The Not So Secret Opinions of She Who Sucks Least.

O my dear readers, when I first started learning about how to portray a Japanese persona in the SCA, Kass McGann was the Go To Gal. She had received the King's Order of Excellence for her work as Fujiwara no Aoi, she was publishing work on her Reconstructing History website, she was IT. In the years that followed, I sponged up what information I could. Kass took a hiatus from the SCA. She started a business developing and selling historical costume patterns. And she stopped doing the Japanese thing.

People started coming to me instead. Somewhere along the line I remember saying, "How did I end up being She Who Sucks Least?" Because I not only don't know everything, I refuse to pretend I know everything. I'm still learning this too. I don't speak or read Japanese, so I have to work with materials in translation or struggle with online translation engines like everyone else. I know there's stuff out there I haven't seen.

What follows are random jottings cribbed from my LiveJournal, on various topics that seemed worth hanging onto.

The Front-Tied Obi Myth. (Originally posted to LiveJournal, September 23, 2007.)

Someone over on the Tribe.net boards related an anecdote in which a woman was observed to be wearing an obi tied in front at an SCA event. A couple of  "properly" dressed Japanese ladies along with their escort, descended upon her, about to tell her that only prostitutes wore front tied obi - at which point, the woman propositioned the escort - in Japanese, because her persona was a prostitute!

There's just one small problem. They're ALL wrong! From my post to that thread: "Women tied their obi in front until the mid to late 17th century, when obi got signficantly wider. From a simple sash only a couple of inches wide, suddenly one had this decorative yet inconvenient knot getting in one's way. That's when back-tied obi became fashionable, and when front tied obi became the mark of a courtesan or prostitute. Therefore, those "properly" garbed women (a) were not, in fact, properly garbed for the SCA."  And then I backed it up:

(Click on links to view images.)

How much more respectable can you get? Thirteenth century Buddhist nun Eshinni. Look for the skinny ends of her obi falling inside the circle formed by her rosary.

Young people playing hanetsuki (a game sort of like badminton) from a 16th century screen in the Tokyo National Musem. Several girls are shown with skinny front tied obi.

Early 17th c. screen shows figures with both front tied and back tied obi. All this tells us is that both styles were being worn at this point and front tied obi are not a signal of anything.

17th century painting of a "red light district." Note the caged window of the brothel. Back tied obi on the floozy sitting on the porch making time with the samurai.

18th century painting of ladies with back-tied obi. Having a knot that big in front has now become impractical.

18th century woodblock print of "beauties." THIS is the classic front tied obi that one sees on women from the pleasure quarters during this period.

19th century woodblock of an "oiran" or high ranking courtesan with distinctive humongous front tied obi and pincushion coiffure.

You want to find a lady of negotiable virtue, look at her HAIR.

Are those chopsticks in your hair, or are you just glad to see me? (Original post dated September 24, 2007)

Remember yesterday when I said "Look at her hair," regarding women of negotiable virtue? Here comes another lecture from She Who Sucks Least. (Disclaimer: this is quick and dirty and I freely confess that post-1600 styles have not been my area of focus.)

Those of you who have seen me in my Japanese persona at SCA events know that I always have my hair either in a ponytail or worn long and loose.  This is not laziness on my part, it's the respectable style worn by women of the court or warrior (samurai) classes during the SCA period (pre 1600).

The nape of the neck is an erogenous zone. It is considered extremely sexy in Japan. Nape display  is analogous to showing a bit of cleavage.

During the Heian period, even courtesans and common women tended to wear their hair tied in a ponytail, or perhaps a small bun at the nape. It was the fashion.

At some point in the latter quarter of the 16th century, one starts to see prostitutes putting their hair up on top of their heads, such as this asobime (playgirl) from the Kyoto Costume Museum. It's the latest craze from Ming Dynasty China http://www.iz2.or.jp/english/fukusyoku/busou/35.htm
(Note that there are no eating utensils sticking out of her head.)

In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu became shogun and began a 250 year period of relative peace and prosperity, after decades of internal struggles between warlords duking it out for supremacy. As part of efforts to keep peace in the cities, prostitution was limited to specifically licensed, walled districts in Japanese cities. (These pleasure quarters included not only brothels but eateries, theaters and so forth.)  Japan still being very rank conscious, there was a hierarchy even among sex workers, from lowly prostitutes to the high ranking oiran or tayu who merited court rank and palace access. http://www.tnm.jp/gallery/search/images/max/C0005224.jpg is a detail of a 17th century screen showing scenes from the pleasure quarters. You can see a number of women with Chinese influenced hairstyles and the newly fashionable, longer, hanging sleeves.

