted to further deepen our understanding. These resulted in 16 story-based essays. Thisessay is the conclusion of this research (See Fig. 2).

Figure 2 : Structuring Data Using the KJ Method. (Illustration by Sonoko Suzuki 2023)

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3. Result3.1. 16 story-based essays
Underlines indicate essays below related to clothing and non-clothing results. As explained earlier,the essays also deal with the environment and the place surrounding the garments in the affectedareas, so the results of the non-clothing analysis are also available.
1 Cozy touches that brought feelings of security in a disaster area: memories of an encounter
between humans and fabrics.
2 The potential of clothing; clothing is a stockpile.
3 Prepare clothes that will keep the mind active in the time of disaster.
4 High brands and UNIQLO examined from a disaster prevention perspective
5 Clothing can/will play a role in implicit communication
6 Human-centered design creates clothes that protect the ikimi (生き身)7 The irony of Onagawa NPP as an excellent evacuation center
8 The difference between the roles of the Self-Defense Forces and local government
employees, as seen through their clothing.
9 ‘All human beings are designers’: cultivating observation skills through the body on adaily basis and activating bricolage in the event of a disaster.
10 The problem of women appearing in the disaster area from the perspective of human‘biological’ and ‘sociological’ nature
11 Eye-catching natural disaster monuments enable survivors to move to new safe places
12 Disaster prevention with clothes begins with weaving a language that can be transformed
into disaster prevention clothing.
13 Children are the best medium for disaster reduction
14 Calming tactile talismans that act as ‘tsunami charms’
15 Spontaneous acts of storytelling
16 Fresh, caring food; clothing and housing protect human dignity
3.2. 16 story-based essays visualization
Figure 3 shows the items that have emerged in the 16 story-based essays that can and have protected
Ikimi (生き身) by ‘touching’ the body and ‘covering’ the body. In other words, this is a list ofdisaster prevention clothing. It was everything which can be clothing (including items that were notoriginally intended as such) instead of what is usually considered as clothing.

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Figure 3 : 16 story-based essays visualization. (Illustration by Sonoko Suzuki 2023)
The existing research on disaster-prevention clothing is only between 1 and 2, and is theuniform of the local government, which is called disaster-prevention clothing, indicating that themeaning of the clothing has been extended to the extent that it is around us.
The ‘disaster prevention clothing’ derived from this study can be considered in four phases.
The first is ‘things that change with time.’
1. Just after a disaster
Where: Disaster Site
1 Physical protection
Down coats and lightweight sneakers are items that enhance buoyancy and actively protect thebody.
2 Signaling role
Highly visible clothing can serve as an ‘SOS’. If clothing plays the role of SOS, it will help toconserve physical strength and increase survival rates.
3 Device to prevent normalcy bias
Tactile amulets prevent ‘normalcy ‘bias’ and encourage self-protective behavior.
2. Life-saving phases
From the scene to emergency rescue (within 72 hours of the disaster)
Where: The site to Emergency and critical care center
1 Connecting lives

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A man exposed to a tsunami was evacuated to a junior high school. A student there gave the man
his own dry jersey, which allowed the man to dry himself, thus preventing him from suffering fromhypothermia and saving his life.
3. Evacuation center phases
One year after the disaster
Where: Evacuation center
1 Protecting or Hurt hearts and minds
The colorful clothing became a beacon of hope for the survivors.
Against the gray environment expressed by the colorless, colorful clothing became a kind of ‘light’
and lit up the disaster area. The well-starched shirts and cozy fabrics brought a sense of comfort andstrength to the survivors. On the other hand, victims’ feelings were hurt when they were provided
with any old clothes that happened to be on hand. Clothing needs to be selected with thought andcare.
2 Responding to Seasonal response
Clothing that could cope with ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ was important during the long periods of shelter life.
Interestingly, improvised bricolage was used to create the clothing and items needed for the situation.
The use of rubber bags as outerwear demonstrated the flexibility of improvised bricolage in thedisaster area to produce needed items locally.
3 Items needed for recovery work
Equipment needed for recovery work, such as boots and anti-skid insoles, was taken into
consideration.
4. Daily Life phases
1 Disaster Narrative MediaThe clothes made can also serve as a medium to convey the history of the disaster. To promote thisconcept, it may be effective to use ‘the fascination of clothes that beguile the mind’ specific tofashion, such as high-brand clothing. Disaster prevention clothing that ‘connects lives’ should
involve the people who use it and be made by everyone. Currently, only disaster victims are being
studied for disaster-prevention clothing, but it should also include all rescuers, including local
government officials and medical personnel who provide support.
3.3. Creating a language to replace disaster-prevention clothing
The reason why it is necessary to create a word to replace ‘disaster prevention clothing’ is that theword ‘disaster prevention clothing’ has a strong nuance, and analysis has shown (See 3.1. 16 storybased essay /12) that it is a word that prevents people from using clothing to prevent disasters. For
example, when we think of disaster prevention clothing, we think of space suits or highly functional
clothing with a cherry blossom logo (Special life jackets with national type approval). These
garments are not garments that exist in everyday life, but are only used by special people on special
occasions.
In this research, in order to promote disaster prevention through clothing, I tried to replace theterm ‘disaster prevention clothing’ with a more intuitive term.

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Figure 4 : ‘Ikasarerufuku’ meaning. (Illustration by Sonoko Suzuki 2023)
I have named it ‘ikasarerufuku’, combining the words ‘fuku’, meaning clothing, and‘ikasareru’, which has two meanings. The first is ‘to live, to protect, and to sustain life.’ The second
is ‘to be able to see clearly’ or ‘to extend perception’. This term relies on the Russian Formalism of
Viktor Shklovsky’s ‘defamiliarization’ (17). Defamiliarization is the artistic technique of presenting
to audience’s common things in an unfamiliar way so they could gain new perspectives and see theworld differently. This is also the meaning of bricolage, in which clothing plays the role of SOS, ‘tomake visible, to make perceptions last longer,’ and to show things in a different way. This applies tothings like a garbage bag turned into an outer garment. In other words, ikasarerufuku is a word that
replaces ‘disaster prevention clothing,’ a word that indicates the role of disaster prevention clothing
as expressed in my analysis.
From the perspective of 異化される服 (Defamiliarization on clothing), it is necessary to use
highly visible colors and striking designs to quickly locate people during disasters without depletingthe survivors' physical strength. On the other hand, in the context of 生かされる服 (life-sustaining
clothing), the necessity varies depending on the type of disaster, but materials and clothing designs
that "connect lives" are required for any disaster. The combination of these aspects will result in‘Ikasarerufku’.
4. Discussion and Conclusion
Fashion and clothing research to date has focused on the manipulation of clothing by humans.
Research has focused on the phenomenon of mode (fashion), which began as a way to overcome
physical protection, to satisfy human desires and to express one's identity. In this study, ‘clothing’
was reconsidered from a ‘bird's eye view’ through a consideration of what ‘disaster prevention
clothing’ is. As a result, clothing can be considered a ‘physical environment tool for survival’ whenviewed in relation to disaster prevention. The concept of clothing was thus expanded.
The fashion industry causes environmental pollution, which in turn causes heavy rainfall
disasters. With a proper understanding of clothing, we can protect ourselves from the dangers of99

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disasters around us. Considering disaster-prevention clothing means examining the philosophy ofclothing: ‘Why do clothes exist? Clothing is the most important possession for human beings, whichaccompanies us from the time of birth to the time of death.
Considering clothing from the perspective of disaster prevention clothing makes it possible tolook at clothing from a dissimilar perspective. To think of disaster-prevention clothing is tofamiliarize it through ‘defamiliarization’. This study is a suggestion for a new disaster prevention
media design for disaster prevention research, giving a new perspective to fashion and clothing
research.
Notes
1. World Meteorological Organization, WMO Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from
Weather, Climate and Water, (Geneva: World Meteorological Organization, 2021), 19.
https://library.wmo.int/viewer/57564?medianame=1267_Atlas_of_Mortality_en_#page=3&vie
wer=picture&o=bookmarks&n=0&q=.

2. Masson-Delmotte, V., and Masson-Delmotte (eds.) V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S. L. Connors,
C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M. I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell,
E. Lonnoy, J. B. R. Matthews, T. K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu and B.
Zhou. 2021. “ IPCC, 2021: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis.
Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” (IPCC,2021), 9.
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_SPM.pdf
3. “Global Perspective Human Stories.” UN News, 25, 2019.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/03/1035161.
4. Hiroshi Ashida, Kotoba to Ifuku [Words and Clothing](Tokyo: AdachiPress, 2021), 7.
5. Kiyokazu Washida, Hito wa Naze Fuku wo Kirunoka [Why People Wear Clothing?](Tokyo: Chikumashobo,2012), 8.
6. Hiroshi Ashida, Kotoba to Ifuku [Words and Clothing] (Tokyo: AdachiPress, 2021), 8.
7. Kiyokazu Washida, Hito wa Naze Fuku wo Kirunoka [Why People Wear Clothing?](Tokyo: Chikumashobo, 2012), 8-9.
8. Roland Barthes, Roland Barthes Mode Theory Collection (Tokyo: Chikumashobo, 2011),
42.
9. Welters, Linda, and Abby Lillethun, Fashion History: A Global View (London: New
York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018).
10. Adam, Hajo, and Adam D. Galinsky. “Enclothed Cognition,” Journal of experimentalsocial psychology 48, 48, no. 4 (2012): 918–25.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.02.008.
11. Kiyokazu Washida, Chiguhagunashintai: Fashion tte nani? [The Inconsistent Body:
What is Fashion?] (Tokyo: Chikumashobo, 2005), 54.
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12. Chie Kadota, and Megumi Kondo. “Ippanjoseiyou Bousaihuku kaihatsunimuketa
saigaitokino iryouhin nojyunbi jyoukyo to mondaitennikansuru chosa [Survey on theState and Issues of Clothing in Disasters for the Development of Disaster Clothing for
Women],” Seikatsugakuron kai = Journal of lifology 38, 38 (2020): 97–110.
13. Chie Kadota, and Momoko Tanaka. “Bousaifukuyou no Town-gi [Town Fashion for
Disaster Prevention Clothing],” Fukushokubunkagakaishi. sakuhinhen : costume andtextile = Journal of costume and textile 6, no. 1 (2013): 31–35.
14. Saito Isoo. “Safety ＆ Disaster Prevention (Industrial Uses).” Sen-I Gakkaishi [Journal of
Fiber Science and Technology] 70. Tōkyō-to: Dō Gakkai, 2014.
https://doi.org/10.2115/fiber.70.P-526.
15. Yoon Kee Jong el. “Bousaifukusozai no Kaihatsudouki [Reasons for the development ofdisaster-prevention clothing materials],” Sen-I Gakkaishi [Journal of Fiber Science andTechnology] 66, no. 3 (March 10, 2010): P_106-P_113.
https://doi.org/10.2115/fiber.66.P_106.
16. Barker, R., S. Deaton, D. Thompson, Roger Barker, Shawn Deaton, Gail Liston, andDonald Thompson. “A CB Protective Firefighter Turnout Suit.” International Journal of
Occupational Safety and Ergonomics: JOSE. 16. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Pub. Corp, 2010.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10803548.2010.11076835.
17. Kenzaburo Oe. Atarashii Bungaku no tameni. Iwanamishinsho [For New Literature:
Iwanamishinsho] (Tokyo: Iwanamishinsho, 1988).

Author Biography
Sonoko Suzuki
Sonoko Suzuki completed her master's degree at Keio University in September 2023 and iscurrently a senior researcher at the Keio Research Institute at SFC. For many years, she has
worked in public relations and marketing for national and international fashion companies. Her
interest is the potential value of the functional aspects of clothing. It is an exploration of therelationship between man, nature and clothing.

101Session V

Design and Environment

Attention to the Body in Viennese Kineticism
Tomoko Kakuyama
Kanagawa University

Abstract
Ornament education by Franz Cizek (1865-1946) at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts culminatedaround 1920 in ‘Viennese Kineticism’ (c. 1920-1924). Characteristic of the Viennese kineticists’work is a rhythmic accumulation of impressions of movement, incorporating expressive elements ofExpressionism, Cubism and Futurism. Cizek’s progressive exercises were ultimately intended to be
applied to everyday objects. Expressive art training in the classroom has been noted in previous
studies to have similarities with the pedagogical methods of Johannes Itten.
Through analysis of Cizek’s manuscripts, students’ works and the writings of contemporary
critics, this study aims to reveal an aspect of Kineticism’s activity as an artistic practice focused on
the human body, which is commonly associated with avant-garde performance and modern dance.
Particular attention will be paid to Erika Giovanna Klien’s (1900-1957) unrealised mechanical stage
design, The Kinetic Marionette Theatre (1923/26). Here Klien designed a constructivist stage
backdrop and the mechanical movement of marionettes representing depersonalised figures andobjects.
In conclusion, this study seeks to demonstrate that, from the late 1910s onwards, the themesof machine and body that had been an issue in Futurism, Constructivism and the Bauhaus, permeatedthe ornamental class of the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts. By focusing on the elements of motion
and body in their graphic, plastic and stage design works, the study will shed new light on designers’
search for a new relationship between humans and objects, and explore an ideal truth of design inpost-World War I Vienna.
Keywords: Vienna Kineticism; Franz Cizek; Erika Giovanna Klien; design in Vienna; interwar
period

1. Introduction
In 1918, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Otto Wagner and other leaders of the Viennese Modernism(Wiener Moderne) died in the Spanish flu epidemic. In the same year, Austria suffered a national
crisis comprising of the end of World War I and the dissolution of the Habsburg Empire. This study
discusses the further development of the Viennese modern design movement, which ran parallel toWiener Moderne, in the 1920s.
From the 1910s onwards, avant-garde art such as Futurism, Dada, Russian Constructivism andthe Bauhaus emerged in Europe, providing a testing ground for artists who wished to respond totechnological progress and accelerated mechanisation. In the context of the avant-garde, it was in
the area of art education that notable achievements were made in Vienna around 1920: namely, within
the framework of the art education practiced by Johannes Itten (1), who lived in Vienna from 1916
to 1919, and Franz Cizek at the Royal School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna.
In the recent expansion of Bauhaus studies, several researchers have focused on theconnections between the Bauhaus and Vienna. In this context, the similarities between Itten’s andCizek’s art education, which have long been suggested, are mentioned as follows: although the two
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did not know each other personally, their art education methods were similar in encouraging theexpression of creativity derived from movement, rhythm and spirituality (2). There are records of
Cizek’s visits to an Itten exhibition in the premise of the ‘Free Movement’ [Freie Bewegung] in 1919,
and Itten was almost certainly aware of the prominent Viennese pedagogue (3).
Through analysis of Cizek’s manuscripts, students’ works and the writings of contemporary
critics, this study aims to reveal the contemporary elements in Cizek’s art education programme after
1918 and the activities of Viennese Kineticism, a development of Cizek’s class that has been lessstudied than Itten. In particular, the study focuses on the de-anthropocentric perspective expressedin the stage designs of Erika Giovanna Klien, a central figure in Kineticism.
2. Motion and Rhythm
Viennese Kineticism (hereafter ‘Kineticism’) was not a consciously organised group, but a trend thatemerged in the Ornamental Studies class of the School for Arts and Crafts attached to the Imperial
Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry in Vienna (Figure 1). The group’s mentor was art
pedagogue Franz Cizek, and his students in their late teens to around 20 years of age were involvedin the execution of the works.

Figure 1: Exhibition in the branch of the School for Arts and Crafts in the
Fichtgasse June to September 1924 © Foto: Wien Museum
The School for Arts and Crafts was renowned for its advanced applied art education provided
by professors from the Vienna Secession. Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, founders of the
Wiener Werkstätte (1903-1932), were also professors there. Franz Cizek, who had been running a
private painting school for children since the 1890s, was hired by the school in 1903 to teach youth
art classes for 6-to-14 year-olds and ornamental studies for 17-and-above year-olds, as well as
training secondary school drawing teachers (4). Many of the students who attended the Ornamental
Studies class until the early years of World War I later joined the Wiener Werkstätte. The airly, childlike innocence of the lineal patterns is a common trait of the Wiener Werkstätte designers who wereformer students of Cizek (Figure 2).

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Figure 2: Maria Likarz Strauss, Design for Textile ‘Verona’, 1924
© Toyota Municipal Museum of Art (Machiko Chiba and Risa Hirota eds., Kōkan suru
Modan: Kinō to Sōshoku no Porifonī [Modern Synchronized and Stimulated Each Other:
The Polyphony of Function and Decoration] (Kyoto: Akaaka Art Publishing),
2022,130.)
Kineticism developed in the Ornamental Studies class, which had been sharpening its
progressiveness since the end of World War I. Key members included Erika Giovanna Klien,
Marianne (My) Ullmann (1905-1995) and Elisabeth Karlinsky (1904-1994). The predominantly
female membership was due to the high number of female students enrolled in the school, as theschool had admitted women from its inception, and applied arts was a relatively open field for
women. The comparatively free post-war atmosphere probably also stimulated the young women’screativity.
Their formative tendencies were brought to attention in 1920 with the School of Arts andCrafts student exhibition. In his review, the critic Ludwig Steinmetz praised the exhibition of Cizek’s
students’ works on the theme of ‘breakthrough in the spiritual foundation of rhythmical form.’ Thisis the earliest dated document to describe the work of Cizek’s students using the term ‘kinetic,’ i.e.
dynamic.
One event in particular is recognised for its significance far beyond the borders of our homeland.
It is the result of the first year of Professor Franz Cizek’s class (…). First, there is the revival ofemotion through expressionistic training. Introspection has resulted in transcending theexpression of unarticulated feelings, and instead has succeeded in achieving order, coherent
emotions and ultimately the expression of perception. Also evident is a revival of thought as aresult of Cubist-style training in painting and spatial expression, and finally, a revival of the actof observation through Kinetic training (Futurism). (5)However, Cizek’s Kineticism and the kinetic art of the actual movement differ in concept. Viennese
Kineticism only comprised of paintings, three-dimensional graphic and commodity designs, thatconveyed the impression of movement. Cizek uses words such as ‘movement,’ ‘rhythm’ and ‘change’
to describe the meaning of Kineticism.
Description of meaning.
Kineticism = the art of breaking up the course of movement into rhythmic elements and using
them to construct a painting.
Phase = a shifting figure. Change of state. Phases of variable phenomena. State of motion at aparticular point in time.
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Panta rei = all things flow (Heraclitus). (6)Posters from the Ornamental Studies class and Cizek’s class notes show that he placed greatemphasis on the acquisition of ‘rhythm.’
Aim: Rhythm as the basis of art linked to any purpose.
Method: Experience of the rhythmic presence of things through craft. Development of ornamental
forms from materials and techniques, always taking into account the purpose to which the art asa whole is subordinated. (7)Rhythm- Fixed motor rhythm arising from internal necessity (marching)- Variable, rhythms left to subjective intention- Arranged in sequence according to the course of work [?]- Rhythm of tone as a means of supporting rhythm of movement (8)To stimulate the body’s sense of rhythm, Cizek allowed his students to play instruments and singsongs freely in the classroom (9). In his manuscript ‘On Decoration in General’ he also stated that
decoration was the result of artistic fantasy and creativity (10).
3. Student Works: Capturing Motion and Inner Sense
The emphasis on the subjectivity and independence of the pupil goes back to the principles of art
education for children, which Cizek had been practising since the end of the 19th century, prior tohis ornamental education programme. The idea of respect for children’s natural instincts can betraced back to the idea of J. J. Rousseau. However another background to his discovery of thepotential of children’s expression in free and independent creation was the influence of the Modern
art movement, which arose as a reaction against the old academic art (11).
According to Kazuhiro Ishizaki, in his adolescent ornamental education programme Cizek
positioned the expressive processes common to children’s expression as the basic expression for
applied art (12). On this basis, Cizek adopted the expressive methods of modern art from around1918 onwards.
Most of the Kineticism works and Cizek’s teaching materials are currently preserved at the
Wien Museum in Vienna. There are 17 files of student studies, including eight Expressionist studies,
one Futurist study, seven Cubist studies and one Kinetic study. The files contain rough sketches incharcoal, pastel and watercolour that demonstrate that there was a clear departure from the previous
Jugendstil understanding of form and space. In addition to several sketches shown in former
publications, the author examined a part of these files at the Wien Museum in March 2023. The
following are the contents of two Expressionist study files, one Futurist study file, one Cubist study
file and one Kineticist file.
The theme of the Futurist study file was stand-alone and group rhythms. The sketches weremonochrome, with, for example, topological depictions of soldiers marching. In the Kineticist file,the assignment was ‘moving vehicles’ as an expression of Kineticism (Figure 3). The cumulative
phase of vigorous movement is very similar to that of Futurist expression. However, Cizek did not
explicitly state the influence of Futurism on his own classroom. Cizek appears to have been cautious
about being identified with Futurism, which was seen as politicised at the time (13).
In Cizek’s Expressionist training, students primarily attempted to visualise emotions andsensations. Sometimes, multiple combinations or opposing relationships of emotions and sensations
were depicted on a single sheet. In the Expressionist study file subtitled ‘Music,’ the image of a piece
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of music is sensitively expressed in rapid brushstrokes. Some works have notes indicating that they
are symphonies by Mahler or Beethoven.
In the Cubist study file, the subject was village streets and the task was to divide the space bylines and planes. Streets and buildings were drawn as a continuum of short lines and planes, and thevolume of the subject was reconstructed in flat space, creating a sense of rhythmic lightness.

