“Edo fashion was the most advanced in the world!” Professor Maruyama talks about the history of Edo kimono culture.

（interview Nagi Ijima）

Fashion in Edo was 100 years earlier than in Europeた。

── When I read your book The Birth of Edo Mode, I was really surprised to learn that the fashion in Edo was 100 years earlier than in Europe.たんです。

Japan is actually the first cultural area in the world to have fashion. Fashion in the sense of fashion was already established in Japan in the mid-17th century in the early Edo period. Since it's an annual publication, it's almost 20 years later, during the Genroku era, when the mode was already in its perfection. It's certainly a hundred years earlier than in Europe.るんですよ。確実に、ヨーロッパより百年は早いですね。

── But Japanese people don't know about that.います。

That's right, the precociousness of Japanese culture has been completely forgotten. Consuming the value of being up-to-date and forming the basis of urban culture. Kabuki reached its stage of completion as a performing art around the Genroku era, so it was around the end of the 17th century, while Europe's folk music, such as Mozart's opera, was at the end of the 18th century. In those days, Edo was 100 years earlier than Edo. Of course, a certain amount of economic power was necessary, but a cultural sphere in which an unspecified number of people, such as townspeople, could interact was already established in the 17th century. It wasしていた。これは極めて特異なことだったんです。

── Since when did something like that kind of innovation become forgotten?う。

It must have been from the Meiji era, when Japan entered the Meiji era and had to compete with the Western powers, Japan tried to erase and forget its own culture until then. However, he was interested in Japanese culture and asked many Japanese people about it. People above the educated level were imprinted with the impression that it was a country of a kind. Because of that, the culture was cut off. I don't knowと、すごく引っかかる。どうしても壁があるんですよね。

「Patterns are actually amazingである。

── The kosode model book, which is a kimono fashion book that came out earlier, is mainly about the fashion of patterns.よね？

The purpose is to introduce patterns, isn't it? In the Edo period, kimono was standardized in the form of kosode, but I think that patterns are actually an amazing existence.思うんですよ。

── The pattern is amazingと。

That's right, normally when a new shape or pattern appears, if you express it quickly and it takes root immediately, it won't take root. It's impossible without a substantial base of knowledge on your side and a magnificent knowledge system.がないと、無理なんですね。
The story goes back to ancient times, but even if Japanese people at that time wanted to create patterns, they would not permeate unless they had motifs that were considered valuable. For example, I read a Chinese poem and admire chrysanthemums. Various patterns were imported, and those patterns were woven as ground patterns, which remain today as Yusoku patterns. I don't really understand it lol. It's natural because it doesn't exist in Japan, so it's a foreign pattern that came through West Asia and then mainland China.ジアを通って中国大陸を経由して入ってきた、外来の文様だからです。

── Certainly, I thought that I didn't really understand what the Yusoku pattern Aya Fusen was.ました（笑）！

The Koaoi pattern in the Yusoku pattern has nothing to do with the actual Aoi. It is often explained that the Yusoku pattern is a traditional Japanese pattern, but the Yusoku pattern is the least Japanese pattern. It's just that it was imported and I didn't really understand it, but I continued to use it.外と日本的じゃなかったりするんですよ。
In the latter half of the Heian period, Japaneseization began to occur, and even if the patterns were yusoku patterns, they began to devise colors. The plum blossoms, the cherry blossoms, and the unohana blossoms are extremely Japanese. Among them, it is extremely Japanese to use familiar plants as names for color combinations.合わせの名称にしたのは、極めて、日本的です。

「The knowledge system of patterns was accumulated in family crestsいた！

── But the color of attack is also very complicated, isn't it?よね。

That's right, colors are abstract, so it's difficult to pass them down. Since they're natural dyes, they fade and change depending on the amount of light. If it wasn't conveyed accurately, it wouldn't have been passed down to the next generation of samurai society. It's too complicated, lol.ものを求めた。それが、文様なんですね。
For example, in the latter half of the Heian period, oxcarts were decorated with round crests. This later became the prototype for family crests. I started to make a pattern ofし始めるんです。
In the samurai society, the family crest was born because the samurai family valued the family very much. In the Muromachi period, samurai costumes, called daimon, which served as both family crests and decorations, became popular. However, it was only after the Edo period that patterns were fully expressed in clothes. It was rare to express the pattern as the main part of the decoration, but only the family crest was actively devised freely.は自由な工夫が積極的にされていたんですね。
In fact, the reason why pattern expressions exploded at once in the Edo period was because a huge knowledge system of patterns was accumulated in Kamon.なんです。