The Ming Thing began to trickle down from the pleasure quarters to the wives of its patrons and other town women, along with other new and exciting fashions, now available with the new prosperity of the growing cities of the Edo period. One starts to see respectable women putting their hair up in elaborate, Chinese inspired hairstyles by the late 17th century. Here is a nice example of a Genroku period city dweller: http://www.iz2.or.jp/english/fukusyoku/kosode/4.htm

This early 18th century painting shows a number of ladies with elaborate hairstyles, flowing sleeves and big, boldly knotted obi. Again, hair ornaments at this time are limited to paper ribbons and cord. http://www.tnm.jp/gallery/search/images/max/C0005838.jpg

It was the 18th century that saw the arrival of female geisha (entertainers), specifically licensed to work in the pleasure quarters as dancers, singers and musicians who do NOT compete with prostitutes or courtesans. Again, it was the fashion forward women of the pleasure quarters whose hairstyles got even more elaborate and whose clothing became even more showy. It was during the Edo period that hair ornaments became more elaborate. It's also during the Edo period that obi got wider and that the women of the pleasure quarters began to show a titillating glimpse of nape.

This famous Ukiyo-e print by Utamaro is from the height of the Edo period. A little leg, a little booty, and neck down to the thoracic vertebrae, oh baby!

Periodically, the shogunate enacted sumptuary laws to keep those uppity townies from dressing above their station. Conspicuous consumption went underground to get around it. One might wear a sober kimono with a sumptuously painted lining, for example. ("The shogun can't see it, but I know I'm wearing it....). To this day, one can find sober, black men's haori with beautifully painted linings.

The tayu (Kyoto) and oiran (Edo) take the prize for most elaborate costume. http://www.iz2.or.jp/english/fukusyoku/kosode/30.htm These high ranking courtesans worer elaborate hairstyles bristling with tortoiseshell combs and ornaments, massive obi and sexy bare feet showed off 12" high koma geta that required the wearer to get around with the assistance of a retainer. Check out this video of a modern oiran re-enactor performing the trademark "figure eight" step.  http://youtube.com/watch?v=yNncpdEFOB0

While the tayu and oiran eventually became outmoded, geisha remained popular throughout the Edo period. As living works of art, they continued to influence fashion, wearing hairstyles and kimono that were more cutting edge than those of well to do town ladies. (Seriously. If it looks like you need a team to help you get dressed and coiffed, the wearer has a team to do that.)

With the influence of Western dress and Japan's race to modernize in the late 19th century, men were the first to adopt Western clothing for the workplace and slip into kimono when they came home. By the late 20th century, geisha had morphed into preservers of tradition as times changed and everyday Japanese adopted Western styles for every day, limiting the wearing of kimono to special occasions.

Finally, this link shows a general overview of historical hairstyles  http://www.iz2.or.jp/english/fukusyoku/kosode/50.htm

The whole chopsticks in the hair thing is a Western misconception. Hashi are for eating with!

Japanese hair ornaments include combs, kanzashi (decorated with silk flowers), kogai (a sort of bar ornament usually paired with a comb, pins and yes, hair sticks. But not chopsticks. And not before 1600. http://www1.odn.ne.jp/maya/english/kanzashi.htm

If It's Tuesday, You Must Be Kitsune: an editorial on names and the SCA.
(Originally posted to LiveJournal in January 2008.)

What is the sound of one hand clapping itself to one forehead in front of monitors across the Known World? It is the sound of some enthusiastic newcomer to one of the SCA Japanese lists who wants to name himself/herself after an animal with whom he/she identifies. Number One on the hit parade is "Kitsune," though we've also had requests for wolves and most recently a raven. Nobody ever wants to be a cockroach though. Or even a tanuki.

Today, O Readers, She Who Sucks Least muses on the subject of persona and naming within the SCA.  On one of the non-Japanese SCA lists I am on, someone recently posed the question of how one reconciles one's personal beliefs with the belief system one's persona would have subscribed to. The short version of that discussion pretty much boils down to either downplaying (or completely omitting) the religious aspect of one's persona within the confines of SCA play or incorporating it - as long as it is done with respectful intent.

Nobody bats an eye at an American of northern European ancestry portraying a northern European medieval Christian, which is quite convenient for when I am being Jehanne.  However, as an American of northern European ancestry etc., my portrayal of a Japanese becomes far more complicated.