Figure 3: Harry Täuber, Kinetic study: Moving Vehicle, around 1920
© Foto: Wien Museum
Cizek’s files are still being studied, but these training files are consistent with the content of
Steinmetz’s review mentioned above. In other words, the Expressionist, Cubist and Kinetic (Futurist)
trainings were designed to convey emotion, thought and vision respectively. The students’ sketches
are drawn with vivid vigour, conveying a palpable sense of lively physicality. This expressive
process combined with physicality was the basis of Cizek’s ornamental lessons and led to the birthof Kineticism in the 1920s.
4. Zeitgeist in E. G. Klien’s ‘Kinetic Marionette Theatre’ (1923-1926)
Some in Cizek’s class worked on stage-related design, such as stage scenery and costumes. Amongthem was Erika Giovanna Klien, a central figure in Kineticism, who produced highly avant-garde
stage concepts (14).
Born in Salzburg in 1900, Klien was one of the few Cizek students who took his ornamental
class from 1919 and continued to work as a professional painter after graduating in 1925. She was alover of the stage, dance, poetry and music, and left a series of paintings featuring dancers. In fact,
between 1922 and 1923, she attended a theatre school (school name unknown) alongside the Schoolof Arts and Crafts, and was close to the writer Leopold Rochowansky (1888-1961), whose wife wasa dancer and who joined Kineticism himself (15). While benefitting from Cizek’s training, Klien had
a unique approach to the problems of the avant-garde art of the same period.
The conceptual drawings of the Kinetic Marionette Theatre, made between 1923 and 1926
(approx. 17 cm x 20 cm, 50 cm x 60 cm, etc.), are representatives of work from Klien’s early years(16). The sketches depict industrial columns and structures that look like building materials, puppets
suspended on strings that look like people or objects, and the overall effect is inorganic, like aconstructivist stage.
According to Rochowansky’s review of Klien’s Marionette Theatre, the backdrop was a rollerdriven mechanism.
Her marionette theatre carries all the eternally vibrating, driving, chasing forces within it, can108

Attention to the Body in Viennese Kineticism

make them flash by in thousands of whirling, rushing images. The background and two sidebackdrops run on rollers. These are positioned so that the metre-long backdrop bands can berotated vertically or horizontally by means of an electric switch. (17)Also, her marionettes were designed as abstract objects rather than real people, and non-humanthings were conceived as characters, such as ‘poster-man’ [Plakatmensch], ‘red bridge’ [rote Brücke],‘church-man’ [Kirchenmensch].
The figures hanging on wires are not people moving their arms, legs and heads. These figures
have no naturalism of movement. They are spaces and they place the spaces of their bodies in thespace of the stage, they move the spaces of their bodies in the moving space of the stage. They
are made of hard cardboard painted in various ways, of coloured wire, of coloured wool, oftransparent veil fabric. The chasing background roars through the emptiness of the surfaces.
Space within space. Abstract movement. (...) Among the characters we find poster-man, redbridge, the barrel-organ-man, the church-man, the flame of fire, the sprouting, the untouched andyet dissolved in all things and people, the Urding as the cubic existence of all things. (18)Her marionette design was more of a graphic work than a production sketch. Nevertheless, there
were also material instructions, stating that cardboard, wire, cloth, metal and wool are to be used.
These materials are consistent with Rochowansky’s text.
A de-anthropocentric perspective is evident in Klien’s imitation of mechanical movement andthe use of non-human characters. The concept of puppets with inorganic, mechanical movements
also reflects the spirit of the times in relation to machines: much of the theatre of the early 20th
century, from Futurism to Russian Constructivism, embraced the theme of ‘machine and body’ tovarying degrees (19). In particular, many artists were influenced by Edward Gordon Craig’s (18721966) concept of the ‘über-marionette’, which argued that puppets capable of free movement should
replace physically and mentally fragile flesh-and-blood actors.
Stylistically, the stage design shows the influence of the Hungarian constructivist Béla Witz
(1887-1972), whose exhibition was held in Vienna in 1923. The 1920s was the era of so-called ‘Red
Vienna’, when the Austrian Social Democratic Party led the city government, and innovative
movements were active in various fields. In the arts, future-oriented artists’ collectives such as the‘Free Movement’ were formed, while the ‘MA’ constructivists from Hungary fled into exile andtemporarily settled in Vienna.
It is also worth noting that at the time of Klien’s stage design, a major international performing
arts exhibition was taking place in Vienna. In Europe, the theorisation of the performing arts began
in the second half of the 19th century, and in the early 20th century there was a growing momentum
to establish performance as an artistic genre and to explore new stage formations. The French
Symbolists, led by artists and writers who sought a collaboration between theatre and painting,proposed a new stage of illusion; leading the Ballets Russes, Sergei Diaghilev concretised theconcept of ‘total art’ using Stravinsky’s music and Bakst’s set; the Russian Cuvo-Futurist andConstructivist Alexandra Exter (1882-1949) produced sets and costumes incorporating
contemporary art. These developments culminated in the Exhibition of New Theatre Technique inVienna in 1924 (20).
Organised by Frederick (Friedrich) Kiesler (1890-1965) with the aim of developing stage
design and furthering social reform, the exhibition attracted many avant-garde artists from Russia,
France, Italy and the Netherlands. Participants included Exter, El Lissitzky (1890-1941), Fernand
Léger (1881-1955), George Grosz (1893-1959), Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948), Theo van Doesburg(1883-1931) and the Bauhaus artists Laszlo Mohol-Nagy (1895-1946), Joost Schmidt (1893-1948)
and Oskar Schlemmer (1888-1943). They saw the stage as more than just a backdrop and embraced
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its three-dimensionality, moving away from perspective and conventional painting techniques insearch of their own artistic style (21).
In terms of its departure from traditional stage design, the design of the marionette theatre,composed of puppets as lifeless forms and industrial materials, has a common thread with thefigurative interests of the artists mentioned above. However, as Cizek refused to exhibit the work of
his students (22), Klien’s work was not lined up with theirs.
There is no evidence that Klien’s Marionette Theatre was ever demonstrated, and the series ofpreliminary drawings ends in 1926, probably at the conceptual stage. The Kineticism movement alsocame to an end in the mid-1920s, due to the reorganisation of the school curriculum and thegraduation and emigration of key members.
5. Conclusions
In conclusion, Cizek, the theoretical leader of Kineticism, saw the essence of Kineticism inmovement, rhythm and displacement, and emphasised the mastery of rhythm in his Ornamental
Studies. Students’ sketches from around 1920 show that his training was based on expressive
processes and focused on exercises to awaken the senses in the body and mind. The deanthropocentric perspective in Klien’s conception of a non-living marionette theatre suggests anapproximation to the interest in ‘other bodies’ that emerged at a time when the self-evidence of thefree, independent modern body was shaken, and to the problematics of avant-garde art thatreassessed the human body from a new angle in relation to the machine.
It is clear from the above that the practice of Kineticism was linked to an interest in the human
body, as was the avant-garde trend of the same period. It can be said that the relationship between
humans and objects was being questioned anew at the School of Arts and Crafts in the Austrian
capital, Vienna, at a time of national upheaval. The author would interpret this as an example ofdesign in search of an ideal truth.
Regarding rhythm and physical expression, this paper was unable to investigate therelationship between modern dance movements of the early 20th century, including expressionist
dance, and the new formative tendencies in Vienna. One example is Mary Wigman (1886-1973),
who performed in Vienna in the 1920s. The connection between dance and performers of the same
period and Kineticism should be a priority for the future research.
Notes
1. As Christoph Wagner’s article shows, his three-year stay in Vienna was a turning point
for Itten. Not only did he meet Walter Gropius through Alma Gropius (née Mahler), but
his friendships and activities in Vienna also formed the basis of his later preliminary
course at the Bauhaus. Christoph Wagner, “Johannes Itten in Wien und die Anfange derModerne,” in Bauhaus und Wiener Kreis, ed. Angelika Schnell and Károly Kókai (Wien:
A NoPress Publication, 2022), 50.
2. Kathrina Hövelmann, Bauhaus in Wien? (Wien: Böhlau Verlag, 2021), 35. See also:
Rainer K. Wick, “Die Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule, Johannes Itten und Franz Cizek,”
Wiener Kinetismus. Eine bewegte Moderne, ed. Gerald Bast, Agnes Husslein-Arco,
Harald Krejci and Patrick Werker (Wien: Springer-Verlag, 2010), 12-25.

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3. Sabine Plakolm-Forsthuber, “Der Wiener Kinetismus im Kontext,” in Kinetismus: Wien
entdeckt die Agantgarde, ed. Monika Platzer and Ursula Storch (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz
Verlag, 2006), 101-102.
4. Kazuhiro Ishizaki, Franz Cizek no Bijutsu Kyōikuron to Sono Hōhō ni kansuru Kenkyū[Study on the Theory of Art Education and its Method by Franz Cizek] (Tokyo:
Kenpakusha, 1992), 123.
5. Ludwig Steinmetz, “Kunstschau 1920,” Kunst und Kunsthandwerk 23 (1920): 205.
6. Monika Platzer, “Kinetismus = Pädagogik – Weltanschauung – Avantgarde,” inKinetismus: Wien entdeckt die Agantgarde, 18.
7. Poster for the Ornamental Studies class, Nachlass Franz Cizek, Wienbibliothek im Rathaus,
ZPH 489/1.2.
8. Nachlass Franz Cizek, Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, ZPH 489/1.2.
9. Leopold Rochowansky, Der Formwille der Zeit in der angewandten Kunst (Wien:
Burgverlag, 1922), 11.
10. Nachlass Franz Cizek, Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, ZPH 489/1.2.
11. Ishizaki, Franz Cizek no Bijutsu Kyōikuron to Sono Hōhō ni kansuru Kenkyū, 209.
12. Ishizaki, 289.
13. Marietta Mautner-Markhof, “Franz Cizek to ‘Kindai Bijutsu’: Wīn Bijtusu Kōgei Gakkō niokeru Sōshoku Keitai Gaku [Franz Cizek and ‘Modern Art’: Ornamental Study at the Vienna
School of Arts and Crafts],” in Bijutsu Kyōiku no Paionia: Franz Cizek Ten [Pioneer of Art
Education: Franz Cizek Exhibition], ed. “Franz Cizek Ten” Katarogu Henshū Iinkai [Franz
Cizek Exhibition Catalogue Editorial Board] (Tokyo: Musashino Art University,1990),164.
14. Barbara Lesák, “Der Wiener Theaterkinetismus,” in Kinetismus: Wien entdeckt die
Agantgarde, 140-143.
15. Marietta Mautner-Markhof, “Wiener Kinetismus E. G. Klien,” in Wiener Kinetismus: E. G.
Klien, ed. Galerie Pabst (München: Galerie Michael Pabst, 1986), no page.
16. See illustrations in: Kinetismus: Wien entdeckt die Agantgarde, 147, 149-151.
17. Leopold Rochowanski, “Das kinetische Marionettentheater der Erika Giovanna Klien,” inWiener Kinetismus: E. G. Klien, no page.
18. Rochowanski.
19. Chizuko Aoyama, “Dezain to Shintai: Bauhaus ni okeru Mouhitotsu no Suimyaku wo
megutte [Design and Body: On Another Path in Bauhaus],” Bulletin of JSSD 41, no. 1(1997): 44.

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20. Takako Shibata, Oskar Schlemmer: Bauhaus no Butai Geijutsu [Oskar Schlemmer:
Performing Art of Bauhaus] (Tokyo: Suisei sha, 2021), 29-33.
21. Shibata, Oskar Schlemmer, 33-34.
22. Lasák, “Der Wiener Theaterkinetismus,” 143.

Author Biography
Tomoko Kakuyama
Tomoko Kakuyama received Ph.D. from Saitama University, Japan. After teaching at Nanzan
University as an Assistant Professor, she became an Associate Professor at Kanagawa University.
She specializes in the design history of Central Europe, mainly of Austria in the 20th century. Herlatest publications include Wīn Kōbō: Teito no Burando Tanjō ni miru Ōsutoria Dezain Undōshi[Vienna Workshops: The Birth of a Brand and the Beginnings of Modern Design in Austria] (Tokyo:
Sairyū sha, 2021). Her recent papers include “Franz Cizek to Wīn Kinetishizumu: Bijutsu Kōgei
Gakkō no ‘Zen ei’ [Franz Cizek and Viennese Kineticism: The ‘Avant-garde’ at the School of Arts
and Crafts]” in Modern Synchronized and Stimulated Each Other: The Polyphony of Function andDecoration, ed. Machiko Chiba and Risa Hirota (Kyoto: Akaaka Art Publishing, 2022), 242-247.

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The Effect of Sound in the Ceramic Works ofToshiko Takaezu
Yukiko Takase
Osaka University

Abstract
This paper focuses on the effect of sound in the ceramic works of Toshiko Takaezu (⾼江洲 敏
⼦,1922–2011) who is a Nisei American contemporary ceramic artist. Subsequently, the paper
attempts to suggest new evaluations of Toshiko Takaezu. She is credited with being a part of themodern ceramic movement inspired by abstract expressionism in the postwar United States. The
main characteristics of her ceramic works are their form and glaze; however, the sound element is
an accessory feature that has received only incidental attention. Her art tends to be valued in termsof blending the East and West, which is related to the mysteries of the East, in another words,
orientalism. In this paper, the author suggests new evaluations of Takaezu’s art, not as a blending of
the East and West, by examining the sound elements in her ceramics from phenomenological,
historical, and aesthetic perspectives. This paper is divided into three sections. The first section
introduces Toshiko Takaezu’s evaluations in the U.S. In the second section the author describes thesound elements of ‘closed forms’ that are the signature forms of her ceramic works, and thenexamines their sound effects from the viewer’s experience perspective, artistic trends, and the orderof five senses. In the third section, the author suggests new historical and aesthetic evaluations of
Takaezu’s art. There are three points of the new evaluations: Firstly, she was ahead of artistic trends.
Secondly, her art offered the delight of ‘game-like play.’ Thirdly, she challenged the traditional
hierarchies of the five senses.
Keywords: ceramic movement; East and West; abstract expressionism; artistic trends: game-likeenjoyment; five senses order
1. Introduction of Toshiko Takaezu
Toshiko Takaezu (1922–2011) is a Nisei American contemporary ceramic artist and, educator, bornin Hawaii. Her Parents were agricultural immigrants from Okinawa. She was first exposed toceramics when she began working in a commercial pottery factory. Recognized by her instructors,
such as Carl Massa and Claude Horan, she studied ceramics, sculpture, design, and weaving at the
University of Hawaii. To further her education, she left Hawaii and studied ceramics, weaving, andsculpture at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hill, Michigan, where she learned to
discover her own voice from Maija Grotell, a prominent Finnish immigrant potter. Takaezu
distinguished herself during her studies, receiving many awards (1). She also taught ceramics atuniversities, such as Cleveland institute of Art and Princeton University, for many years. She is
known for her ‘closed forms,’ which are the ceramic works of sculptural round pots with closed tops.
While ordinary ceramic pots are meant to hold something inside, her work is shaped like a pot, but
the mouth is almost closed with a small air hole at the top, so nothing can be put inside. Her pots are
not for practical use, but for artistic value.
Takaezu received numerous awards and honors (2), and her works are collected in major
museums, and a lot of exhibitions have been held throughout the U.S. However, she is not renowned
in Japan, despite two retrospectives in 1995, 2010 (3).
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There are two main evaluations of her art. One is, ‘who holds a significant place in the WorldWar Ⅱ craft movement in the United States,’ and the other is ‘Takaezu has blended her Japaneseheritage with a Western aesthetic to create dynamic works in clay, fiber, paint, and bronze.’ (4) The
latter is often in other words, ‘blended Japanese Zen Buddhism with American abstract
expressionism (5)’.
The history of American ceramics has been relatively short since the founding of the country,
as if one did not consider the history of the Native Americans. Contemporary ceramics have always
been influenced by many foreign trends and countries, such as William Morris, the Arts and Crafts
Movement, and the pottery that emigrated from Europe in 1930s, Bernard Leach, and Japanesepotters such as Shoji Hamada in the early 1950s. In the middle of the 1950s the World War Ⅱ ceramic
movement occured. James Jensen describes this as follows:
Along with Peter Voulkos and a number of other ceramic artists who emerged from the postwar
years of the 1950s and 1960s, Takaezu has been instrumental in moving ceramics beyond its
historical ties to the concept of function and into the realm of sculpture, transforming clay fromsomething associated only with utilitarian objects to something that could be meaningful, capableof embodying abstract ideas (6).
Peter Voulkos’s change was largely triggered by teaching a summer course at Black MountainCollege in North Carolina in 1953, where he became acquainted with avant-garde artists such asJosef Albers, John Cage, and Merce Cunningham, and led by M.C. Richards, he met abstract
expressionist painters such as Franz Kline in New York (7).
In this movement, Voulkos et, al focused mainly on form, free, and abstract forms. After forming
large jars and bowls on the potter’s wheel, Voulkos crushed and twisted to create sculptural forms.
These productions were accompanied by wild and spontaneous gestures and were often comparedand considered to be influenced by Pollock’s action paintings.
As for Takaezu, her ‘closed forms’ are sculptural enough, but she focused rather on glazing, free,
and abstract. Her rich, diverse, and multilayered glazing was highly acclaimed. She described herself
as painting in three dimensions; This was possible because of the nearly spherical, closed-mouthform. She was often compared and considered to be influenced by abstract expressionist painterssuch as Mark Rothko, Krantz Kline, and Helen Frankenthaler.
Regarding the detailed features of closed forms, as mentioned before, they are round or ovoid
organic sculptural forms, with a closed mouth at the top, sometimes spherical or cylindrical. They
have been created from 1958 until her death, in various sizes, shapes, and arrangements (sometimes
grouping in installations). However, the most distinctive feature is the rich expression of glazes incolors and brushstrokes. (Colors: austere, tropical, metallic, Brushstrokes: calligraphic, free-flowing,
multilayered)

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Figure1: ‘Closed Form’, Date : 1960s, Medium: Glazed Porcelain
Dimensions : Height- 7 inches x Diameter - 6 inches (17.8 x 15 cm)[https://www.toshikotakaezufoundation.org/artwork/]2023．

Figure2: Takaezu with her Moons : Photo Credit by Hiro[https://www.toshikotakaezufoundation.org/artwork/]2023．

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The Effect of Sound in the Ceramic Works of Toshiko Takaezu

Figure3 : ‘Homage to Devastation Forest (Tree Man Forest)’
Date : 1982 – 1987, Medium : Glazed stoneware
Dimensions : 98 H x 121 x 121 inches as installed (249 x 307 x 307 cm)[https://www.toshikotakaezufoundation.org/artwork/]2023．

Figure4 : Takaezu walking amongst the Star Series. Photo credit : Tom Grotta, 1998
[https://www.toshikotakaezufoundation.org/artwork/]2023．
2. Sound elements of ‘closed forms’
Since around 1960, Takaezu has installed devices inside many of her closed-form works that produce
a rattling sound when shaken. She called it a bell. She explains the origin of this device as follows:This grew out of mistake. I was trimming the top of a pot, and a piece fell in. When the clay issoft, it gets stuck, so you are not aware that it has gone in. However, it does not get stuck and it
is loose. I fired a piece, and suddenly there was a sound. I thought, ‘Why not take advantage ofthe mistake?’ So, now, I make bead-round balls and put them in (8).