Again, the key, at least in my own mind, is respectful intent. I admit that when I am Saionji I work a lot harder at it. I worried when Duchess Tamsin (who is Japanese American) and I locked eyes across the road in Merchant's Row the first time she'd actually seen me in wafuku. She is a dear, classy lady who would have never said a word against it, but I still felt my gut knot and wondered "Oh, God, what does she think?" I feel it every time we have native Japanese visitors from the Barony of the Far West. (The good news is that I've had most reassuringly positive and complimentary reactions in all cases and appear to have managed not to offend anyone.)

So, back to the "Hi, can I call myself 'Kitsune?'" people. Well, you can call yourself whatever you want, but should you?

In the SCA, if you want to register a name, "every word in a Society name must be compatible with period naming practices."

Regardless of the story you read or the anime you saw or the fact that you think wolves are admirable or ravens are cool, you have to stop and ask, did the medieval Japanese (or other culture/time period of your choice) name their children after these creatures? If not, WHY not? How did Japanese of the period perceive these animals 300 or more years before the founding of the Sierra Club? That's the criteria you should consider if you want to attempt a respectful portrayal of a Japanese in the SCA. (E.g., when the Shinsegumi were referred to as the Wolves of Mibu, it was most definitely not a compliment.)

Trust someone who started out with a punning Japanese nickname that made all the martial artists think, "Are you SURE you want to call yourself that, hon?" (It served its purpose at the time, then when I was ready, I chose a better name.)

Are you still sure you want that name?

In our real, everyday lives we are saddled with the names our parents bestow upon us. While some people will go so far as to legally change the name they were born with because they never liked it, most of us live with what we were given, whether we like it or not.

Same thing with nicknames. In most cases, nicknames happen because someone makes an observance about you and tags you with a nickname based on it. It could be a diminutive form of your name, based on a physical attribute ("Stretch"), where you come from, ("Tex"), or something you did that you'll never live down ("Barometer Boy").  In Japan's Imperial Court it was considered rude to refer to a person directly by name. This is one of the reasons that finding period Japanese names for women is so challenging. If all that ever gets written down about one is "The Mother of Mitchitsune" or "Tametoki's Daughter" or "The Wife Of Thus And Such Minister" or even "The Lady Who Lives Next To The Potted Plant" you can see the problem.

Traditionally, most translators decide, "Fine, we'll just call her Kiritsubo" "(The Lady Who Lives In The Pavilion By The Potted Pawlonia Tree)" because that's what Kiritsubo means and it makes life a lot easier. Western readers interpret these nicknames as being real names. After all, that's what we're used to.

So I understand. Really I do. Picking an SCA name means I get to decide what people will call me. I want something that is meaningful to me, that proclaims to the world Who I Am, because I got into the SCA because I'm a shameless romantic or I want to be larger than life a few hours a week, or pick your reason.

So here you are, all bright eyed and enthusiastic and you've found The Perfect Name and someone says you can't use it? The nerve! What does she know? She's only the woman who wrote the book on medieval Japanese naming practices that is the bible on the subject for the SCA, BTW. He's only got a doctoral degree in Japanese. The rest of us have only been benefiting from their knowledge for longer than you've been in the organization and are trying to, well, help you on your quest to find something you can actually register.

There's a solution, really. All is not lost. "Konichiwa, I am Saionji no Hanae. You can call me (Insert The Perfect Name Here)."

That's it. Do the homework - after all, if you're going to pick a name and a persona, it might be nice to know more about it than something you saw in a cartoon. Consult with a herald - they get lonely, that's what they're there for. Register a name that does what the College of Heralds requires of it.

Let your friends call you by The Perfect Name.

Resources:

SCA Heraldry Home Page. http://heraldry.sca.org/welcome.html

Academy of St. Gabriel. http://www.s-gabriel.org/

Sengoku Daimyo article on Japanese Names. http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/miscellany/names.html

Tousando's Period Japanese Name Generator uses names taken from the Sengoku Daimyo page. If you're not sure WHAT you want, play with it to get some ideas.
http://www.rhinohide.cx/tousando/name/name.html

Name Construction in Medieval Japan by Solveig Throndardottir (Dr. Barbara Nostrand) is the standard for SCA reference. Check with your kingdom or local herald to see if you can get a look at it, or order a copy of your own from:
Ted Eisenstein
PO Box 30171
Columbia, MO 65205

Cost: $42.50 (includes shipping)

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Copyright 2008 Lisa A. Joseph