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Closed-form sounds are described as bell-like, subtle rustling, and coastal. Regarding the possibilityof making sounds, Takaezu explains that almost all works have sounds in them (9). However, there
are cases in which closed forms have no sound because clay beads are stuck inside, or larger works
do not have sound in them because they cannot be lifted and shaken. The interpretations of the soundelements in closed forms have much to do with those of the closed forms themselves.
The most important thing is in the darkness of the works, which is not exposed to our eyes.
This remark Takaezu mentioned about the closed forms several times has a strong influence on critics
and researchers. Therefore, sound in a closed form is often realized, suggesting the existence of aninternal dark space. This idea often led to Asian Mysteries, or Orientalism. Critics and researchers
have two types of interpretations. One is related to Asian Mysteries. For the example, closed-formsounds are evaluated as Zen- Buddhism concepts such as ‘Void’(Halser,2012) (10), the poetic natureassociated with Zen or the tea ceremony (Gedeon,2001) (11), answers to cosmic questions to all of
nature (Jensen,1993) (12), the ancient Asian tradition of using sound for meditation and prayer(Shield,2011) (13), evoking an invisible universe, somewhere between the East and the West
(Dufie,1995) (14) .
On the other hand, there are also a few interpretations of them in a sense different from
Orientalism. For example, a symbol of life, a creation... giving life to the pot, likened to a womb
(Lynn,1990) (15). and the further development of 20th century art’s attempts to put the sense ofhearing into visual objects, such as sound objects, by Harry Bertoia (Shield,2011) (16) .
The author does not reject any of these interpretations. However, other unnoticed
interpretations exist. The author focuses on the experience of the researcher, Carrie Liu, because of
having had similar experiences. This is the experience of shaking the closed form with the collector
and listening to sounds together. Carrie Liu writes as follows:
It was a secret enjoyment, an intimate relationship with the work. […]With Anne’s permission, I
picked up the form and shook it to hear the rattle sounds. The jingle brought immediate delight tous both. Later that day, we found ourselves standing in front of a large closed form, about fivefeet in height. We looked at each other and wondered with a laugh whether it would rattle if we
could even manage to lift it. I am glad to have shared those moments of joy and laughter inappreciation of this artist.(17)The author thinks there are two key points of this experience. One is that enjoyment is amplified
when viewers listen to the sound not alone, but with others. Sound also develops empathy in those
who listen together. In other words, the artwork helps to build intimate relationships among people
who listen to the sound with each other. Secondly, you cannot know whether there is a sound until
you shake; It, giving the viewer a sense of play - a game-like excitement. These two key points
indicate that Takaezu’s art contained elements of empathy, catalyst, and play. In other words, her art
has instrumental aesthetic value. As mentioned previously, Takaezu was influenced by abstract
expressionist paintings. In terms of artistic trend, abstract expressionism belongs to modernism.
Modernism seeks artistic autonomy and aesthetic value. However, as mentioned earlier, Takaezu’s
art focuses on instrumental aesthetic value, which differs from modernist art. Therefore, in terms ofartistic trends, the author considers Takaezu art to be close to postmodernism and relational art. Postmodernism is said to have occurred at the end of 70s and relational art around the 90s. Consideringthat Takaezu began her sound device in 1960, it can be said that she was ahead of these artistic trends.
This is the first point suggested by the author.
As second point that mentioned previously, her artwork offers game-like pleasure. Regarding
artworks that offer the sense of play, Isamu Noguchi’s playground equipment works, like ‘Black118

The Effect of Sound in the Ceramic Works of Toshiko Takaezu

slide mountain’ could be pointed out. These works involved the tactile sense. This paper discusses
Takaezu’s ideas on the tactile sense. However, Noguchi’s playground works did not offer the samegame-like enjoyment as Takaezu’s, who did not know if it made a sound until you touched it. This
was a unique effect of her work. This is the second point suggested by the author.
As for the tactile sense mentioned previously, Takaezu explained that she put sound in a closed
form because she wanted people to touch her work. She placed great emphasis on the tactile aspectsof her ceramic works and the sound was intended to invite the viewer into a tactile experience.
Originally, ceramics were something to be touched and used, but ironically, the tactile aesthetic valueof ceramics became limited when they became a pure art form, such as sculpture, in the post-WorldWar II ceramic movement. Garth Clark describes the situation as follows:
Contemporary American ceramics has progressed from the anonymity of the craft shop to thecritical spotlight of the museum and the art gallery. Its aesthetic concerns have become the focus
of serious scholary attention. (18)
Artworks exhibited and collected in art galleries and museums should not be touched upon without
permission for reasons of protection. Regarding the order of the senses, she said that the first wassight, second was touch, and third was hearing, although she said that the integration of all thesesenses was more important than their order. However, her order differs from the pecking order of thefive senses in Western philosophy since Aristotle’s time,: wherein the first was sight, the second,
hearing, and the third, touch. Traditionally in the West, the idea that the spirit is noble and the bodyis barbaric has persisted. This is reflected in art: the high status of painting and sculpture, and thelow status of craft. However, contemporary art has been challenging traditional notions of art, andthe hierarchies of the five senses had already been shaken in the post-World War II era when avantgarde art was on the rise. However, this can not be completely ruled out. Therefore, the author
believes that Takaezu challenged the traditional hierarchy of the five senses by asserting the tactile
aesthetics of ceramics as pure art in a sophisticated manner to touch it to listen to the sound inside.
In other words, this is a sophisticated objection to the traditional five-sense hierarchy. This is thethird point suggested by the authors.
3. Conclusion
This paper examines the sound elements in the ceramic works by Toshiko Takaezu
phenomenologically, historically, and aesthetically. The author suggests three new points about theevaluation of Takaezu’s artworks. First, her artworks were ahead of the artistic trends ofpostmodernism and relational art by increasing empathy and acting as catalysts for building humanrelationships. Second, her artworks offered the delight of game-like ‘play,’ which is a unique effectof artworks. Third, she emphasizes the tactile aesthetics of ceramics and challenges the traditional
hierarchy of the five senses in a sophisticated manner. Moreover, all three points were made possibleby the intervention of sound; therefore, all of these can be realized as sound effects of her ceramic
works.
Notes
1.

Takaezu received the best clay student award at Cranbrook in 1952. (Jeffrey Spahn,“Chronology,” in In the language of silence: the Art of Toshiko Takaezu, ed. Peter Held (North
Carolina :The University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 146.)

2.

Dickinson Arts Award, Dickinson College (1983), Living Treasure Award, Hawaii (1987),
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Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, University of Hawaii (1993), Honorary Doctorate ofFine Arts, Princeton University (1996), Legends Award, Watershed Center for Arts presented
at SOFA Chicago (2009), etc. (Spahn, “Selected Grants and awards,” 152.)
3.

1995: Toshiko Takaezu: Retrospective, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan; The
Gallery of the City of Naha, Okinawa, Japan; Takaoka Museum, Takaoka, Japan; Seto
Ceramics Museum, Nagoya, Japan. 2010: In Memory of My Parents: An Exhibition by
Takaezu Toshiko, Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum, Naha City, Okinawa

4.

Paul J. Smith, “Toshiko Takaezu: Six Decades,” in In the language of silence the Art of Toshiko
Takaezu, ed. Peter Held, (North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 13.

5.

However, some critics deny her association with abstract expressionism, for example, John
Perreau, as follows:
Although her glaze-painting strategies may be mistaken for American Expressionism, she
is not an Action Painter on clay, in the same way that Voulkos can be seen as an Abstract
Expressionist with clay.
(“Toshiko Takaezu: Truth in Clay,” in Toshiko Takaezu: Heaven and Earth, (Wisconsin: Rasine
Art Museum, 2005), 8.)

6.

James Jensen, “The Sculpture Forms of Toshiko Takaezu,” in Toshiko Takaezu Retrospective,(Kyoto: The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, 1995), 21.

7.

Masago Shimizu, “Chronology”, in Contemporary American Ceramics [1950–1990]: A Surveyof American Objects and Vessels (Aichi: Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, 2002), 173.

8.

Richard Polsky, “The Reminiscences of Toshiko Takaezu (1995, 110–112.),” in Toshiko
Takaezu papers, Sumithsonian Institution,
https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/toshiko-takaezu-papers-8483/series-3/box-8-folder-109.

Gerry Williams,”Oral history interview with Toshiko Takaezu, 2003 June 16,” in Toshiko
Takaezu papers , Sumithsonian Institution,
https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/toshiko-takaezu-papers-8483/more-information

10. Krystal Reiko Hauseur, Crafted Abstraction: Three Nisei Artists and the American Studio Craft
Movement: Ruth Asawa, Kay Sekimachi, and Toshiko Takaezu (University of California, Irvine
ProQuest Dissertation Publishing, 2011), 187.
11. Lucinda H. Gedeon, “Introduction,” in Toshiko Takaezu (New York, Neuberger Museum of Art,
2001), 3.
12. James Jensen and Jennifer Saville, ‘Toshiko Takaezu: Listening to Clay’, Toshiko Takaezu(Hawaii: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1993), 9.
13. Scott A. Shields, “Echoes of the Earth”, in Echoes of the Earth: Ceramics by Toshiko Takaezu(California: Crocker Art Museum, 2007), 13.
14. Owen Duffy, “Toshiko Takaezu James Cohan, New York 15April–7May”, Art Review, (summer,2022): 93.
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The Effect of Sound in the Ceramic Works of Toshiko Takaezu

15. Vanessa Lynn, “Rounder than Round: The Closed Forms of Toshiko Takaezu.”
American Ceramics, (8:4, 1990): 22.
16. Scott A. Shields. “Echoes of the Earth”, in Echoes of the Earth: Ceramics by Toshiko Takaezu(California: Crocker Art Museum, 2007), 13.
17. Cary Y. Liu, “Presence and Remembrance: The art of Toshiko Takaezu”, Record of the Art
Museum, Princeton University, Vol.68, (2009): 47.
18. Garth Clark, “Introduction”, in American Ceramics: 1876 to the Present (New York: Abbeville
Press Publishers, 1987):9.

Author Biography
Yukiko Takase
Yukiko Takase is a master’s student at Osaka University Graduate School of Letters, Division of Art
Studies. Her research interest includes U.S.-Japan Relations in Modern Arts and Crafts and theAchievement of Women Artists.

121Session VI

Architecture

For Democratization of 1989:
Demonstration Space in 1950s Leipzig
Hideo Tomita
Kyushu Sangyo University

Abstract
The democratization demonstrations of September and October 1989 in Leipzig became the starting
point for the democratic movement in East Germany. However, less is known about the urban spacethat supported these movements – a space that was designed, in the 1950s, to have features of asocialist city. City History Museum Leipzig organized a large-scale exhibition in 2017 to look backon the city plan of Leipzig in the 1950s. In addition, Citizens Committee Leipzig has released theapplication ‘Leipzig 89,’ making full use of historical materials, and has also created a systemthrough which people can experience the urban space in 1989. However, these studies lack the
viewpoint of linking the urban spaces of both the 1950s and 1989 with the keyword ‘demonstration.’
The current study aims to clarify whether Leipzig’s postwar reconstruction as a socialist city in the
1950s formed the urban infrastructure which supported the democratization demonstrations of 1989.
As research sources, we used materials from the Leipzig city archive as well as published materials.
In terms of the method, we implemented a comparison between the urban space of the 1950s andthat of 1989. As a result, the following points were clarified. ‘Demonstration square’ and‘demonstration route,’ constructed for the demonstration of the socialist system in the 1950s,
transformed directly into the urban space which was used, during demonstrations, by the people
demanding democratization in 1989. In particular, the vast urban space in the eastern ring, which
was planned in the 1950s, was an especially important space where people gathered and marched aspart of the democratization demonstrations of 1989. In general, networks of demonstration routes
and demonstration squares were quite important for the socialist reconstruction, in the 1950s, ofcities such as Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin. In Berlin in 1989, people also gathered at ‘demonstrationsquare,’ which they accessed through ‘demonstration route’ – both built in the 1950s. In other words,
the urban space peculiar to socialism in 1950s East Germany already encompassed the great change
of democratization.
Keywords: Socialism; Socialist City; Demonstration; Democratization; Leipzig

1. Introduction
1-1. Background of this research
The democratization demonstrations of September and October 1989 in Leipzig were the starting
point for the democratic movement in East Germany (German Democratic Republic). However, little
is known about how the urban space that supported these movements was designed as a socialist cityin the 1950s.
Generally, in modern cities, space is provided for citizens to march during political festivals.
For example, at the end of the 18th century in Paris, the government held many festivals which saw
citizens partake in marches. Specifically, Paris hosted 20 Revolution celebrations between 1790 and
1798 (1). Citizens who participated in these celebrations relived the Revolution in the urban space.
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Such citizen marches in city centers, conducted by the government, were also very importantin socialist countries. The starting point was the Soviet urban design in the 1930s. For example, theMoscow reconstruction project of the 1930s designed parade spaces for May Day (May 1st) and
Revolution Day (November 7th) (2). Indeed, a 1932 photograph of central Moscow shows ademonstration of workers marching in five columns toward Red Square (3). This state policy was
naturally reflected in the urban design of the same period. In the ‘People's Commissariat of Heavy
Industry (Narkomtiazhprom)’ competition (1934), which was held next to Red Square, workers wereshown gathered in an orderly fashion in Red Square (4). After World War II, socialist states
referenced this Soviet city in their urban design (5). Especially in East Germany, demonstration
spaces were designed in major cities such as East Berlin, Dresden, and Leipzig (6).
In general, demonstrations in cities have two main functions: political celebrations andprotests. Using Leipzig as an example, the May Day parades of the East German era fell under theformer function, while the Monday demonstrations of October 1989 fell under the latter. However,both ‘demonstrations’ took place in the same urban space, which was designed in the socialist
urbanization of the 1950s. This fact is often overlooked.
1-2. Aim, method, research materials, and previous research
In light of the above, this study clarifies the ways in which Leipzig’s postwar reconstruction as asocialist city in the 1950s formed the urban infrastructure supporting the democratization
demonstrations of 1989. In terms of methodology, we compare the urban space of the 1950s and thatof 1989. In Section 2, we analyze the ‘street network for demonstrations’ in the urban space of the
1950s and 1989. In Section 3, we clarify the concrete design of ‘demonstration square,’ following
which, in Section 4, we compare Leipzig's characteristics with those of other East German cities.
This study used research materials from the Leipzig city archive, the online database of the German
Federal Archive, and other published materials.
Previous research on urban design in East Germany in the 1950s includes a study by Durth etal. (1999). In particular, the book ‘Ostkreuz’ discusses, in detail, the socialist urbanization of major
East German cities in the 1950s (7). Several other recent works have approached this theme. For
example, the Museum of City History Leipzig hosted a large-scale exhibition in 2017 that reflectedon the city’s plan in the 1950s. Citizens Committee Leipzig also released the application ‘Leipzig
89,’ which made full use of historical materials to create a system through which users can experience
the urban space of 1989. However, these works fail to link the urban spaces of the 1950s and 1989
with their influence on demonstrations.
2. ‘Street network for demonstrations’ in the urban space of the 1950s and 1989
2-1. Outline of the urban evolution of Leipzig
Before proceeding to the discussion, we would like to summarize the urban evolution of Leipzig.
Leipzig developed as a walled city from the 13th century onward. The city walls were removed in
the 19th century, and a ring road and public buildings were built on the vast site. This situation in the
19th century was also common for other European cities (Vienna is a typical example).
Subsequently, after 1949, rebuilding in the wake of the destruction of World War II took place,as did socialist urbanization. Leipzig's reconstruction program was initiated on February 16, 1949,
by the Department of Construction and Transportation within the City Planning Office. In thesocialist urbanization of Leipzig, ‘street networks for demonstrations’ and ‘demonstration squares’
were important. As previously noted, this characteristic was the same as that of socialist urbanizationin major East German cities.

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Fig. 1 Street network for demonstrations, Leipzig City Planning Office, July 14, 1952 (8) (Traced by
the Author)

Fig. 2 Street network for demonstrations, Leipzig City Planning Office, July 14, 1952 (Plotted by
the Author on a 1959 map of the city center)

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2-2. ‘Street network for demonstrations’ in the urban space of the 1950s and 1989
In this part, we analyze the ‘street network for demonstrations’ in urban spaces in the 1950s and1989.
(a) ‘Street network for demonstrations’ in the 1950s
The graphic in Fig.1 shows the street network for demonstrations drawn by the Leipzig City Planning
Office on July 14, 1952. The thickest line indicates a demonstration with 40 participants lined up
horizontally. The middle line indicates a demonstration with 20 participants in a row, and the thinnest
lines indicate demonstrations with 10 or fewer participants in a row. In other words, the drawing
illustrates that the following demonstration route was planned. First, citizens gather from theperiphery (Wahren, Mockau, Paunsdorf, Meusdorf, Markkeleeberg, and Lentzsch). The gatheredcitizens enter the central city mainly from the east and west (two large black circles in Fig. 1),
congregating mostly in the southern and eastern parts of the ring road, and finally dispersing next tothe central station. Based on this ‘street network for demonstrations,’ a vast urban space wasdeveloped by integrating a ring road and square.
(b) ‘Street network for demonstrations’ in 1989
Subsequently, we analyzed citizens' movements on the ring road during the 1989 demonstration. The
first Monday demonstration along the Leipzig ring road occurred on September 25, 1989 (9). On
this day, after a prayer at St. Nicholas Church, the crowd, which had swelled to 5,000 at Karl Marx
Square, demonstrated for the first time on Leipzig's ring road. They walked from Karl Marx Squareto Richard Wagner Square (Fig. 2). This demonstration was a turning point for the Leipzig Monday
demonstrations, in that, by using the ring road for the demonstration, many participants were able toassemble.

Fig. 3 Karl Marx Square, Monday demonstration on October 9, 1989 (10)Fig. 3 shows the crowd during the Monday demonstration, photographed at Karl Marx Squareon October 9, 1989. The said photograph indicates that citizens were gathering at Karl Marx Squareto protest. On the evening of this day, the assembled citizens began marching from Karl Marx Squareto Leipzig's main train station at approximately 6:30 PM. In the end, 70,000 demonstrators circled,
almost entirely, the ring road (11). This route, i.e., Karl Marx Square to Leipzig's main train station,corresponds to the street in the 1952 drawing showing approximately 40 participants in a line (Fig.
1 and 2). In short, the ‘street network for demonstrations’ in the 1950s, transitioned into an urban
space in which citizens demonstrated to demand democratization in 1989.

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3. ‘Demonstration square’
The results of the analysis of ‘street networks for demonstrations’ in urban spaces in the 1950s and1989 revealed that Karl Marx Square played an important role. This square is located in thesoutheastern part of the ring road. How was the southeastern portion of this civic-concentrated ringroad designed in the 1950s? To answer this question, Section 3 focuses on the ‘demonstration square,’which located on the southeast portion of the ring road.
This portion is an important part of the demonstration along the said road. However, prior tosocialist urbanization, this area was ambiguous in character. The site of the city walls was a vast
vacant lot that only housed a theater and one other building in the 19th century (12). In the 1950s,
the site was developed as two squares to attract demonstrators from all over the city (Fig. 2).
The first of these is Karl Marx Square (now Augustus Square). This square was the final
gathering place for demonstration participants and was considered the main venue for politicalstatements and political festivities.
The second is Ross Square, which was long, arc-shaped, and a continuation of Karl Marx
Square. This square served to direct the demonstrators to their final destination, Karl Marx Square.
Therefore, Ross Square was defined as a continuous demonstration space next to an apartmentbuilding which stretched approximately 350 meters in length (Fig. 4).
Thus, the vast urban spaces of Ross Square and Karl Marx Square, planned in the 1950s in theeastern ring, were particularly important spaces in which people gathered before marching at thedemocratization demonstrations of 1989.

Fig. 4 Ross Square and an apartment building measuring approximately 350 meters in length;
photo of the situation in 2017 (Photo by the Author)
4. Other East German cities

Fig. 5 Alexander Square, November 4, 1989, BArchiv, B 145 Bild-00068930 / Fotograf：Lehnartz,
Klaus

Section 4 examines whether the characteristics of socialist cities found in Leipzig are also found inother East German cities. In general, the ‘street network for demonstrations’ and ‘demonstrationsquares’ were quite important in Leipzig’s reconstruction as a socialist city in 1950s East Germany.
There were also similar plans in other large East German cities, such as East Berlin and Dresden.
In Dresden, ‘demonstration squares’ and ‘street networks for demonstrations’ can be found inseveral reconstruction plans. For example, the plan by Egon Hartmann, compiled with Karl-Heinz
Schelling and Rudolf Wohlmann, includes a demonstration square near Old Market Square and a
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route for demonstrators to gather from both sides of the Elbe River (13).
Similarly, ‘street networks for demonstrations’ and ‘demonstration squares’ were planned in
Berlin. For example, the ‘Plan for Demonstration’ (1950), by Kurt Junghanns, planned (1) a ‘street
network for demonstrations’ that also utilized existing major streets such as Unter den Linden, and(2) a ‘demonstration square’ on the site of the Royal Palace, which was destroyed in a 1945 air raid
(The Palace of the Republic was built on this site in 1976) (14).
In particular, in East Berlin, the newly-designed Stalinallee (from 1961, Karl-Marx-Allee) waspart of the demonstration route. At the Stalinallee in East Berlin, high-rise apartments were arranged
parallel to the street (15). Indeed, mass demonstrators were expected to gather, via that route, in thedemonstration square. In East Berlin in 1989, people also gathered via the Karl-Marx-Allee, which
was built in the 1950s (Fig. 5). The area lined with high-rise apartments on the far left of Figure 5 isKarl-Marx-Allee, while Alexander Square is in front of the high-rise building in the center of thephoto. From this photo, we can recognize that the citizens are facing Alexander Square from KarlMarx-Allee.
5. Conclusion
This study reveals the ways in which Leipzig’s postwar reconstruction as a socialist city in the 1950s
formed ‘street networks for demonstrations’ and ‘demonstration squares,’ which eventually
supported the democratization demonstrations of 1989. In other words, the urban space that was
specific to socialism in 1950s East Germany already held the potential for the shift toward
democratization.
Leipzig's unique characteristics include the following. As revealed in Sections 2 and 3,
Leipzig's Karl Marx Square and Ross Square were shaped in the 1950s for the demonstration of thesocialist city. However, the final destination of the demonstration, Karl Marx Square, was a gathering
place even before the socialist urbanization of 1949. In fact, on May 1, 1946, a rally was held at KarlMarx Square.
However, this situation varies depending on whether the socialist city is a newly-constructedsocialist city or a socialist conversion of an existing city. In fact, Leipzig, Dresden, and East Berlin,
where the demonstration network was planned, are all examples of the socialist urbanization ofexisting cities. In contrast, socialist cities built as new cities in East Germany in the 1950s, such as
Stalinstadt (renamed Eisenhüttenstadt in 1961) and Hoyerswerda, show few plans for demonstration
networks (16). The reasons for this are not certain, but it is clear that the socialization of existing
cities required the planning of a demonstration network.
Thus, it is clear that the socialist urbanization of Leipzig was characterized by (a) planningfrom the category of socialist urbanization of an existing city, and (b) an accurate reading of thecontext of assembly squares in existing cities in the placement of demonstration squares.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP22H01670.
Notes
1. Mona Ozouf, La Fête révolutionnaire 1789–1799, trans. Koichi Tachikawa, Japanese ed.
(Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten,1988).

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2. Hideo Tomita and Masato Ishii, “The Influence of Hannes Meyer and the Bauhaus Brigade on
1930s Soviet Architecture,” Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering 13, no. 1(2014): 49-56, https://doi.org/10.3130/jaabe.13.49
3. Werner Durth, Jörn Düwel, and Niels Gutschow (eds.), Ostkreuz, Architektur und
Städtebau der DDR, Band 1, (Frankfurt a. M.: Campus, 1999), 155.
4. Hajime Yatsuka, Architecture of Russian Avant-Garde, enlarged ed. (Tokyo: INAX,
2015), 411.
5. Rosemary Wakeman, “Was There an Ideal Socialist City? Socialist New Towns as
Modern Dreamscapes,” in: Transnationalism and the German City, Diefendorf, J.M. and
Ward, J. (eds.), (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), 105-124.
6. Durth, Düwel, and Gutschow (eds.), Ostkreuz.
7. Werner Durth, Jörn Düwel, and Niels Gutschow (eds.), Aufbau, Städte, Themen,
Dokumente, Architektur und Städtebau der DDR, Band 2, (Frankfurt a. M.: Campus,
1999).
8. Durth, Düwel, and Gutschow (eds.), Ostkreuz, 454.
9. Doris Mundus, Leipzig l989, A Chronicle, trans. Jutta Rosen-Schinz, 2nd English reviseded. (Leipzig: Lehmstedt Verlag, 2014).
10. Tobias Hollitzer and Sven Sachenbacher (ed.), Die friedliche Revolution in Leipzig,
Bilder, Dokumente und Objekte, Band 2, (Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag GmbH,
2012), 427.
11. Hollitzer and Sachenbacher (ed.), Die friedliche Revolution in Leipzig, 424.
12. Sebastian Ringel, Leipzig!, One Thousand Years of History, (Leipzig: Edition Leipzig in
the Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG, 2015).
13. Durth, Düwel, and Gutschow (eds.), Ostkreuz, 226.
14. Durth, Düwel, and Gutschow (eds.), Aufbau, 222.
15. Thomas Flierl (ed.), Der Architekt, die Macht und die Baukunst Hermann Henselmann inseiner Berliner Zeit 1949-1995, (Berlin: Theater der Zeit, 2018).
16. Durth, Düwel, and Gutschow (eds.), Ostkreuz, 406.

Author Biography
Hideo Tomita
Hideo Tomita (Dr. of Engineering), born in 1974, is currently a Professor at the Faculty ofArchitecture and Civil Engineering, Kyushu Sangyo University, JAPAN. For his research on Walter
Gropius and Hannes Meyer, Tomita received his doctorate in March 2002 from Hiroshima University.
130For Democratization of 1989

From 2005 to 2006, he was a guest researcher at the Faculty of Architecture, Bauhaus University,
Weimar. In 2015, he won the JAABE Best Paper Award 2014 from the Architectural Institute ofJapan, the Architectural Institute of Korea, and the Architectural Society of China for his essay on
Meyer’s work in Moscow. From 2016 to 2017, he was a guest researcher at the Institute ofArchitecture, Technical Institute of Berlin.

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Ideal Community Based on the ‘Primitive Hut’:Through Le Corbusier’s ‘Cabanon’
Shoichiro Sendai
Shimane University

Abstract
Le Corbusier’s realization of the villa-shed ‘Cabanon’ in Cap-Martin in the 1950s differed from his
own residence on the top floor of an apartment block he built in Paris in the 1930s. The Cabanon
was a prototype of the ‘equipment’ of furniture and sanitary, a ‘primitive hut’ of the 20th century
that primarily served the function of a bedroom.
Le Corbusier was using this prototype to form a community of artists in Cap-Martin. This wasdifferent from the closed communities, such as the large ships in the ‘Unité d’habitation’ realized in
the 1950s. The construction principle of the ‘Unité d’habitation’ was the insertion of units (cabins)
into the megastructures (hull) of the bottle racks. In contrast, this community initially took the formof a grid of ‘honeycomb’ structures with 226 as the reference dimension, equipped with furnitureand equipment. The Cabanon, built on the north side of the site as one of the units, has a basedimension of 366 instead of 226. And probably Le Corbusier discovered the potential of this smallbuilding during its construction. He restarted to develop the idea of this community, which had beenabandoned due to various problems of acquisition of the estate and project income, and intended to
use Cabanon’s achievements in the construction of an ideal community.
This paper considers the ideal community that Le Corbusier found in Cap-Martin by analysing thetransformation of the housing complex erection conceived as an application of Cabanon, using thedrawings and correspondence documents supplemented by the Le Corbusier Foundation.
Keywords: Le Corbusier; Cap-Martin; Primitive Hut; Community; Mural Painting

1. Introduction
Le Corbusier’s realization of the villa-shed ‘Cabanon’ in Cap-Martin in the 1950s differed from his
own residence on the top floor of an apartment block he built in Paris in the 1930s. The Cabanon
was a prototype of the ‘equipment’ of furniture and sanitary, a ‘primitive hut’ of the 20th century
that primarily served the function of a bedroom (Figure 1).

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Ideal Community Based on the ‘Primitive Hut’Figure 1: Cabanon in Cap-Martin (AFLC, L3-5-69-001)
Le Corbusier was using this prototype to form a community of artists in Cap-Martin. Thiswas different from the closed communities, such as the large ships in the ‘Unité d’habitation’realized in the 1950s. The construction principle of the ‘Unité d’habitation’ was the insertion ofunits (cabins) into the megastructures (hull) of the bottle racks. In contrast, this community initiallytook the form of a grid of ‘honeycomb’ structures with 226 as the reference dimension, equippedwith furniture and equipment. The Cabanon, built on the north side of the site as one of the units,
has a base dimension of 366 instead of 226. And probably Le Corbusier discovered the potential ofthis small building during its construction (AFLC, M2-6-292, 1952.7.4). He restarted to develop
the idea of this community, which had been abandoned due to various problems of acquisition of
the estate and project income, and intended to use Cabanon’s achievements in the construction of
an ideal community.
Until now, the link between Cabanon and various other projects by Le Corbusier has notbeen well known (Benton). This paper therefore considers the ideal community that Le Corbusier
found in Cap-Martin by analysing the transformation of the housing complex conceived as anapplication of Cabanon, using the drawings and correspondence documents supplemented by the
Le Corbusier Foundation.
2. Unité de Vacances (1952.7-1955.2)
On the island of Ajaccio, where Le Corbusier inspected the wooden panels of the Cabanon, he lanced
the idea of a five-unit artists’ housing complex with a honeycomb frame and vaulted roof (Figure 2).
The first sketches of this housing complex show the ‘honeycomb’ structure, assembled in a grid ofindustrialized materials, and consisting of a roof with interlocking vaulted roofs for each dwelling
unit. (C2, pp.802-803, 19.7.1952; C2, p.826. 1952.7).

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Figure 2: Collective house containing Le Corbusier’s dwelling (AFLC, W1-8-12, 1951.8.31)
On the same day that the construction of the Cabanon was completed in August 1952, Le
Corbusier tried to insert the 336 and the former 226 volumes of the same plan dimensions as the
Cabanon, divided into functional units (C2, p.806, 1952.8.5); 336 bedrooms and 226 kitchenvolumes.
On the other hand, Le Corbusier lowered the construction site of this ‘honeycomb’ structureso that it was not visible from the Cabanon ([Le Corbusier], FLC18921, 1952.8.10). It is probably
not unrelated to the fact that the Cabanon, which had been envisaged as a temporary temporary
residence, was beginning to be considered a permanent home.
However, Le Corbusier finally abandoned the ‘honeycomb’ frame on 27 September 1952
(AFLC, M2-9-57, note de Le Corbusier, 1952.9.27). The alternative structure is not a bottle rack likethe ‘Unité d’habitation’, but a structure similar to the columns and slabs of the ‘Dom-ino’ studied in
the 1920s. However, the difference with the spatial composition of the 1920s is that the side walls
are stone walls made of vernacular materials (Figure 3).

Figure 3 Mediterranean Unité de Vacances (C2, p.826, [1952.8.])
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This important decision to abandon the ‘honeycomb’ to insert the Cabanon is also reflected in
Le Corbusier’s drawing of 2 October 1952. He considered equipping the bedrooms with hammockbunks and concrete bunks, a development and primitive version of the Cabanon. (Figure 4). The
emergence of a spatial phenomenon with the completion of the Cabanon on 5 August 1952, led Le
Corbusier to make the volume of the equipment itself autonomous. Indeed, Le Corbusier at this time
regarded the Cabanon itself, as a volume of equipment that formed part of the ‘honeycomb’, as ‘theprototype of a wooden structure’ (AFLC, M2-6-12, lettre de A. P. Ducret à Thomas Rebutato,
1952.10.30).

Figure 4: Interior decoration of Unité de Vacances (C2, p.832, 1952.10.2)
The drawing works in the atelier, on 29 December 1952 (ex., FLC18827A, 29.12.1952) andthe final drawings produced between May and December 1954 (ex., FLC18849A, 19.5.1954) are theresults of the studies. They follow Le Corbusier’s instructions without major changes, and the basic
spatial and elevational composition remains unchanged.
In terms of plan configuration, there are 336 Cabanon-type bedroom equipped with beds andsanitary equipment (the importance of the windows is lost due to the nested structure). On the other
hand, the 226 kitchen is separated by furniture and does not form a volume. The only volume inserted
into the Dom-ino structure with thick walls is the Cabanon-type volume. The Cabanon-shaped
volume of the bedroom, which faced seaward during the estimation phase, has been set back in the
final drawing.
There is no evidence that bathtubs and showers were considered for the dwelling units. Le
Corbusier’s intention is unknown, but it is likely that external showers were envisaged, as was life
in his Cabanon. His consideration was solely to equip the Cabanon-type with local materials, without
the use of metal (C2, p.1023, 27.12.1953). The main living quarters are developed under the pilotis
and on the terraces. Although it does not have glass walls that are fully open to the Mediterraneanlandscape, it is more connected to the earth by the way in which the lower pilotis are linked to theupper level.
The elevation structure is treated as a ‘free elevation’ with a Dom-ino structure, with wooden
doors opening and closing to provide ventilation and ventilation (C2, p.1022, p.1026, 27.12.1953),
rather than a fully glazed wall as in the ‘honeycomb’ structure. It has become a device that responds
to the local climate. It is a practical consideration derived from the ventilation and ventilation of Le
Corbusier’s own Cabanon, which had already been built (AFLC, W1-89-106, 1954.8.28).
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According to drawings made in the studio by 29 December 1952, when the estimate
drawings were prepared, the roof was flat (FLC 18853, 1953.12.22) and lost the organic shape that
Le Corbusier had drawn. In Le Corbusier’s own drawings, on the other hand, the roof isincreasingly greened in a country-house style, and the walls become thicker and less smoothly
finished (C2, p.978, 21.7.1953, p.990, 1953.[8.]). He referred to the stuccoed Kasbah dwellings
and the mud-roofed Kabyle dwellings he had seen in Alger (C2, p.1023, 1953.12.27) (he took theopportunity of his lecture in Alger in 1931 to walk around the hills of the Kasbah and Fort
Lambreur; cf. La ville radieuse, La ville radieuse, pp.230-233)
The site was moved to the west and the roof was changed again to a flat roof (FLC18835A,
18.5.1954; FLC18835, 19.5.1954). Eventually, Le Corbusier adopted a vaulted roof as a‘prototype’ (C3, p.90, 1954.8.20), but the columns supporting the roof disappeared and it was nolonger a ‘honeycomb’ or ‘Dom-ino’ structure, but a wall structure. It is a reversion to the form
(FLC17716, 30.10.1949; FLC17727; ) of the housing complex at La Sainte-Baume. Presumably,for Le Corbusier, the structural form of the vault had to support the loads by means of the thickwalls. Indeed, all of Le Corbusier’s major vaulted-roof buildings, such as the weekend house in La
Serre-Saint-Cloud (1935) and the Sarabhai house in Ahmedabad (1955), are supported by massive
wall surfaces, with no architectural works by ‘honeycomb’ or ‘Dom-ino’ with vaulted-roof. In thecase of the ‘honeycomb’, rather an ‘umbrella’ roof, separated from the girders, is realised as theexhibition building ‘House of Man’ (1967) in Zurich. In the process of the collapse of the‘honeycomb’ in the Unité de Vacances, the dimensional system was confirmed 336 again andagain, and the methodology of defining space by systematic dimensions was carried over.
3. Casa del Mare (1952.7-1955.2)
However, a storm on 15 February 1955 forced Le Corbusier to abandon the idea of the Unite de
Vacances because of fears that the site would be flooded (M2-6-227, 1955.3.5.). But also because
it blocked the view from the Cabanon (C3, p.248, 1955.2.). While dreaming of a community ofartists, Le Corbusier excluded volumes that block the view of his own ‘Cabanon’.
But before that, he was already concerned about tidal waves, and already makes the firstallusion to a plan for another site, the ‘Casa del Mare’. ‘Concrete slab covered with earth and grass
carried by masonry walls in party format, installation of 366 x 366 elements inside the free spaces
also constituted. The whole forming an outdoor common room, bedroom and indoor installation,
within nature and respecting the trees, the topography, etc...‘They form external common spaces,
sleeping quarters and internal facilities while respecting nature, including trees and topography.
(AFLC, M2-7-142, lettre de Le Corbusier à Charles Barbris, 1955.1.4) (Figure 5). It is like thewildened Unité de camping we will later refer to, but differs from the Unité de camping in that the‘common space’ is an important component.

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Ideal Community Based on the ‘Primitive Hut’Figure 5: Examination of details of Casa del Mare: (C3, p.242, 10.2.1955)
Le Corbusier further assumed that the stones, sand, gravel and planting would be taken locally(AFLC, M2-7-29, lettre de Le Corbusier à Gildo Pastor, 1955.2.7), reverting almost exclusively tothe same construction methods as the sheltered housing of the Maison Murondins (1940): simple
concrete is poured and the roof is assembled from extracted timber. All are self-built (OC4, pp.9495, p.99). However, this study was the starting point for the exploration of the dwelling’s prototype.
The only difference between it and the Unité d’habitation is whether it is industrialized or not (OC4,p.130), and it remains excellent and standardized.
Several possible construction sites have been suggested but not settled (C3, p.247, 1955.2.;
C3, pp.493-494, 498, 1955.4.16). Le Corbusier did not give up on his ideal community. Le Corbusier,
who was unexpectedly satisfied with the result of the ‘Cabanon’ (AFLC, M2-9-36, 30.12.1960),
probably wanted to explore its applicability as a prototype of the ‘Cabanon’; a year later, the study
was restarted again on the same site as the ‘Unité de Vacances’. However, it was not a nested‘Cabanon’ like the ‘Unité de Vacances’.
The ‘Casa del Maré’ was studied as a combination of Cabanons as a prototype; it was a basic
configuration of five Cabanons connected in parallel. The central space was planned as a common
space adjacent to the Cabanons, with a kitchen and dining room, while ‘Type A’ (FLC 28080,
1956.4.11), and ‘Type B’ (FLC 28081, 1956.4.12), in which it was turned into an outdoor space.
And then there was the ‘Type Casa del Maré’ (FLC28083, 1956.5.2; FLC28084, 1956.5.2), in which
the Cabanon was nested like the Unité de Vacances and the remaining space was an indoor space,
and the ‘Type A’ (FLC2808080, 1956.4.11) and the ‘Type B’ (FLC28081, 1956.4.12), in which they
were turned into an outdoor space. And then there is the ‘Type Casa del Maré’ (FLC28083, 1956.5.2;
FLC28084, 1956.5.2), in which the cabanon is nested like the Unité de Vacances and the remaining
space was a semi-outdoor space, and common living was studied in a more natural environment. The
order of the drawings suggests that the ‘Type Casa del Maré’ was the final destination.
However, the study was very short-lived. This is because common spaces still led to increased
construction costs.
4. Unité de Camping (1954.8-1957-)
After the construction of Cabanon, Le Corbusier envisaged the construction of a barrack on the eastside on 2 October 1952, and the construction site barracks were assembled by the landowner,
Rubutato, in July 1954. And shortly afterwards, on 29 August 1954, Le Corbusier would write thefive Unite de Camping units for the guests of the Le Butte in ‘30 minutes’, just as Cabanon had been
written in ‘45 minutes’ on 30 December 1951 (Modulor 2, pp. 252-255). The improvisation was
decisive because, from the beginning, the plan was to reduce some of Cabanon’s 366 dimensions
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and transform them as 355x226.
As each of the Unité de Camping units was a variant of the Cabanon as a prototype, thestructure was of course not a ‘honeycomb’ but a variant of the Cabanon in wooden construction ona floor supported by structural walls. It almost looked like a Murondins-type dwelling. The structuralform was similar to that of the Unité de Vacances, and the external façade was also similar to that of
the Unité de Vacances, but simpler (FLC18665, 1954.11.5).
The Unité de Camping was realized as a simplified version of the Unite de Vacances, changing
the site of the Unité de Vacances to the south of Rebutato’s restaurant. The chain of Le Corbusier’s
conception at Cap-Martin through Le Corbusier’s Cabanon and the barrack to the Unité de Camping,shows an increasingly smaller scale and simplification.
Le Corbusier was only involved in the actual construction process with very simple drawings
and plans. The decision on the details was also left to the client. This is not an abandonment ofplanning, but rather an attempt to determine the potential of the self-build as a prototype. In fact, Le
Corbusier seems to have thought that Rebutato could have built it by himself (AFLC, M2-9-603,
lettre de Le Corbusier à André Wogensky, 29.9.1954), and during the construction process, he waspositive even when significant changes to reduce construction costs (C3, pp.807-809, 1956.12.). The
Unité de Camping was to be built in such a way as to destroy as little as possible of the cliff
topography, according to Rebutato’s wishes (Figure 6). Le Corbusier then proposed to theconstruction company to register this building as a new ‘model’ (AFLC, M2-7-172, lettre de Le
Corbusier à Charles Barbris, 1957.8.23).

Figure 6: Reviewed Unité de Camping (C3, p. 503, 1955.4)
Furthermore, Le Corbusier wanted to give the Unité de Camping an exterior wall paint thatwould catch the Mediterranean light, befitting the Cap-Martin site (AFLC, M2-9-45, lettre de Le
Corbusier à Hary, 1956.5.11). It was the same idea as the exterior painting of his barrack hut,reversing the interior painting of his Cabanon (C4, p.594, [1960.8]), which was to be embedded in
the landscape. In this way, the series of Le Corbusier’s ideas in Cap-Martin were in fact connectedin colour, from E.1027, when he first stayed here, to the restaurant of Rebutato, his Cabanonand thebarrack and the unité de Camping (Figure 7).

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Ideal Community Based on the ‘Primitive Hut’Figure 7: Promenade around Cabanon (C2, p.836, 2.10.1952)
According to Le Corbusier, this Cap-Martin was one reduced city, a figure of ‘give them ageography, man and nature adopt useful spaces’ (C3, p.664, 1956.5.8). And Le Corbusier dreamed
to construct another residential units and create an ideal community until 1963 (two years before his
death). (AFLC, M2-6-401, 1963.6.19).
5. Conclusion (Figure 8) (Table 1)

Figure 8: Le Corbusier’s buildings in Cap-Martin (Benton, 10-11)
Table 1 Transformation in Cap-Martin: structure and interior decoration

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The ‘Cabanon’ was succeeded in research by the ‘unité de vacances’ and ‘unité de camping’,
in which the ‘honeycomb’ frame supporting the vaulted roof, which caught the Mediterranean sun,was transformed into a ‘wall’ with built-in ‘equipment’. Indeed, it was a ‘Dom-ino’ structure, anapplication of the traditional walled structure. Eventually, the initial conception reverted fromdwellings with industrialized erections to self-built primitive dwellings, such as the Murondin typeproposed in 1940.
Finally, Le Corbusier realized the Cabanon, the barrack and the Unité de camping, and thenintegrated the architectural complex of the land. His design act represent Le Corbusier’s fundamental
understanding of the dwelling of ‘nature and man’, and are the seeds or primordial forms of the city(or village) in unity with its natural environment. However, it is also true that Le Corbusier, at thesame time, sought a solitary space isolated from the ideal small world (Figure 9).

Figure 9: Cabanon and Mediterranean landscapes, consideration of ‘man and nature’ land (C3,p.664, 8.5.1956)
Underlying this series of Le Corbusier’s acts was the conception of the functional space forthe eating connected to the ‘Cabanon’ as a common place as well as an external space. Because Le
Corbusier’s living in the Cabanon, he could eat have his meals in the restaurant of the neighbouring
Rebutato. Only the functions of defecation, washing hands and sleeping were provided inside, andthe communal nature of the eating was similar to that of the Unité de Camping. Although this may
only be possible during limited periods in the warm south of France, the contrast between themutually beneficial ‘eating’ open to nature and the silence-dominated ‘sleeping’ is different fromthe communal urban life typical of Unite d’habitation’s roof garden.
This open-air eating space also shares with the archetype of the primordial space of acommunity surrounded by a ‘fire’ in The Book of Architecture by the ancient Roman architect
Vitruvius. However, the ‘fire’ in Le Corbusier’s dwellings is not a sheltered space. Only the space
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Ideal Community Based on the ‘Primitive Hut’of sleeping is sheltered, and it is a more primitive human act than the act of ‘building’ (Bauen) or
actively ‘dwelling’ (Wohnen), which Heidegger meditated on in the Totenauberg Villa andelsewhere.
Could this be the result of Le Corbusier’s vision of a space suited to the warm, calm natureof the Mediterranean? However, even in the Mediterranean there have been storms, and Le Corbusier
has allowed indigenous materials to be used, abandoning industrialized materials. Confronting theparticularities of the earth, Le Corbusier ultimately found a fundamental place in the ‘bedroom’ as a
resting place for the body. It was never a compromise for the sake of economic construction.
The ideal of communal life between individual and collective that the young Le Corbusier
found in the monastery of Emma in Italy was embodied in a single urban building, the United’habitation, while in Cap-Martin Le Corbusier sought to realise a space open to primitive life in the
open natural lands of the Mediterranean.
Legend
FLC: architectural drawing number by Le Corbusier Foundation
AFLC: document number by Le Corbusier Foundation
C: Le Corbusier Carnets
Bibliography
1. Le Corbusier, Le Corbusier Carnets 2 1950-1954 (Paris: Éditions Herscher / Dessain et Tolra,
1981)
2. Le Corbusier, Le Corbusier Carnets 3 1954-1957 (Paris: Éditions Herscher / Dessain et Tolra,
1981)
3. Le Corbusier, W. Boesiger éd., Œuvre complète 1938-1946 (Zürich: Girsberger, 1946)
4. Le Corbusier, Modulor 2 (Paris: Les Éditions de L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, 1955)
5. Le Corbusier, Le Corbusier Carnets 4 1957-1964 (Paris: Éditions Herscher / Dessain et Tolra,
1982)
6. Tim Benton, Le Corbusier Peintre à Cap-Martin (Paris: Éditions du Patrimoine, 2015)

Author Biography
Shoichiro Sendai
1968, Born in Kyoto. 1998, Doctor Course Graduate School, Division of Engineering, Kyoto
University. Doctor Eng. After working as associate professor at Hiroshima University, currently
professor at Shimane University (department of Architectural Design, Laboratory of Architectural
Theory). Major Publications: The Creation and “the Architectural landscape”: the religious
architecture of Le Corbusier (2004) (Encouragement Prize of Architectural Institute of Japan,
2000), Selection of Plans Le Corbusier – Museum (2016) (The Prize of Architectural Institute of141

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Japan (Research Theses Division), 2018), etc.. Main works for architectural aesthetics:
Architectural Creation in Modern Era, Spatial Sensibility, Public Heritage, etc.

142Session VII

Inheritance of DesignRepresentation of Nature in Design— Shinzo Komuro and Christopher Dresser
Yuko Takeuchi
Kyoto University of Advanced Science

Abstract
Shinzo Komuro (1870–1922) was the first educator to publish a design theory during the Meiji
period. His colleagues at Tokyo Technical School focused on the South Kensington method of design
education, while Komuro introduced the abstraction of botanical motifs as ‘Benka,’ translating from‘conventional treatment.’ This methodology suggests composing design patterns based on sketchesof natural objects. Although Komuro quotes Christopher Dresser’s design treatises from Principles
of Decorative Design (1873) in Ippan Zuanho (The General Design Method), published in 1909, few
studies have focused on Komuro’s adoption of Western design methodology, how Komuro imported
the word Benka, and the meanings of this term [1]. This paper outlines how the doctrines of theGovernment School of Design were accepted in Japan; it further discusses how Komuro adopted andmodified Dresser’s botanical representation. Consequently, the word Benka originated from its use
in the Government School of Design, which Komuro later adapted to construct a systematic designteaching in Japan.
Keywords: Design Education; Government School of Design; Tokyo Technical School; Design
Methodology

Introduction
Christopher Dresser (1834–1904) was among the early British industrial designers of the late 19th
century. After graduating from the Government School of Design (renamed the National Art Training
School in 1863, and now the Royal College of Art), he became a botanist engaged in design education
in South Kensington. His school followed a methodology of creating new ornamentation using
botanical motifs, called conventional treatment. This doctrine was promoted by the government
official Henry Cole (1808–82) and his circles [2].
However, noted English art critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) condemned the method of
abstracting ornaments. In his lecture ‘The Deteriorative Power of Conventional Art over Nations’(1858), delivered at the South Kensington Museum, where the Cole circle was based, Ruskin statedthat the Indian artefacts Cole et al. admired and collected ‘do not represent the facts of nature atall,’ and that the systematic teaching of the Government School of Design was off the mark [3].
Ruskin was an ardent critic of the school’s pedagogy. Although not noted in previous studies, Ruskin
and Dresser's art theories contain critical references to the other. For instance, in the chapter on‘Adaptation’ in The Art of Decorative Design (1862), Dresser considers Ruskin a representative ofthe ‘natural school’ and criticizes him by name [4]. He further argues that some of the principles of‘The Beauty of Leaves’ in Modern Painters, Volume 5 (1860), were inspired by Dresser. Thus, hisviews conflict with Ruskin’s representations of nature.
Similarly, Shinzo Komuro, who formerly taught at Tokyo Technical School's Department ofIndustrial Design, also quotes Ruskin in the introduction to Ippan Zuanho (The General Design
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Method, 1909) [5]. Komuro also quotes Dresser’s discourse in chapter 5 as well [6]. We thus posethe question: When and how did Komuro encounter British design theory?
1. The Tokyo Technical School and Shinzo Komuro
In 1897, while working as an elementary schoolteacher in Akita Prefecture, Shinzo Komuro enrolled
in the Industrial Design Department of the Industrial Teacher Training Institute attached to the Tokyo
Technical School (Tokyo Kogyo Gakko). The precursor of this school was the Tokyo Vocational
School, which was established in 1881, renamed Tokyo Technical School in 1890, and later became
Tokyo Higher Technical School in 1901[7]. In 1899, when the Industrial Design Department wasestablished as the school’s primary department, Eizo Hirayama (1855–1914), who had studied at the
Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, was appointed head of the department, and Umataro Ide (1870–
1910) was appointed deputy head of the department. Ide studied in England and worked as a textile
designer [8]. He was also a member of the first staff member of the Ministry of Agriculture andCommerce's overseas training program and was familiar with the latest trends in Western design. In
1906, Ide retired from the department and the school welcomed Hisashi Matsuoka (1862–1942)—a
Western-style painter who studied in Italy and devoted himself to improving Japanese designs. He
took over the position of the head of the department.
In 1914, however, the department was abolished by an ordinance of the Ministry of Education.
After 17 years, the institution was closed. Thereafter, the Department of Industrial Design of Tokyo
Higher Technical School was transferred to Tokyo School of Fine Arts (Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko). In
1921, the Tokyo Higher School of Industrial Design (Tokyo Koto Kogei Gakko) was newly
established by volunteers associated with the former school, and has since become the current
Faculty of Engineering at Chiba University.
At the time of Komuro's enrolment, the department sought to introduce Western educational
methods. This was because the Japanese designs exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exposition were
unpopular, and the need for design reform and education was discussed in industry circles. Ide’s
overseas experience and insights must have been useful for the school. In 1898, he completed anevening course at the School of Fine Arts in New Cross (now Goldsmiths College, University of
London). Since no record of his education here has survived, it is unclear what kind of specialized
education he received. However, Frederick Marriott’s (1860–1941) biography is instructive. Marriott
was a painter who served as the director of the school from 1891 to 1925 [9]. Importantly, he was apotter who had studied at the Coalbrookdale School of Art, a regional branch of the Government
School of Design, and the School of Design in London for three years as a national scholarshipstudent since 1879. In other words, he adopted the South Kensington method of education. It is
possible that Ide learned about design education from Marriott.
2. British Design Literatures Referenced by Komuro
Chiba University Library contains 1,292 books, part of a collection of literature at the former Tokyo
Higher School of Industrial Design. Among the registered foreign books, 130 were published in
Britain between 1851 and 1930. This was followed by 119 books published in Germany and 78 in
France. Notably, among these were design instruction books by teachers studying in Government
Schools of Design, such as Ralph Warnum, Owen Jones (1809–74) and Dresser, related to the Cole
Circle. Besides these are also books by Walter Crane, who also served as the principal of the Royal
College of Art, and Lewis Day, who was part of the Arts and Crafts movement. In addition, thecollection includes the fifth volume of Ruskin's Modern Painters, a treatise on the beauty of leaves.
Komuro's Ippan Zuanho lists 16 Western books as references at the beginning of the book. Of
particular note are the contemporary instructional books by Frank Jackson (1831–1904) and James
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Ward (1851–1924), who were teachers at provincial governmental schools of design. Jackson
became an apprentice teacher at the Birmingham School of Art in 1864 while he was still a student
there and finally served as an assistant principal from 1877 to 1898. In contrast, Ward studied at theGovernment School of Art in Belfast, became a national scholarship student in South Kensington
from 1873 to 1876, and worked with Sir Edward Poynter to assist in the decoration of museums. He
then became headmaster at the Macclesfield School of Art from 1888 to 1907, where he authoredmany teaching books and established a design curriculum. Dresser's earlier book, Principles ofDecorative Design, was mainly concerned with the theory and principles of design and did not deal
with the methodology of teaching students to draw decorative designs. Instead, Jackson and Ward's
books are characterized by illustrations and detailed explanations of how to draw designs (Figs. 1
and 2). This practice was taught in South Kensington during their school days, as evidence by theirillustrations, which exemplify the similarities with Dresser’s figures in his books.

Fig. 1 : Frank Jackson, Theory and Practice of Design (Chapman and Hall, 1894)
Fig. 2 : James Ward, Progressive Design for Students（Chapman and Hall, 1902）
Ownership stamps identifying when the collection was formed indicates that Jackson's
Lessons on Decorative Design (1891) was purchased in 1902 with an inscription on the title page ofthe book. This means that the book was owned by Tokyo Higher Technical School. Jackson’s second
book, Theory and Practice of Design (1894), was published in 1896. Notably, Dresser's Principles
of Decorative Design was purchased in 1896, suggesting that it was collected to establish anindustrial design course at the Industrial Teachers’ Training Institute. Ward's Progressive Design forStudents (1902) was purchased in March 1901 and acquired at the same time as its publication in
England. Chiba University Library did not have original book catalogues from that time. However,library stamps indicate that instructional books of government design schools were collected earlyfor design instruction.
3. What is Benka?
The basis of British design instructional books is conventionalization. Teachers at Tokyo Technical
School referred to this as a model for instruction. Richard Redgrave (1804–88), a Superintendent of
Art in charge of the curriculum at the Government School of Design, published A Century of English
School Painters as far back as 1866. In this book, he states that his methodology, based on the lawsof plant growth, was ‘entirely new’ that none of the continental decorative artists had done before.
The plants were geometrically composed and flattened. His collection of lectures and writings in
Manual of Design (1876) was accompanied by two types of illustrations in which a realistically146

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sketched plant was transformed into its decorative use. On the 22nd stage of the school's nationalcourse of instruction, called ‘Basic Design,’ students were trained to take plants as motifs andcompose them into geometric spaces, and in the 23rd and final stage, ‘Applied Design,’ students
were required to create new decorations from nature to demonstrate their creativity.
In 1842, William Dyce (1806–64) defined the outline of a plant structure as a ‘conventional
form’ in the Drawing Book of the Government School of Design. In this case, geometry forms thebasis of a decorative design. Later, Jones, who worked with Redgrave to develop the principles ofdesign, explicitly stated this in Proposition 8 of Grammar of Ornament (1856), which was used at
the school, and in Propositon 13, he specifies that ‘flowers and natural objects should be conventional
representations.’ Dresser, who learned from these works, applied an even more rigorous scientificanalysis of plants to decorative art. Visual aids of Dresser's botanical art (1854–56) survive inVictoria and Albert museums. In Principles of Decorative Design, Dresser clearly states that ‘ifplants are employed as ornaments, they must not be treated imitatively, but must be conventionallytreated or rendered into ornaments’ [10]. Further, Jackson's Theory and Practice of Design include
many illustrations that mirror the visual aids of Dresser's lectures. Ward's Progressive Design forStudents also contains Dresser-style designs with abstracted plants.
In 1899, Seiichi Tejima, the principal of the Tokyo Technical School, translated Dresser's
Principles of Decorative Design in the Journal of the Ceramic Society of Japan (Dainippon Yogyo
Kyokai Zasshi) under the title ‘Design Principles’ (Kusi Zuan Gensoku) [11]. His publication aimed
to help manufacturers produce novel designs. Moreover, Ide wrote an essay in 1903 titled ‘What is
Zuan,’ explaining the meanings of the words and types of designs suggested by himself [12].
According to him, ‘zuan’ is ‘rough sketch of a work of art or craft’ and ‘an artificial and systematic
drawing that is carefully considered in terms of shape, color scheme, level of pattern making,people’s taste, and suitability or inappropriateness for intended use’. The four types of decorative
pattern are as follows: (1) geometrical (kikagakuteki soshikizu), (2) ornamental (karakusamoyouteki
sohikizu), (3) conventional (tsuzokuteki kondouteki soshikizu) such as ‘a peony flower emerging
from a chrysanthemum branch and leaf’ and (4) natural (shaseiteki soshikizu). The thirdterm—’conventional’ —refers to the vocabulary used in the Government School of Design. Notably,
Ide translates ‘conventional’ as ‘general and mixed systematic pattern,’ offering a different
interpretation than what Komuro would later propose. As we will see next, Komuro's publication of
Ippan Zuanho was largely due to the activities of the journal Zuan by Dai Nihon Zuan Kyokai, which
was formed in 1901 by teachers and alumni associated with Tokyo Higher Technical School.
4. From Odamaki to Ippan Zuanho
From 1903, Komuro publicized serial articles ‘Tsuuzoku Zuanho’ (Common Design Methods) in
Zuan. In 1907, he exhibited ‘Zuan Kyojun Ippan’ (Design Methodology) as a panel poster at theTokyo Industrial Exhibition, and then published Odamaki (Colombine) from Unsodo in Kyoto. Thiswas followed by ‘Zuan ho Kogi’ (Lectures on Design Method) in the same year, and a compilationof these lectures, the first design theoretical book, Ippan Zusanho, was published in 1909.
Uniquely, Odamaki visually demonstrated the procedure for creating a design from a sketchof plants, how to compose a plane decoration, the geometrical composition, and how to apply thedecoration to a vessel (Fig. 3).

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Fig. 3 : Dai Nihon Zuan Kyokai (eds.), Odamaki,(Sosho Kindai Nihon no Dezain, vol.7, Yumani shobo [Unsodo, 1907])
The teaching methods in Odamaki were clear to any teacher; but the question remains: Whatinspired Komuro’s Odamaki and ‘Zuan Kyojun Ippan’? The most likely source is Ward's Floral
Studies for Decorative Design: For the Use of Students and Designers (1902). This is a large-format
botanical illustration of 12 native flowers (Fig. 4). This is a visual teaching aid in which a large
sketch of flowers is used to analyze the structure of the plant to make it suitable for decoration.
Therefore, each part is flattened and redrawn. This method was based on Dresser's Principles ofDecorative Design. Given its size (65 cm in height), Ward probably intended to hang it in theclassroom or on a blackboard for the students to copy. The same book was purchased from Tokyo
Higher Technical School in October 1905. Komuro might have consulted it around 1905 anddeveloped it into a panel poster and Ippan Zuanho from 1907 to 1909 (Fig. 5). Remarkably, only
three institutions in the world have registered to hold this book: Victoria and Albert Museum, Chiba
University, and Kyoto Institute of Technology (the successor of Kyoto Higher School of Industrial
Design). This means that government higher schools in Tokyo and Kyoto may have referred to
British teaching methodology. Moreover, Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts (thepredecessor of Kyoto City University of Arts) also taught as design practices Benka throughJackson's Theory and Practice of Design (Fig. 6).

Fig. 4: James Ward, Floral Studies for Decorative Design (Chapman & Hall, 1902）
Fig. 5: Komuro, Ippan Zuanho, (Maruzen, 1907)
Fig. 6: Anon. ‘Benka zuan’ the Meiji era, University Art Museum, Kyoto City University ofArts [Zuan kara Dezain he, Tankosha, 2016] *See, Fig. 1.
In chapter 5 ‘Conventional Treatment’ (Benkaho) of Ippan Zuanho, Komuro cites and directly
quotes Dresser: ‘Painting is imitation, but design is thought.’ More importantly, Komuro divided
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decorative patterns into two types with his own translation: (A) ‘Realistic Treatment’ (Shajitsu teki寫実的 Benkaho) and (B) ‘Idealistic Treatment’ (Shasoteki 寫想的 Benkaho), stating that ‘aftergaining the skills of sketching, you shall abstract accurate depictions, and concentrate on abstract
drawing through the study of plants’ qualities, structures, colors, and then, you should draw theuniversality of natural objects. In this way, you gradually become proficient in idealistic treatment[13].’ This finding echoes Dresser's argument that all plants manifest the principle of growth in theirstructures [14] (Fig. 7). However, Komuro mentions the curves of plants and flower forms that are‘subtly conventionalized in Japanese painting, which is highly regarded around the world, andintroduces a conventionalized design based on the traditional Japanese painting method,’ such as line
drawings with black ink (Hakubyo-ho) and drawings without an outline (Mokkotsu-ho) (see Fig. 8)[15].

Fig. 7: ‘Conventional Treatment’ in Principles of Decorative Design
Fig. 8: Forms of Benka in Ippan Zuanho
Conclusion
In Japan, the lack of training and teaching methods for design teachers was an issue in the 1890s.
Soon after, the stimulus of Art Nouveau at the 1900 Paris Exposition provided momentum for thereflection and reform of Japanese design. Among the professors at the Tokyo Technical School,
Seiichi Tejima introduced Dresser's theory on ceramics in 1899, and Umataro Ide submitted his
interpretation of the design to Zuan in 1903. In the same year, Shinzo Komuro presented the resultsof his study of British design theory in a journal. After the panel presentations and publication by
Odamaki, he perfected his design methodology in Ippan Zuanho in 1909.
Komuro’s methodology relied on that of Dresser’s. The instruction and curricula in the
Government School of Design were developed into Benka by Jackson and Ward via Dresser's theory
as well. The core of the teaching method was the abstraction of plants; Jackson and Ward articulated
their methods using plant illustrations, while Komuro acknowledged the importance of design toshow the author's thoughts, plant structure, and its laws of growth through visual aid and discarded
realistic representation. Significantly, his practices were not limited to the influence of the West but
uniquely adopted the use of the brush in Japanese traditional painting methods.
*This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Number 23H00582).

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Notes
1. Koji Ogata, “Meiji to Dezain: Komuro Shizo 1 [Design in the Meiji era: Komuro Shinzo 1]”,
Journal of the Japan Society of Design 19 (1980):2–25. Ogata, “Tokyo Koto Kogyo Gakko
Kogyo Zuan ka no Dezain Keimo Katsudo [Design Practices of the Industrial Design
Department of the Tokyo Higher Technical School]” in Sosho Kindai Nihon no Dezain 7,(Tokyo: Yumani shobo, 2007), Commentary on the book.
2. Yuko Takeuchi, “Dezain to Sobyo [Design / Drawing: The Conceptual Formation on ‘Design’in the Government School of Design]”, Bigaku 71, no.1 (2020), The Japanese Society for
Aesthetics,13–24.
3. John Rukin, The Two Paths: Being Lectures on Art and Its Application to Decoration and
Manufacture Delivered in 1858–9 (London: Smith, Elder and co., 1859), Lecture 1. Rukin,
Fors Clavigera vol. 7, (letter 79, July 1877) in Edward Tyas Cook and Alexander Wedderburn(eds), The Works of John Ruskin, XXIX, (London: George Allen/ New York: Longman, Green,
and Co, 1903–12), 154. Anthony Burton, “Ruskin and South Kensington: contrasting
approaches to art education”, Journal of Art Historiography 22, (2020): 1–14.
4. Christopher Dresser, The Art of Decorative Design (London: Day and Son, 1862), p.147
5. Shinzo Komuro, Ippan Zuanho [The General Design Method] (Tokyo: Maruzen, 1907), 4.
6. Ibid., 160.
7. The Law for National Subsidies for Industrial Education was enacted in 1894.
8. Koji Ogata, “Meiji ki no Dezain Kyoiku: Tokyo Koto Kogyo Gakko Kogyo Zuan ka no Baai
[Design Education in the Meiji era: the Tokyo Higher Technical School]”, Journal of the Japan
Society of Design 26 (1987): 22–23.
9. Tim Crook, “Frederick Marriott – the first headmaster of Goldsmiths’ Art School from 1891 to
1925”, Goldsmiths, University of London, https://sites.gold.ac.uk/goldsmithshistory/frederickmarriott-the-first-headmaster-of-goldsmiths-art-school-from-1891-to-1925/ (accessed Nov2023).
10. Dresser, Principles of Decorative Design (London: Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.:1873), 25.
11. Seiichi Tejima, “Kushi Zuan Gensoku” [Design Principles], Dainippon Yogyo Kyokai Zasshi[Journal of the Ceramic Society of Japan] 7, no. 82 (1899): 327–333.
12. Umataro Ide, ‘Zuan to ha ikanarumono dearuka’ [What is Design], Dai Nihon Zuan Kyokai(eds.) Zuan 12 (1903): 5–10.
13. Komuro, Ippan Zuanho, 229–230.
14. Dresser, Principles of Decorative Design, 24–25, 92–98.
15. Komuro, Ippan Zuanho, 229–230. Yuko Takeuchi, “Christopher Dresser and Art Botany : A
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Comparison between His Design Ideals and Plant Morphology of Goethe”, Journal of theJapan Society of Design 52, (2008): 79–92.

Author Biography
Yuko Takeuchi is an associate professor at Kyoto University of Advanced Science. She received
her Ph.D. in Literature from Osaka University Graduate School of Literature in 2009. She
specializes in art and design in Victorian Britain and is interested in comparative art studies, thehistory of design education, and design theory. Her major papers include ‘A Preliminary Study on
Christopher Dresser's Japonisme: Japanese Books Formerly Belonging to Dresser’ (Journal of theJapan Society of Design, No. 77, 2021).

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A Study of Daoist Immortal Mao Nü: Ming Dynasty
Zhangzhou Ware Dish in the Collection of theMuseum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
Mao Jiaqi
Kyoto Women’s University

Abstract
The Daoist immortal is one of the most popular and auspicious iconographies in Asian Art. One such
figure is depicted on a Zhangzhou, or Swatow, ware from the Ming dynasty housed in the collectionof the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka. A barefoot figure holding a cane and carrying a basket
with an open parasol accompanied by a deer is depicted in the center of the dish. This essay testifies
that the figure on the dish is the legendary Daoist Immortal Mao Nü, who served in the palace of theemperor Qin Shi Huang in the third century BC. After the fall of the dynasty, Mao Nü is said to havetaken refuge in the mountains and sustained herself on pine needles, attaining not only immunity tocold and hunger but also an ethereal lightness of body.
Images of Mao Nü abounded in Chinese art throughout the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), before
suddenly dropping off in the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). This research argues that the main reason
for this change is closely linked to the practice of foot binding. During the Qing dynasty, paintingsof female feet were newly deemed inappropriate. Since bare feet were an essential feature by which
Mao Nü was recognized, her image suddenly became controversial in the world of Chinese art andfaded out.
Keywords: Daoist Immortal; Swatow ware; Female hermit; Mao Nü; Foot binding

1. Introduction
The subject of various iconography studies, the name of the legendary Chinese female immortal Mao
Nü (or Mao Nu) has been translated in English as the ‘Hairy Woman’ (British Museum) or the‘Feathered Woman’ (Philadelphia Museum of Art). This paper focuses on a representative exampleof Mao Nü found on a Ming dynasty dish in the collection of the Museum of Oriental Ceramics,
Osaka (Fig. 1). In the center of this dish, a deer and a barefoot figure carrying a basket and holding
a cane and parasol are depicted. Wares with similar designs can be found in Shanghai Museum’s
collection and at international auctions. This figure has become almost unrecognizable, however,and has often been misidentified with other Daoist immortals, such as Han Xiangzi (1), Lan Caihe(2), and Magu (3). Traditionally, the figures known as the Eight Immortals are depicted together as
a complete set. In Daoist mythology, Han Xiangzi and Lan Caihe are male members of the Eight
Immortals who possess magical vessels that channel power—in Han’s case a flute, in Lan’s case abasket of flowers. Viewers are highly unlikely to find Han or Lan depicted individually or without
their vessels, making them easily identifiable. Magu, on the other hand, is a female immortal withstaggeringly long nails and a flowing gown who represents longevity. Magu’s popularity grew
during the Qing dynasty. Clearly, none of these descriptions match the iconography on the Ming
dynasty dish. By shedding light on the core elements of her iconography and proposing a reason for152

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her gradual disappearance from Chinese art in the Qing dynasty, this paper suggests that the figure
depicted is the immortal Mao Nü.

Figure 1: Porcelain dish with an overglaze enamel design featuring a Daoist immortal and deer.
The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka (Gift of Mr. YABASHI Shigeo)
Photograph by MUDA Tomohiro
2. Biography of Mao Nü
According to the Liexian Zhuan (Biographies of Immortals) (4), Mao Nü, born Mao Yujiang, was
one of the ladies serving in the palace of the emperor Qin Shi Huang in the third century BC. Afterthe fall of the dynasty, she took refuge in the mountains. By eating only pine needles while in themountains, she attained to an ethereal lightness of body and became immune to both cold and hunger.
In the Daoist text Baopuzi Neipian (5), Ge Hong (283-343) wrote an account that claimed Mao
Nü was captured in the wild by huntsmen during the Han dynasty. She was taken to their home andfed grain, a common food at the time. At first, she could not bear the smell of their food at all, but
gradually began consuming it. After two years, her hair had fallen out and she eventually died as an
ordinary mortal. Ge commented that if she had not been found by people, she would have persisted
in the mountains as an immortal.
Mao Nü’s existence was also recorded in the Tai Ping Guang Ji (6) that was written during
the Song dynasty (960-1279). It said that at the beginning of the Dazhong period (847-860) of theTang dynasty, two old men known as Tao Taibai and Yin Zixu often traveled together to theSongshan and Huashan Mountains. Tao and Yin met Mao Nü and a man called Gu Zhang Fu who
had served in the former emperor Qin Shi Huang’s palace. After the fall of the Qin dynasty, both
Mao Nü and Gu Zhang Fu unwittingly achieved immortality by living off pine needles and oak
acorns. In turn, the two immortals gifted Tao and Yin the same harvested plants that had sustained
them as parting gifts. It is said that Tao and Yin became immortals as well and have since lived on
the peak of Lianhua Mountain.
In addition to these accounts of her immortality, poems and stories have described Mao Nü as
a beautiful lady associated with collecting herbs, hermitage and longevity. In China’s Shanxi
Province, places like Mao Nu Mountain and Mao Nu Cave have been dedicated to her. Paradoxically,
while her legacy is evidently well-preserved through the use of her name, most people have never

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seen depictions of Mao Nü and she is therefore often ignored or misidentified by specialists.
3. Iconography of Mao Nü
Despite Mao Nü’s popularity in Chinese literature, few artifacts explicitly identify “Mao Nü” in theirtitle. One of these rare works is a hanging scroll painting from the Song dynasty in Taipei’s National
Palace Museum (Fig. 2). The scroll’s cover is inscribed with the title “Li Gonglin Mao Nü painting”(Fig. 3), suggesting that both females painted on the scroll are Mao Nü. One is carrying herbs in abasket, holding a large leaf overhead as a parasol. The other is riding on a deer, bearing a weapon.
Both have long hair and wear clothes made from leaves and feathers, which are especially indicativeof Mao Nü.

Figures 2 and 3: Mao Nü hanging scroll
painting, Song dynasty.
National Palace Museum, Taipei

Figure 4: Female Immortals, 14th
century painting.
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Previous research by Asian scholars including Xie Yuzhen (7), Hsu Wen-Mei (8), and Yang
Zhishui has also contributed to identifying works depicting Mao Nü. Some ‘female immortals’ havebeen identified as Mao Nü for their hair-covered bodies, unembellished clothing, herb foraging, andpossession of sacred animals as companions (Fig. 4). Yang’s (2016) paper published in Yamato
Bunka (9) suggested that Mao Nü’s most recognizable features were the bamboo basket, reishi (orlingzhi) mushrooms (which were thought to bestow longevity if ingested), leaves covering the body
like clothing, and bare feet.
Yang’s analysis, although detailed, also contradicts her primary source, Shan Hu Wang. A
collection of praises and criticisms of various calligraphy works and paintings, authored by Wang
Keyu (1587-?), a Ming dynasty literary figure and book collector. Wang’s Shan Hu Wang is widely
recognized by art historians and cited in earlier Mao Nü iconography studies as Wang claimed tohave glimpsed paintings of Mao Nü from the Tang (618-907), Song (960-1279), and Yuan (12711368) dynasties. Tang dynasty paintings of Mao Nü, for instance, are said to depict twin immortals,
one has rounded feet and wears grass sandals, while the other Mao Nü wears gaiters and shoes madeof bristle-like awns (10). In contrast, Mao Nü paintings of Song dynasty depicted the immortal asfour entities in distinct styles. All figures were full-bodied and beautifully adorned with feathers,
brocades, sage grasses and leaves, with some wearing open-toe footwear (11).
Wang allegedly possessed a collection of paintings from the Yuan dynasty in which female
immortals were lined up in several rows. All of the female immortals are wearing attire characteristicof Mao Nü. Viewers of the paintings were understandably shocked to see so many depictions of Mao
Nü since there was only one in the original myth. Wang refrained from responding to comments on
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A Study of Daoist Immortal Mao Nüthis anomaly, instead composing several paragraphs about the classification of Mao Nü icons into
six categories with varying degrees of immortality in the Mao Nü Nü Pu (Pedigree of Mao Nü).
Legend held that Mao Nü had gradually transformed from mortal to immortal, and each of her states
throughout the evolution was considered beautiful and radiant (12).
Most importantly, according to Wang’s record, Mao Nü could be veritably identified by thefollowing characteristics:
1. Visible feet or toes.
2. Clothes made from natural materials (leaves, feathers and leather).
3. The carrying of a bamboo basket filled with flowers and herbs, sometimes with an open
parasol overhead, or other items such as farming tools (shovels, sickles), auspicious items(books, precious stones, reishi mushrooms), or other tools (musical instruments, fans,handscrolls).
4. Sacred animals nearby (cranes, deer, monkeys, phoenixes).
5. Multiple Mao Nü figures in a group, on occasion.
Wang reserved special praise for the immortal’s beautiful feet and toes in grass sandals andshoes made of natural materials. This point complicates the image of a classically barefoot Mao Nü
presented by Yang (2016). Within Wang’s classification scheme, the different types of Mao Nü
present in group illustrations naturally take on various forms, thus not every depiction embodies thefull range of features and activities traditionally associated with her.
Based on the features outlined in Shan Hu Wang, more depictions of Mao Nü were discoveredin other artworks. Below is a typical example, an embroidered work at the National Palace Museumin Taipei named “The Gods of Happiness, Longevity, and Prosperity” that features five depictionsof Mao Nü (Fig. 5).

Figure 5: The Gods of Happiness, Longevity, and Prosperity (Partial)
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (c. 907-960)
National Palace Museum, Taipei
4. Qing Dynasty Foot Binding and the Disappearance of Mao Nü
Stories and legends of Mao Nü have been written since the Han dynasty (BC 23-220) while poems
and artistic lemmas called ‘gasan’ have praised her beauty and mythical seclusion throughout theTang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Images of Mao Nü could be found in paintings,
jewelry, porcelain and lacquer wares until the end of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), with the Qing
dynasty (1644-1912) heralding the immortal’s decline in popularity. This research suggests that oneof the reasons for this change lies in the depiction of female feet and the custom of foot binding thatgrew popular thereafter.
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Foot binding was a Chinese custom widely practiced between the 10th century and the 19th
century involving breaking down and tightly binding the feet of young girls in order to change theshape and size of their feet. Feet altered by foot binding were known as lotus feet, and the shoes
made for these feet were known as lotus shoes. In Chinese history, women with tiny feet wereconsidered both beautiful and desirable, and foot binding had therefore become fashionable. In thisperiod, feet were newly regarded as the most intimate part of a woman. Artistic representations of awoman’s feet, even with shoes or socks on, were considered risqué and inappropriate. Reflecting
this cultural change, Mao Nü's feet were often hidden in later images of her, despite having been oneof her defining features.
Records from the Song and Yuan dynasties like Mo Zhuang Man Lu by Zhang Bangji, Jiao
Qi Ji by Che Ruoshui (c. 1209-1275), Lao Xue An Bi Lu by Lu You (1125-1210), and Nan Cun Chuo
Geng Lu by Tao Zongyi (1329-1410) suggest that it is unclear when the practice of foot binding firstbegan, but it seemed to be in fashion during the Song dynasty. The eroticization of women withsmall feet by men during this period has been noted in studies such as Zhong Hua Fu Nu Chan Zu
Kao (A study on the foot binding of Chinese women) (1926) by Jia Yi Jun (1906-?) (13), Cai Fei Lu(1936) by Yao Lingxi (c. 1899-1963) (14), and Chan Zu Shi (History of foot binding) (1995) by Gao
Hong Xing (15). Women with tiny feet were considered to be highly skilled at providing sensualpleasure, which was also viewed as an important quality for a wife to possess. As such, the custom
of foot binding reached its peak during the Qing dynasty.
Another less conspicuous reason for the boundless adoption of foot binding during this period
was steeped in politics. The nomadic Manchu of northern China ruled during the Qing dynasty, yet
the majority of China’s population was ethnically Han. The Manchu had different clothes andcustoms from the Han that conflicted with the latter’s traditional long gowns with wide sleeves andtheir practice of keeping their hair long. At the beginning of the Qing dynasty, many Han men
resisted the adoption of the Manchu queue, a hairstyle that involved shaving the hair off the front of
their heads. The hairstyle was compulsory for all males (except for monks) and the penalty for noncompliance was execution for treason. As a result, Han men reluctantly shaved their hair andexpressed their submission by matching their appearance to that of the Manchu.
Foot binding, in this context, was considered an important tradition for Han women to continue,
even if it was a harmful one. Since Manchu women did not bind their feet, they could never wear
the tiny lotus shoes that signified Han beauty. Recognizing the symbolic value in doing so, Han
women continued to bind their feet in secret in order to separate themselves from Manchu womenand resist Manchu rule. It was quietly regarded that “men surrendered but women did not.”
Although this truth was prevented from being leaked publicly throughout China, it was known
and recorded by scholars aboard. Joseon dynasty scholar Bak Jiwon (1737-1805), for example, wrote
The Jehol Diary in classical Chinese. Bak made an extensive tour of what was then the northernChinese territory of the Qing Empire in 1780. A partial English translation of the record was
published in 2010 (16). During the journey, Bak communicated with Chinese scholars by writing
Chinese characters. Crucially, it was recorded that Manchu women did not bind their feet. In a
discussion about foot binding between Bak and a Chinese scholar named Hu Ting, it was learned
that the preservation of the foot binding custom among Han women was interpreted as confirmationof the women’s strength, and Bak wrote that, “Han women feel ashamed to be confused with Tartary(Manchu) women.” In their conversation, Hu Ting insisted that, “we won’t change this [custom]even if we die,” and also mentioned that, “Tartar women mock foot binding, call Han women lewd.”
Embedded within this observation was the tacit acknowledgement that the Manchus were aware thattiny feet were sexually fetishized by men.
In the Qing Shi Lu (Factual Record of Qing Dynasty), the official record of the Qing
government, the Jiaqing Emperor (1760-1820) received a report that 19 Han girls were binding theirfeet (17). These girls were preparing for their anticipated selection as brides or concubines by the156

A Study of Daoist Immortal Mao Nü

Manchu royal family. The emperor was furious that Han girls were binding their feet and announced
thereafter that all Han people must obey the Manchu laws. Thus, girls with bound feet were no longer
qualified to become members of the royal family, and the older male family members of those girls
would be punished according to the law. The Jiaqing Emperor also mentioned that it was easier toregulate men’s attire (including hats and shoes) than women’s since women rarely left their homes.
Despite the emperor’s acrimony towards foot binding, the custom persisted. Records from the Qing
Shi Lu also mentioned that both the Daoguang Emperor (1782-1850) and the Guangxu Emperor(1871-1908) who followed found it difficult to enforce the ruling against foot binding, and reiterated
that everyone should obey the Manchu laws.
According to early studies on foot binding, bound feet were deemed intensely provocative,and erotic manuals from the Qing dynasty listed 48 different ways to play with women’s bound feet.
For a woman to show her feet, or to allow a man to touch her feet or shoes, was considered a prelude
to sex. Such situations were only hinted at in the erotic art of the Qing period, with bound feet neverfully exposed in the same images as genitalia. Such examples can be found in Liao Zhai Quan Tu(Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio with Full Illustration) (Fig. 6).

Figure 6: Liao Zhai Quan Tu, around the Guangxu period (1875-1908), Qing dynasty
Pictures from Book 33 (p.26), Book 23 (p.10), Book 47 (p.15), Austrian National Library
In this context, the custom of foot binding essentially reached its peak during the Qing dynasty
and spread across China among Han girls and women. Originally a body modification designed toplease men, the practice had become a symbol of patriotism and loyalty to Han traditions. Tiny feetwere the prerequisite of feminine beauty and a bare female foot could not be depicted, even in
pornography. This explains why images of Mao Nü lost popularity during this specific period.
Nonetheless, one illustration of Mao Nü from the Qing dynasty is known, titled Lie Xian Jiu
Pai (Drinking Cards with Illustrations of Daoist Immortals) (Fig. 8). In the image she is covered byleaves, showing no trace of her feet. The defining features of Mao Nü were thus not fully captured,as they had been in previous images of the immortal (Fig. 7).
The prohibition against depicting women’s feet in China was also observed by Maezaki(2013), who reported on the designs of Japanese ceramics produced for the Qing Empire during the
Meiji period (1868-1912) and noted that, “Images of women showing their bare feet signify shunga(pornography), [and] should be avoided” (18). Mao Nü, who did not bind her feet, contradicted the“tiny feet aesthetic” of the time and, as a result, Chinese artists who wanted to preserve her
iconography had no choice but to conceal hide her legs.
This body of research found that Mao Nü was also depicted in Japanese paintings and ceramics
from the Edo period (1603-1868) to the Meiji period. In the British Museum’s collection, The
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Immortal Mao Nu (Mojo), attributed to Eitoku Kano, is a rare work that quotes the Ressen Zen Den(Biographies of Immortals) in its commentary and identifies the depicted figure as Mao Nü. The
collection includes porcelain decorated with the immortal created by the first-generation Kyoto
potter Miyagawa Kosai (1819-1865) who made Makuzu-yaki from the end of the Edo period. Blueand-white Kaseyama-yaki with Mao Nü illustrations, likely copied from imported Zhangzhou ware,
are included (19). The presence of these depictions in Japan, where foot binding was not practiced
and women’s feet were not seen as a symbol of lust, shows how the image of Mao Nü was readily
adopted into artwork.

Figure 7: Mao Nü,
You Xiang Lie Xian Quan Zhuan, p.62
Wanli Period (1573-1620), Ming dynasty

Figure 8: Mao Yujiang,
Lie Xian Jiu Pai, p.6
Guangxu Bingxu (1866), Qing dynasty

5. Conclusion
It is highly likely that the hermit depicted on the Ming dynasty Zhangzhou ware dish in the Museumof Oriental Ceramics, Osaka is Mao Nü. Feet were considered the most intimate part of a woman
during the Qing dynasty when foot binding reached the height of its popularity. Depictions of Mao
Nü became less and less visible after that, and her iconic legs and feet were also hidden. Gradually,
she disappeared from Chinese art and became harder to identify thereafter. Earlier works featuring
images of Mao Nü were imported to Japan, however, and copies made by Japanese artists preserved
the immortal’s iconography in its original style. Since there was no foot binding custom nor
prohibition against depicting women’s feet on the island country, Mao Nü’s image survived in Japan.
In conclusion, the characteristic features of Mao Nü can be summarized in the following six
points: 1) Her lower legs are visible (gaiters are sometimes worn), 2) Her feet or toes are visible(sometimes in sandal-like shoes), 3) Her clothes are made of feathers or leaves (natural materials),4) She carries large flowers as parasols, bamboo baskets, farming tools (or arms), and auspicious
possessions (reishi mushrooms, pine needles, gourds, peaches, etc.), 5) Sacred animals are hercompanions, and 6) She is sometimes depicted as multiple forms in a group. Authentic depictions of
the immortal do not necessarily need to fulfill all six conditions, yet the visibility of her legs, feet,or toes are a strong prerequisite. These essential features are what ultimately separate Mao Nü fromother similar immortal figures.
Until recently, Mao Nü was almost forgotten in the sands of time. She was sometimes
mistaken for a man because she walked through the forest wearing huntsman-style clothes with158

A Study of Daoist Immortal Mao Nüvisible legs, feet or toes. The force that led to her decline was the rise of foot binding, which sustained
itself under added political pressure. In the Qing dynasty, bound feet remained the standard offeminine beauty among the Han Chinese and evolved into a symbol of resistance to their Manchurian
rulers. The iconology of Mao Nü, whose characteristic feature was her bare legs and feet, declined
when it no longer suited the social milieu. In Japan, on the other hand, where there is no cultural
injunction against female feet, artists continued to depict Mao Nü. This fact strengthens the theory
that Mao Nü’s disappearance from Chinese art was associated with the rise of foot binding and the
Qing social prohibition against showing bare female feet.
Notes
1. The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, The Beauty of Asian Ceramics -from thecollection of The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka (Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha,
Ltd., 2014), 251.
2. “A similar dish is included by Jorge Welsh in Zhangzhou Export Ceramics, The So-called
Swatow Wares, 2006, no. 26, pp. 124-127, where he notes the figure depicted may
represent the Daoist immortal Lan Cai-he or Han Xiang-zi.” MARCHANT EST 1925,
Exhibition of Chinese Ceramics Tang to Qing, 2014, 42.
3. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2015/sakamoto-n09336/lot.41.html（2023-06-03）
4. Liu Xiang (77-8 BC), Liexian Zhuan, sometimes translated as Biographies of Immortals,
is assumed to be the oldest extant Chinese hagiography of Daoist Immortals.
5. Ge Hong (283-343), Baopuzi, Neipian (Inner Chapters), discuss topics such as techniques
to achieve immortality.
6. Taiping Guangji, translated as the Extensive Records of the Taiping Era, or Extensive
Records of the Taiping Xinguo Period, is a collection of stories compiled in the earlySong dynasty.
7. Xie Yuzhen, Ming Chu Guan Fang Yong Qi De Ren Wu Wen, Master's Thesis, Departmentof History, Soochow University, 2007.
8. Hsu Wen-Mei, Bi Qin Gong Ren Cheng Nü Xian-Yuan Cang Er Fu “Mao Nü Tu” Hua Yi
Tan Tao. The National Palace Museum monthly of Chinese art No.321 (2009), 78-87.
9. Yang Zhishui, Yamamoto Takako, Taki Asako, Mojo Koji Zukou, Yamato Bunka No.129(2016), 4.
10. Wang Keyu, Shan Hu Wang, Siku Quanshu (Complete Library of the Four Treasuries),
Juan 25, (Taiwan: The Commercial Press, Ltd., 1983-1986), 514-515.
11. Wang Keyu, Shan Hu Wang, Siku Quanshu, Juan 31, 594.
12. Wang Keyu, Shan Hu Wang, Siku Quanshu, Juan 36, 683.

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13. Jia Yi Jun, Zhong Hua Fu Nu Chan Zu Kao (A study on foot binding of Chinese women)(Beijing: Beiping Wen Hua Xue She, 1926).
14. Yao Lingxi, Cai Fei Lu (Tianjin Shu Ju, 1936).
15. Gao Hong Xing, Chan Zu Shi (History of foot binding) (Shanghai Literature and Art
Publishing House, 1995).
16. Pak Chi-wŏn (translated by Yang Hi Choe-Wall), Jehol Diary (Global Oriental, 2010).
17. Qing Shi Lu of Jiaqing Period, Juan 126.
18. Maezaki Shinya, “Japanese Export Ceramics for the Chinese Market in the Meiji Era(1868‒1912)‒II‒,” Journal of the Japan Society of Design 62 (2013), 69-82.
19. Blue and White Ceramics of China and Japan－Kaseyama-yaki of Kyoto, (Nara: Yamato
Bunkakan, 2021), 29-30.

Author Biography
Mao Jiaqi
Mao Jiaqi is a PhD candidate at Kyoto Women’s University with a focus on the iconography ofChinese and Japanese ceramics. She had worked in the Exhibition Department at Guanfu Museum
and at the Xiaoguan Auction in Beijing, China. Mao’s core research centers on the narratives anddesigns of figures in Chinese and Japanese art around the 17th century.

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Session VIII

Design for Futures

Minimalism as Potential for Speculative Design toEnvision Unlimited Futures
Christof Breidenich
Macromedia University of Applied Sciences

Abstract
Minimalism is an aesthetic principle that can be found in all cultures. The meaning and purpose ofminimalism are culturally diverse and conceptually very heterogeneous. Minimalism in the visualarts in East and West represents different aesthetic positions and mixes and fertilises each other (Zen,
Ukyo-e, Impressionism, Functionalism, Modernism, Avant-garde, Postmodernism). There are
currently at least two other meanings:• Minimalism in the visual arts
• Minimalism in design• Minimalism as a lifestyle.
This paper attempts to consider minimalism in its various meanings and intentions as atheoretical and practical speculation towards an ideal future. Speculative design lends itself both asa model of thought and in design practice to catalyse minimalist aesthetics for a better future.
The complexity of the interconnected world requires strategies of restraint and renunciation
as well as innovative concepts for future societies. A critical examination of minimalist tendencies,
derived from history and current trends, and design as speculation beyond market logic, provide an
outlook, but also visions that forecast design for ideal futures.
Keywords: Minimalism; Speculative Design; Minimal Art; Innovation; Social Design

Introduction
people interact with it, three aspects of minimalism are brought together below with the fundamental
intentions of speculative design. When it is no longer about beautifying objects or being blindly
focussed on economic growth, designers in the future should also see their task as bringing together
sustainable and integrative challenges for new ways of thinking and attitudes. This is done here byattempting to interpret the minimalism of the West and the East in its different motivations andformulations, in order to then propose speculative design practice as a set of tools for innovative
paths.
The motivation to analyse basic minimalist attitudes in art, design and the lifestyle that is so
dominant today and, above all, to show both the aesthetic and content-related differences andattitudes, is outlined in this rough list of historical terms:• Art and intellectual history in the West (Greek rhetoric, Classicism) and in Japan (Zen,
Minimarizumu, Ukiyo-e)• Western modernism (1870-1940): Impressionism, Bruno Taut, Marcel Duchamp, Soetsu
Yanagi (Mingei)• Postmodernism (1940-1980): Daisetsu Suzuki, John Cage, Ad Reinhardt, Yves Klein,
Fluxus, Gutai• Mass media (1980- ): Dieter Rams (Braun), Jonathan Ives (Apple), Kenya Hara (Muji), John
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Minimalism as Potential for Speculative Design to Envision Unlimited Futures

Meada (Human Centered Design / Simplicity), Jasper Morrison / Naoto Fukasawa(Supernormal)
The extent to which these historical and contemporary aesthetic phenomena can be brought together
with current design methods such as speculative design in the sense of an applied design strategy
will be examined below.
Minimalism in European intellectual, art and design history
In the history of art and culture, there have always been extreme contrasts in style and form between
simplicity and complexity. Simplicity was first thematised in writing by the Greeks and Romans,
who referred to rhetoric. In antiquity, the minimalist principle served to maintain an understandable,
comprehensible formal measure. Aristotle says that the perfect linguistic form is clear and at thesame time not banal. After inventio and before elocution, memoria and actio, the clarity of dispositio
is one of the foundations of rhetoric (1). Architecture and rhetoric are linked where it is assumed thata speech can be better learnt by imagining a space with images that each represent a part of the
speech (2) Vitruvius ultimately counted dispositio among the basic aesthetic concepts of architectureand expanded rhetoric from the linguistic to the visual (3). At the end of the 18th century, classicism
returned to the simple aesthetics of antiquity – especially the minimalist Doric style – as acounterpoint to the opulence of the Baroque.
Around 1900, the Chicago School (Sullivan) stood for a simplification of architecture andinspired the Austrian Adolf Loos, who wanted to abolish all ornamentation and decoration (LoosHouse in Vienna, 1910). Here, too, a rebellion against the prevailing aesthetics of the time and its
connection to the bourgeoisie and the empire is evident. The Werkbund and Peter Behrens becamerole models for Bauhaus, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe and thus the programme offunctionalism, which degraded decoration to a mere historical reference (4). Finally, the demand
for simplicity in object design in the circle of the HfG Ulm extends to communication andinformationdesign, which locates the problems of design primarily at the interfaces of complex
solution approaches in technical, social, organisational and economic contexts. The search forsimplicity finally culminated at the end of the 20th century in interface and UX design, for whichJohn Maeda provided a programmatic text very early on, Jonathan Ives orientated the Apple
product line on the aesthetics of Dieter Rams and Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukusawa undercut
the ordinary and simple things of everyday life with their reminiscence under the term Supernormal.
Minimal Art
The term minimalism in the visual arts was first coined in 1965. Despite the demand for simplicity,
it differs from all previous minimalist endeavours primarily in its references to the recipient andthespace surrounding the artwork. The works of Minimal Art are holistic. They cannot be broken
downinto their details in order to analyse them (5). This becomes particularly clear in colour field
painting,which works almost exclusively with hard edges.
Frank Stella notes that the minimalists are turning away from European art and distancing
themselves from it to an extreme degree. This applies above all to supposedly aesthetically similar
movements such as Constructivism and Illusionism. ‘What you see is what you see’, no philosophy,
no rationalism, no reductionism (6)! Omitting is not reduction – omitting means adding something
new (7)! Some even claim that the term Minimal must be replaced by maximal, as minimal goes
farbeyond the artefact. The term Minimal seems to imply that what is Minimal in Minimal Art isthe art. This is far from the case. There is nothing minimal from the art in Minimal Art. ‘If anything
in the best works being done, it is maximal (8).’ Minimal Art can therefore be understood as
extremelycomplex, although this does not appear to be the case at first glance.
The minimal artists create new dimensions between art as an object and the object in relation
to the recipient. In doing so, they incorporate negative space as well as nature into their work (9).
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ISSN 2189-7166‘It is the spectator who is now ineluctably bound to the work, not the artist. The spectator, perhaps
as never before, is crucial for completing the work of art, (…) The spectator is built into the work:
space, light and objects only become a work when we add the spectator’s field of vision (10).’Three-dimensional works dominate Minimal Art because they create a spatial reference andbecause they cannot be immediately identified as art in themselves, as is the case with painting, forexample (11). Before Minimal Art, works of art always had to be Avant-garde, always new andexciting. Minimal Art wants artworks not to look like art (12). If Minimal derives from a modern
Ism, then from Dadaism, which also did not want to be art (13).
The minimalist aspect of historical art and modern (postmodern) art and design cannot besummarized under a certain premise and in some cases cannot be compared. The prerequisites, thesocial and cultural perspectives as well as the concept of art are too different for this. Nevertheless,
it is always an aesthetic phenomenon that imposes formal and situational restrictions and omissions.
Minimalism in Japanese intellectual, art and design history
In the East, minimalism is understood as both a spiritual attitude and a practical way of life. It
manifests itself in everyday practices such as sitting or walking meditation or tidying and cleaningas active forms of meditation. Trust in the physical acquisition of knowledge prevails over Western
trust in intellectual knowledge. In Japan, the term minimalism is only known as an import from theWest: minimarizumu ミ ニ マ リ ズ ム . ‘The perspective of Zen Buddhism thus sharpens theunderstanding of minimalism as a path and not as an end in itself or a goal (14).’ At this point, Zen
Buddhism will be used as an example of a form of expression of oriental minimalism in orderto relate it to the statements and aspirations of Kenya Hara as a contemporary position.
In the present, Kenya Hara refers to the Dojinsai study room in the Jishoji temple and defines
emptiness as the first requirement. ‘He uses this example to emphasise the difference between
Western modern simplicity and Japanese simplicity, which derives its meaning from the deep
emptiness it contains (15).’ Furthermore, Hara clarifies the distinction between minimalism in the
East by pointing out that it is not an opposition to complex aesthetic devices such as ornamentation:‘(…) that [japanese culture several hundred years before the Bauhaus] express a strength of purity
and concision pitted against complexity; yet different from the western concept of simple. How?
Intheir emptiness, I would assert. (…) Through its very emptiness, a vessel can apply a centripetal
force absorbing one´s awareness (16).’ Furthermore, he foresightedly points out the economic
potential of these aesthetics: ‘We should be able to stand on the stage of a new economic culture
harnessing aesthetics as a resource (…) (17).’ The picture here is very different from that in the West.
For Hara, the potential of the purposelessness and aimlessness of minimalist aesthetics andthat of economic value dominate, in contrast to the Western anti-attitude towards the usual
conventions.
Minimalism in design practiceThe sectarian movements since the 18th century are generally regarded as the forerunners of thestrategic design of products and life programmes. Quakers, Shakers and Amish still had to lead theirlives in religious asceticism in secluded communities. Henry Thoreaux's escape from theindustrialised world also ended in the seclusion of the woods not far from Boston. The functionalistsof the early 20th century were then able to live out their reductionist architecture and products inpublic and profess them, although at this time popular counter-movements such as Art Nouveau andlater Art Deco also ensured plurality in the aesthetics of living environments. Minimal design only
became programmatic in the 1950s in the wake of the HfG Ulm and the work of Dieter Rams, whodemanded as little design as possible and thus equalled Minimal Art.
The idea of less design thus became increasingly dominant and appeared in the rhetorical formof an oxymoron: The less, the more (minimalism). Steve Jobs, experienced in Zen meditation,
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brought Dieter Rams’ aesthetics into the digital age, setting a global standard for minimalist productdesign for the first time. Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa, on the other hand, ennobled thenormal and everyday into a minimalist design principle with their Supernormal programme. John
Maeda recommends another programme entitled Simplicity for the world of digital interfaces anduser-centric requirements. The principle of the capsule wardrobe was invented in 1999 by fashion
designer Jil Sander, who used it to clear out overcrowded wardrobes (18).
Minimalism and restraint in the consumer world
In addition to the artistic trends of minimalist attitudes and forms of expression, the term minimalism
currently dominates as a stylistic concept in graphic, UX, interior and fashion design as well as inarchitecture, but also in lifestyle trends and the design of everyday life. The claim of a minimalist
lifestyle is expressed in the reduction of consumption and the use of material goods. This can affectclothing, furniture, living space, media use or the avoidance of events. But isn’t this somethingquitedifferent from the mere reduction of physical objects and environments? In his actor-network
theory, Bruno Latour describes the power of things that goes beyond their practical and functional
properties.The value of things can lie in their orientation, their memory, their connection with thepast and the future and much more, which is why the lifestyle minimalist must dispense with theseas well as their utility and material value.
The promise Be more with less aims to raise the aspirations of a privileged middle class that
can afford the minimalist lifestyle as a counterpoint to mass consumption. This type of identity
politics corresponds to the above-mentioned minimalist strategies of rebellion and criticism of
existing conditions. The supposed retreat into restraint is also based here on so much dominance andself-indulgence, as only the rich have the freedom to choose their lifestyle. ‘The European traditionof minimalism as a design gesture that always legitimises domination must lose credibility today if
it can only be defined within the framework of luxury. Because voluntary renunciation of luxury is
still luxury (19).’
Minimalism as Potential for Speculative Design
The prerequisite for innovation and thus for future-oriented idealisations is made possible by thefictitious in the sense of the speculative design approach. Speculative design goes beyond theeconomic concerns of conventional design practice. While the goals of product, media andcommunication design are essentially defined by the achievement of value enhancement andattention, the goals of speculative design lie in the area of criticising conditions that can be improved
and facilitating discourse.
When people think of design, most believe it is about problem solving. Even the more
expressive forms of design are about solving aesthetic problems. (…) Rather than giving up
altogether, though, there are other possibilities for design: one is to use design as a means ofspeculating how things could be – speculative design. This form of design thrives on
imagination and aims to open up new perspectives on what are sometimes called wicked
problems, to create spaces for discussion and debate about alternative ways of being, and to
inspire and encourage people’s imaginations to flow freely. Design speculations can act asa
catalyst for collectively redefining our relationship to reality (20). (Fig. 1)

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Figure 1: Speculative Design is the idea of possible futures and using them as tools to better
understand the present and to discuss the kind of future people want, and, of course, ones people
do not want. (Source: own representation according to Dunne & Raby, 2013)
While Minimal Art refers to the need for the recipient to take an active role in relation to theartefact presented, speculative design also assumes the active role of the recipient, but also
encourages them to engage intellectually with the artefacts and their social, political and culturalcontexts. Thus, minimalist aesthetics can be compared with the aesthetics of speculative design interms of both qualitative and quantitative reduction in relation to the thematisation and maximisationof the recipient’s responsibility. Of course, this does not mean that speculative design must always
be minimalist. Rather, the minimalist aesthetic is a variety of speculative design, which isdeliberately the focus here.
If aesthetic minimalism in modern and Avant-garde art is about the detachment of a qualitative
judgement on the relationship between the external appearance and the meaning of the artefacts,
speculative design resolves the relationship between design practice and its economic orientation.
Ifminimalism relieves the artist of his technical ability, it burdens the recipient with the demand to
take a stance and attitude towards it. The same happens to the recipient of the design object that is
supposedly linked to economic purposes. Both can be interpreted as criticism of undesirable andconservative conditions, and both aim to improve or change these conditions.
If lifestyle minimalism interprets renunciation as the luxury of making decisions about one’s
own life in the spirit of reduction, the speculative designer reveals himself by withdrawing fromthesafe economic sphere in order to face the unpredictability of unknown challenges. The Avantgarde (minimalist) artist acts as a pioneer in accepting the highest risks in view of the positive
response ofhis audience. The rejection of ownership in a world characterised by consumerism or ashift in the context of design and value creation testify to the actors’ increased self-efficacy and their
willingnessto take risks against the establishment and the mainstream. A pioneer of speculative
design in the context of sustainable product design and consumer criticism is Bazon Brock’s
Covenant of the Golden Chopsticks, founded in 1981 (Fig. 2).
Historically, the most demonstrably successful form of ecological, economic, hygienic andaesthetic care – in short: sustainability – can be achieved through luxury as an expression of166

Minimalism as Potential for Speculative Design to Envision Unlimited Futures

asceticism. The golden chopsticks visualise this principle. If we were to give our goldenchopsticks to billions of Asian chopstick users, the sublime treetops of South American
primeval forests would not have to fall victim to logging for the production of wooden
chopsticks (21).

Figure 2: The golden chopsticks – theoretical object from Bazon Brock, (Source:
https://www.georghornemann.com/en/collaborations/bazon-brock.html
viewed on Nov. 5th 2023)
This not only opens up a minimalist principle in the face of the seemingly contradictory demands ofluxury products, but also makes it clear that object values always carry much more than the sum of
their utility or function.
Brion Vega’s cube-shaped television impressively demonstrates the black box properties ofelectronic (and now digital) devices. It is no longer possible to visualise all the functions of electronicand digital devices with clear semantics. ‘Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper’s television for Brion
Vega was a sophisticated expression of a new role for the skin of an object, with very different
characteristics in both its states. Switching it on or off transformed it from familiar to mysterious
object (22).’ (Fig. 3)

Figure 3: Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper’s television for Brion Vega. (Source:
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O168300/black- 201-television-set-television-richardsapper/?carousel-image=2006AT9575
viewed Sept. 22nd 2023)
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Similar is the case with Daniel Weil’s Radio in a Bag, which is considered one of the mostwell-known speculative design projects. Consequently, the question arises as to what form a radio
should and must have, and what happens when one completely dispenses with conventional values.
Weil's radios possess both product design qualities and artistic autonomy. Wolfgang Welsch claims
that the miniaturization of microelectronics dissolves the maxim form-follows-function (23). Digital
devices have no function per se or can perform different functions (black box): Decoupling of theouter form from the inner product structure (24).

Figure 4: Daniel Weil, Radio in a bag, 1981, aka Hommage à Marcel Duchamp (Source:
https://arzadesign.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/daniel-weil-lintemporel/viewed Sept. 18th 2023)
Conclusion
With regard to the question posed at the beginning, to what extent historical but also contemporary
minimalist phenomena can be brought together with current design methods such as speculative
design in the sense of an applied design strategy, some inspiring interfaces can be identified.
Firstly, there is the active invitation, both on the part of Minimal Art and Speculative Design,
to involve the audience in the work as a voice capable of criticism. Rationality and the mere
fulfilment of needs are deliberately set aside in order to evoke an active attitude. Secondly, both the
oppositional attitude towards the historically conventional aesthetics of Western minimalism and therejection of speculative design as art form a common core. This also tends to postulate an
uncomfortable and unpopular attitude, whether as user-unfriendliness or as a refusal of any
affirmation of existing or established conditions.
In addition to these parallel interfaces, however, it should be emphasised that a potential canbe identified in relation to the necessity of current issues and challenges in a society geared towards
post-growth and sustainability. For in both the East and the West, minimalism – whether in history,art, design or lifestyle – manifests itself primarily through renunciation. In addition to the dominanceof protest through renunciation of existing conditions in the West, the potential of mindfulness and168

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the economisability of a minimalist aesthetic form an expanded field of possibilities. Even if
speculative design cannot necessarily be reduced to a minimalist aesthetic, the speculative method,which is based on an artistic approach, opens up new possibilities opens up valuable possibilities
and opportunities to utilise minimalism in its many facets beyond mass consumption and the growth
imperative.
Notes
1. Detlev Schöttker, Ästhetik der Einfachheit: Texte zur Geschichte eines BauhausProgramms (Grundlagen/Basics) (Berlin: DOM publishers, 2019), 10.
2. Francis A. Yates, Gedächtnis und Erinnern: Mnemonik von Aristoteles bis Shakespeare(3. Ed.) (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1994) 15.
3. Detlev Schöttker, Ästhetik der Einfachheit: Texte zur Geschichte eines Bauhaus-Programms(Grundlagen/Basics) (Berlin: DOM publishers, 2019), 11.
4. Ibid, 22.
5. Gregory Battcock, Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: Univof California Press, 1995), 40.
6. Ibid, 149.
7. Ibid, 159.
8. Ibid, 260.
9. Ibid, 25.
10. Susan Best, Minimalism, subjectivity, and aesthetics: rethinking the anti-aesthetic tradition inlate-modern art, in: Journal of Visual Art Practice, Volume 5, Number 3, 2006, p.123 - 142.
doi: 10.1386/jvap.5.3.127/1
11. Gregory Battcock, Minimal Art: A Critical Anthology (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: Univof California Press, 1995), 182.
12. Ibid, 298.
13. Ibid, 305.
14. Wibke Schrape, Inspiration Zen – Minimalismus als Weg, in: Minimalismus - Ein Reader, ed.
Heike Derwanz (Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2022), 164.
15. Ibid, 168.
16. Kenya Hara, Designing Japan: A Future Built on Aesthetics (Zürich: Lars Müller Publishers,2019),50.
17. Ibid, 7.
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18. Heike Derwanz, Minimalismus - Ein Reader (Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2022), 19.
19. Anette Geiger, Minimalismus als Universalismus, in: Minimalismus - Ein Reader, ed. Heike
Derwanz (Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2022), 201.
20. Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby, Speculative Everything (Cambridge, London: MIT Press,2013), 2.
21. B. Bazon Brock, Lustmarsch durchs Theoriegelände, Einleitung - 1 Musealisiert Euch! (Köln:
DuMont Buchverlag, 2008), 26. (https://bazonbrock.de/werke/detail/?id=1958&sectid=1327)
22. Anthony Dunne, Hertzian Tales: Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience, and Critical
Design (Cambridge, London: MIT Press, 2008), 25.
23. Wolfgang Welsch, Ästhetisches Denken, Reclams Universal-Bibliothek (Stuttgart: Reclam
Philipp, jun. GmbH Verlag, 2017), 217.
24. Melanie Kurz & Thilo Schwer, Geschichte des Designs (München: C.H.Beck, 2022), 113.

Author Biography
Christof Breidenich
Prof. Dr. Christof Breidenich is the Head of the Design Study Program at the Macromedia University
for Applied Sciences, and a Professor of Media Design at the university’s campus in Cologne. The
focal points of his work include the exploration of creative, historic, dramaturgical, cognitive, andartistic principles in addition to the intricacies of media design, with particular consideration ofsemiotics, rhetoric, and non-normative aesthetics. Breidenich’s philosophy of design is wellillustrated in several publications.

170

Another Fashion Is Possible:
The Practice of Making Fashion as Experimenting,
Enacting, and Crafting the New Social Worlds
Keiko Onose Tatsuhana
Keio University

Abstract
This article explores the potential of the practice of ‘making fashion’ and its social value through an
autoethnography describing how and what the author, a former practitioner of ‘making fashion’,experienced the social worlds of fashion over a period of 30 years from the early 1990s. In addition
to generating shared emotions, social connections, and diverse ties, the practice of ‘making fashion’challenges dominant social structures and assumptions about knowledge and experiments with,enacts, and crafts the different ways of being in society.
To emancipate fashion knowledge from dominant perspectives and fixed methodologies and tobring other realities of fashion to the foreground, I first critically examine the perspectives ofconsumption, designer myths, and objectifying and fragmenting ways of perceiving things that areat the root/premise of fashion knowledge. Subsequently, I suggest alternative perspectives, fromconsumption to ‘the practice of making’, from designer myths to ‘agency of making’, and fromobjectification and fragmentation to ‘the wholeness of life as an existential being’. This article
focuses on the practice of ‘making fashion’, which has been hidden by the dominant concept ofconsumption, and on the people who are actors in making yet have been rendered invisible.
Referring to my personal autoethnography, which depicts the complexities of agency in making,how the state of society and the practice of making continuously reflect and erode each other ineveryday life and how individuals’ lived experiences are reflected in the practice of making fashion,
I attempt to show how the practice of ‘making fashion’ is embedded in the social, what it produces
and how it performs in society. Finally, I discuss the potential of the practice of ‘making fashion’ andits social value.
Keywords: Fashion; Practice; Making; Agency; Autoethnography

Introduction
With the emergence of a consumer society, academia and the fashion industry have concentrated ontheorising and analysing consumption. While transforming, capitalism accelerates the accumulationof capital and the acquisition of short-term economic gains. The ‘reason of economic rationality’ (1)that underpins it has transformed the practice of ‘making fashion’ (2) into a narrative that stimulates
consumption and generates short-term economic profit, coupled with the development of
information technology.
In the vortex of this narrative, we confront the limitations and problems posed by society basedon the principle of unlimited consumption. While information technology works to stimulate
consumption, it has also created visible problems, such as environmental issues, poor working
conditions, and a widening gap between rich and poor. Consequently, people have responded172

Another Fashion Is Possible

sensitively to the problems that have become visible, giving rise to movements to boycott thepurchase of certain fashion items (3), to improve working conditions (4), and to build a sustainableproduction/consumption cycle (5). People are beginning to transform themselves from being
unaware to consuming subjects by recognising the limits of a society based on endless material
consumption and economic rationality. Thus, the fashion industry is confronted with demands forchange.
Nevertheless, the dominant framework wherein the practice of ‘making fashion’ is commonly
discussed is the conflict between creativity and economic value. I have worked in the fashionindustry as a fashion practitioner for almost 30 years since the early 1990s. However, in May 2019,
something happened that I did not expect at all: I left the company I had founded. This event is often
described as a common story of conflict between founding designers and logic and power of capital.
Is it useful, though, to interpret this event only within the framework of the oppositional relationshipbetween creativity and economic value and to confine the practice of ‘making fashion’ to thisframework? The perspectives and ways of perceiving fashion reproduce this framework and prevent
us from imagining the other realities and social worlds of fashion.
How can we emancipate the notion of fashion from the fixed and narrow framework throughwhich we perceive it? First, I critically examine the perspectives at the root/premise of fashion
knowledge that reproduce fixed and narrow frameworks. These are consumption, designer myths,
and objectifying and fragmenting ways of perceiving things. Subsequently, I suggest alternative
perspectives, namely, ‘the practice of making’, ‘agency of making’, and ‘the wholeness of life as anexistential being’. From these perspectives, new and alternative fashion realities can be imagined.
Furthermore, I insist on the importance of viewing fashion as a social and cultural process and,simultaneously, as an activity of everyday life for the people who make it.
Then, referring to the autoethnography of myself, which depicts the complexities of makers’
subjectivity, how the state of society and the practice of making continuously reflect and erode eachother in the everyday and how individuals’ lived experiences are reflected in the practice of making(6), I explore how the practice of making fashion is embedded in the social, what it produces, andwhat it performs in society. Finally, I discuss the potential of the practice of ‘making fashion’ and its
social value.
This article begins by critically examining three assumptions of knowledge in fashion:
consumption, designer myths, and objectification and fragmentation.
Production as a Subordinate to Consumption: The invisible people behind it
Fashion theory takes consumption as the main subject of analysis while providing historical insights(7). Ogata analyses that in classical sociology, fashion has been discussed in terms of a relational
scheme of ‘clothing and consumption’ (8). Veblen theoretically analysed fashion as ‘conspicuous
consumption’ (9), while Simmel posited it as that which simultaneously imitates and differentiates
vis-à-vis social structure (10). Subsequently, the expansion of consumer society, which hasdeveloped rapidly with the spread of neoliberal ideology, has made consumption an importantconcept as it embodies the dominant cultural and social values of a particular time and place (11).
Along with consumption, the act of ‘wearing’ has been actively discussed. Entwistle proposed
the conceptual framework of a ‘situated bodily practice’ arguing that clothes should not be seen as
mere objects, but as beings embedded in human action and social relations (12). Drawing on theconcept of the ‘body’, Entwistle attempts to link clothing and the act of ‘wearing’ and the personal
everyday act of wearing to social relations. In Japan, Washida employed the concept of the ‘body’ todiscuss fashion from a phenomenological perspective (13). In ‘Fashion Gaku no Mikata’, publishedin 1996, Washida identified two perspectives from which to explore fashion: ‘the making of the body
image’ and ‘the social phenomenon of fashion’ (14). Specifically, Washida argued:
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It has only recently begun to be understood that fashion studies is a new discipline that studies
not only the forms and materials of clothing but also the people who wear them and all aspects of
their lives (15).
Thus, the research perspective has expanded from the object of clothing to ‘the people who wear it
and the interactions that occur through clothing’ (16). The discussion of fashion has developed fromthe perspective of agency that ‘wears’ it.
How then, has production been discussed? Production is merely a reflection of consumer andindividual demands and has come to be treated as ‘passive’ in relation to consumption (17). Asperand Godard describe the complex dependency between production and consumption, stating that‘fashion, strictly speaking, comes into being only when consumers make choices, their choices areframed by what is offered’ (18). Thus, while production and consumption are interdependent,
production has come to be positioned as subordinate to consumption. The discussion of ‘making’agency has not developed in the same multifaceted and pluralistic direction as that of ‘wearing’agency. Furthermore, there has been a lack of awareness of the ‘complexities of subjectivity’ (19),the experiences of makers and subjective meanings in the process of making have not beenadequately discussed. This has prevented attention from being paid to the nature of creation—how
the practice of ‘making fashion’ comes about, what it produces, and what it performs—and to thepotential and value of the practice of making itself. Today, it is not so much how it was made as it is
how it looks.
Designer Myths and Creativity Supreme
The second dominant assumption of fashion knowledge is the existence of designer myths, in whichfashion is created by the creative act of a single talented designer. While the makers are sent into thehinterland and are invisible, it is the objectified and fragmented image and discourse of star designers
that is represented in the visible.
The widely circulated narrative of the designer premised on the myths, which can be describedas supreme in creativity (20), remains dominant even today. The existence of this myth makes
designers and their creativity autonomous and detached from other elements. Almost 50 years ago,
Barthes criticised the author, perhaps a character of modernity created by our society, and stated thatgiving maximum importance to his personality is both a summary and a consequence of capitalist
ideology (21). Nevertheless, ‘designer myths are still being spun in some quarters, authorship andartworkism are still being celebrated’ (22), and ‘the history of modern and contemporary fashion is
being told as if it were a record of the creative acts of talented designers and the artistic works they
produced’ (23). By reducing the practice to the talent and creativity of designers, it is easy to forgetthat fashion is a continuous process of ‘collective choice’ that emerges ‘from the diversity ofexperience that occurs in social interaction in a complex moving world’ (24).
What is represented is fixed and clipped information, such as the designer's personality;
whether he is eccentric or not, his background; whether he was trained at a major fashion school orin a big maison, his upbringing; whether he comes from a wealthy family or not, his tastes; how hedresses and what kind of art he loves. The designer, who was also an artisan, craftsman, and couturier,eventually became an author and evolved into a star designer for branding and marketing purposes.
Thus, the practice of ‘making fashion’ came to be reduced to autonomous star designers and theirtalents (25).
Objectification and Fragmentation: A Way of Perceiving Things
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The third dominant premise of fashion knowledge is objectification and fragmentation, which areways of perceiving things. Lehmann points to the ‘constant objectification in society’ as acharacteristic of modernity, citing Marx’s ‘alienation/Entfredung’, Simmel’s ‘reification/
Verdinglichung’, and Weber’s ‘rationalization/Rationalisierung’, and explains that modern theorists
have perceived the ‘object’ as representative of the grander of social structure and cultural
fragment as representative of the totality of the historical processes to explain new socioculturalparameters in society (26). By collecting and deciphering the fragments that prominently
represented culture, these theorists theorised about modern society.
Clothing, which envelops the human body, has also been objectified and cut out as an aspect ofmodern society, fragmented, given meaning, and theorised. This mode of perception remains
strong today, and fashion is still being discussed in a way that collects and decodes visualfragments. In fashion discourse, for example, we are now exposed to phrases such as ‘a maturemood with oversized jackets and long boots’ (27) or ‘a sweet and spicy mix of styling with hardleather jackets and combat boots and sheer romantic dresses with bijoux’ (28). Completely coveredby objectified and fragmented images, it is difficult to imagine that fashion is created through thepractices of the people behind it. This objectification as a way of perceiving things is closelyintertwined with designer myths and consumption to create the structure of current fashion.
‘Another Creation’Why do I make fashion? What am I trying to achieve through making fashion? These are questions
that I have asked myself as I have engaged in the practice of ‘making fashion’. What emerges
through the descriptions of autoethnography is that the practice of ‘making fashion’ creates morethan just material objects. I would describe it as ‘another creation’ that brings with it invisible but
performative things for us, such as shared emotions, social connections, and diverse ties. The
following quote is taken from an autoethnography:
In this process, I realise that it is not just the product of clothing that is created. It is a ‘communityand connections’ that are created through empathy with women. It is also the ‘intimate dialogue’
with customers in the fitting rooms and the ‘cooperative relationships’ that interact with eachother. And it is the solidarity of ‘we have to support each other by shopping’. We have createdtrust and networks with the people involved, and the response and joy that comes from such
relationships. These are ‘another creation’ that do not fit into the capitalist paradigm of return toprofit and economic rationality and are what I have been looking for in the practice of ‘making
fashion’ (29).
From the quotes in my autoethnography, we can see what the practice of ‘making fashion’ has created
and what I have gained from it. It is a relationship with the people and customers involved in theprocess of making. I would call it ‘another creation’, in which trust, joy, and a reason to live are
created. For me, the practice of ‘making fashion’ is not just about making products and gaining
economic value, nor is it just about self-expression as an author. Rather, the ‘richness’ that I haveexperienced lies in the connections with people.
Experimenting, Enacting, and Crafting New Ways of Being in Society
Autoethnographic accounts simultaneously reflect how dominant fashion knowledge and structures
constrain the practice of ‘making fashion’. Does the practice of ‘making fashion’ continue toreproduce the assumptions of knowledge? Or does it have the potential to produce alternatives?
While I am caught up in the dominant, it also becomes clear that I have tried to enact different
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realities by reflecting in my practice the discomfort I felt towards the dominant knowledge andstructures. To take an example from autoethnography, the structural power of the Paris Fashion Week
entails the value system that Western brands are superior; it is easily embedded in the process andskilfully creates our reality. However, ‘encouraged by a sense of discomfort with Japanese belief inthe superiority of Western brands’, I launched a brand with the concept of made -in/made by Japanand sold it worldwide. These are my responses to the dominant ways of fashion, in addition to an
attempt to experiment, enact, and craft other realities and a new state of society through the practiceof ‘making fashion’. In other words, the practice of ‘making fashion’ has the potential to challenge
dominant knowledge, structures, and values, to enact and craft other forms of reality that havepreviously been peripheral and invisible, and to present a variety of options.
Conclusion
This article has discussed fashion with the aim of emancipating it from dominant perspectives andfixed methodologies to bring other realities of fashion to the foreground. I have critically examined
the perspectives of consumption, designer myths, and objectifying and fragmenting ways ofperception that underlie/presuppose knowledge of fashion. Subsequently, I suggested alternative
perspectives: ‘the practice of making’, ‘agency of making’, and ‘the wholeness of life as anexistential being’. Employing these perspectives, I revealed what the practice of ‘making fashion’creates and performs, through my autoethnography, which depicts the practice of making fashion as
an everyday activity and the complexities of agency in making.
The practice of ‘making fashion’ creates new social ties, cultivating communities based ontrust and empathy among those involved, networks for sharing information, close dialogue andcooperative interaction with customers, and a sense of solidarity exemplified by the notion that ‘wemust support each other by shopping together’. These social connections and ties give a sense of joy
and a reason to live for a life of making. Furthermore, I reveal that the practice of ‘making fashion’has a facet of responding to and challenging social norms.
Based on the preceding discussion, we can rethink fashion. The practice of ‘making fashion’,
while embedded in the social, not only challenges it but also possesses the potential to experiment,
enact, and craft alternative realities in which we want to live that have previously been peripheral
and invisible. ‘Another fashion’ has the potential to transform dominant social structures andestablished knowledge assumptions. I argue that this is the social value and potential inherent in thepractice of ‘making fashion’.
Notes
1.

David Harvey, 2019, Marx, Capital and the Madness of Economic Reason, Trans. S. Oya et.al.
(Tokyo: Sakuhinsha, 2019), 239-283.

2.

To distinguish between the production of material clothing and the practice of ‘making fashion’,
which is the focus of this study, I avoid the term ‘producing fashion’ and use the term ‘making
fashion’. For convenience, I define ‘making fashion’ as a series of actions that create sharedemotions and relationships through the simultaneous ‘material production’ and ‘production of
meaning’ of clothing and related accessories. Drawing on Yoshimi's account of cultural
production, in which 'material production' and 'production of meaning' are not separate, I add apresentation in the public sphere to that to define what ‘making fashion’ is. Shunya Yoshimi,

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Another Fashion Is Possible“Bunkayuibutsuron [Cultural Materialism]”, in Gendai Shakaigaku Jiten, ed. Munesuke Mita etal. (Tokyo: Kobundo, 2012), 1137.
3.

#BOYCOTTFASHION, 2019/9/25, https://wired.jp/2019/09/25/extinction-rebellioncollective-yearlong-boycott-buying-new-clothes/.

4.

Changing the world of work for good, 2015, https://www.tuc.org. uk/researchanalysis/reports/watch-udita-arise-documentary-women-unionists-Bangladesh.

5.

Many organisations such as the Fashion Revolution, the Clean Clothes Campaign, and theCentre for Sustainable Fashion are active, particularly through social networking sites.

6.

The autoethnography was written as part of an author’s master’s thesis in Academic Year
2021, at the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, entitled ‘Reflective
Creation: Re-creating “My Story” and the Concept of Fashion’. It was published in June 2023
under the author's name, Keiko Onose, in the book Fittingroom: <Watashi> to Fashion no
Shakaitekisekai [Fittingroom: ‘I’ and Social Worlds of Fashion], (Kyoto: Adachi Press, 2023).

7.

Ruby Hoette & Caroline Stevenson, Modus (Eindhoven: Onomatopee, 2018).

8.

Michimasa Ogata, “Fashion wo Kataru Hōhō to Kadai: Shōhi・Karada・Media wo Koete[Methodologies and Problems of Discussing Fashion: Beyond Consumerism, Body, andMedia]” in Shakaigaku Hyōron 63, no.4 (2013): 487-502.

9.

Thorstein Veblen, 1899 The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study in the Evolutionof Institutions, trans. Murai (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 2016).

10. Georg Simmel, 1919, Philosophische Kultur: Gesammelte Essais. 2nd ed., trans. S. Maruko(Tokyo: Hakusuisha, 2004), 31-33.
11. Ben Fine and Ellen Leopold, The World of Consumption (London, New York: Routledge,1993), 93.
12. Joanne Entwistle, 2000, The Fashioned Body: Fashion, Dress and Modern Social Theory,
Trans. N. Suzuki (Tokyo: Nihonkeizaihyoronsha, 2005).
13. Kiyokazu Washida, Mōdo no Meikyū [The Labyrinth of Mode] (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo,[1989]1996).
̶̶̶, Chiguhagu na Karada: Fashion tte Nani? [The Inconsistent Body: What is Fashion?](Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, [1995]2005).
̶̶̶, Himei wo Ageru Karada [The Screaming Body] (Tokyo: PHP Kenkyusho, 1998).
14. Kiyokazu Washida, “Fashion Gaku eno Sasoi [Invitation to Fashion Studies]”, in Fashion

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Gaku no Mikata [The Perspective of Fashion Studies] (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1996), 4-8, 6.
15. Ibid., 5.
16. Masato Kudo, “Fashion Kenkyū no Kenkyū Dōkō [Research Trends of Fashion Studies]”, The
Japan Society of Home Economics 72, no.3 (2021): 172-179.
17. Joanne Entwistle, 2000, Fashioned Body: Fashion, Dress and Modern Social Theory, Trans.
N. Suzuki (Tokyo: Nihonkeizaihyoronsha, 2005), 2-3.
18. Patrik Aspers and Frédéric Godart, "Sociology of Fashion: Order and Change," Annual Review
of Sociology 39, no. 1 (2013): 171-192, 180.
19. Georgina Born, "The Social and the Aesthetic: For a Post-Bourdieuian Theory of Cultural
Production," Cultural Sociology 2 (2010): 171-208, 181.
20. Angela McRobbie, Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries (Cambridge:
Polity, 2016)
21. Roland Barthes, 1968, “La mort de l'auteur,” Manteia, Ⅴ, trans. H. Hanawa (Tokyo: Misuzu,
1979), 79-89.
22. Hiroko Hirayoshi, Hiroshi Ashida, Chinatsu Makiguchi, Tetsuya Miura, and Takeshi
Kadowaki, “Kyōdōtougi ‘Fashion Hihyō ha Kanou ka?’ [DISCUSSION: Is Fashion Criticism
Possible?]” Hyōshō 13 (Tokyo: The Association for Studies of Culture and Representation,2019), 14-46, 14.
23. Hiroko Hirayoshi, Manazashi no Souchi: Fashion and Modern America [The Apparatus of
Gaze: Fashion and Modern America] (Tokyo: Seidosha, 2018), 14.
24. Herbert Blumer, "Fashion: From Class Differentiation to Collective Selection," TheSociological Quarterly 10 no. 3(1969): 275-291, 282.
25. The exploitation of labour is not limited to factory workers. WWDjapan.com presents data on
how long creative directors of brands have been in the job and reports that the positions ofcreative directors are becoming more short-lived as trends change more rapidly than everbefore. www. wwdjapan. com, 2023/1/27, https://www.wwdjapan.com/articles/1498118.
26. Ulich Lehmann, 2007, "Benjamin and the Revolution of Fashion in Modernity”, in Fashion
Theory: A Reader, ed. B. Malcom, trans. K. Tanabe, Hyōshō 13 (Tokyo: The Association for
Studies of Culture and Representation, 2019), 50-77, 50.
27. Harpersbazaar. com, 2020/4/10, https://www.harpersbazaar.com/jp/fashion/how-towear/g32067485/how-to-wear-mini-skirt-200410-hb/.
28. wwwjapan.com, 2022/10/7, https://www.wwdjapan.com/articles/1443901

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29. Keiko Onose, Fittingroom:〈Watashi〉to Fashion no Shakaitekisekai [Fittingroom: ‘I’ andSocial Worlds of Fashion] (Kyoto: Adachi Press 2023), 143.

Author Biography
Keiko Onose Tatsuhana
Keiko Onose Tatsuhana has been a leading fashion practitioner for 30 years. She is currently adoctoral student at Keio University's Graduate School of Media and Governance, where she isconducting research on the social aspects of making practice in fashion. The autoethnography
Fittingroom: 〈 Watashi 〉 to Fashion no Shakaitekisekai [Fittingroom: ‘I’ and Social Worlds ofFashion], which is part of her master's thesis, has been published in June 2023 from Adachi Press.

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