── But why did patterns suddenly appear on kimonos in the Edo period?ょうか？

The type of kimono that has continued to this day is the kosode, which was originally a practical garment for the common people and was the underwear worn by court nobles as the bottom of their robes. Until then, the difference between men and women was represented by the difference in the style of clothing, but now that both men and women are wearing the same style of clothing, the representation of gender difference becomes ambiguous. After all, one of the most important social roles that clothing has is to indicate whether it is male or female, so there is a need to express gender differences with some method that replaces the form of clothing. The pattern began to concentrate on women's kosode.。女性の小袖に文様が集中し始めるんですね。
Clothing is extremely conservative, so it's extremely unusual for such a big change to occur in such a short period of time. I think that it was because I was asked to try to express gender differences with patterns because of the私は考えています。

Kabukimono and prostitutes who embodied a big changeち。

── After entering the Edo period, patterns rapidly came to the fore.ね。

Yes, but when such a big change occurs, the first thing that needs to be done is the existence of a human being who can break through the Kara. Those were Kabukimono and prostitutes. The kosode of the kabukimono and courtesans who appear in these paintings have extremely bold and large patterns drawn on them. In addition, the famous Kamawanu pattern, which was later popularized by the Kabuki actor Danjuro Ichikawa, has already appeared in this era.にかく、「目立ちたい」が第一だったんです。

── 「I want to stand out, but I feel a sense of closeness lol But where did those kabukimono and prostitutes come up with such patterns?てきたんですか？

For example, the high-class prostitutes of that time were associated with people of high status, so they were influenced by that, and their literacy rate was also high. Among the people called kabukimono, there were people of various social statuses, some of whom were commoners called town slaves, and others like samurai warriors. Kabukimono and prostitutes weren't just outlaws.た居場所をもっていたんですね。

── What kind of existence was the Kabukimono?うか？

A kabukimono is not a kabuki actor who will later become a kabuki actor, but a person who wears a kabuki.It is a person who behaves and dresses in a way that is eccentric and out of the ordinary. If people who are superior in academics and arts are given important posts, there will be no place for those who have trained in the martial arts to play an active role. There is a history of becomingたという経緯があります。
There are two types of kabukimono, young people and adults, and the adults are mainly dissatisfied with society, as I just mentioned, while the young people are like the male version of prostitutes who are also the targets of male sexuality. Danshoku is not that rare, so until the middle of the Edo period, it was common for daimyo-class samurai to become patrons of wakashu.ともしばしばでした。
By the way, it is said that the roots of Kabuki as a performing art today are that a woman called Kokuni started kabuki dance, and the performances by courtesans and the performances by young people coexisted, so prostitute kabuki was performed. Kabuki performed by young men was also prohibited, and only kabuki performed by bastards, that is, grown-up men, was permitted, and this led to modern kabuki. There was a common feature in the form of selling art and selling、という形では共通した特徴がありました。

The world's first fashion book that appeared in the early Edo periodク。

── The world's first fashion book called Kosode Hinagata-bon appeared through the free patterns of Kabukimono and prostitutes.ね。

In the preface to the Shinsen Gohiinakata published in 1666, it is clearly stated that new things were incorporated into this book, and that old things were not incorporated. In addition, the fact that it is a printed book means that it is being sent to an unspecified number of people, so in that sense, it is definitely the world's first fashion book. It means the beginning of a trend. Just because it's interesting doesn't make it a trend. In fact, in 1692, in the 5th year of the Genroku era, it is written that all the fashions of that time will die out in 1692.の『女重宝記』に、この頃の流行は５〜８年でみな廃れる、と書かれています。

── In the early Edo period, people were already aware of the fashion cycle.ね！

However, the era of beautifully decorating kosode with such patterns did not last very long. Kanbun kosode, which flourished around 166173 in the Kanbun era, peaked. Then, the pattern will be divided at the waist, so the pattern above the waist and the pattern below will be separated. There are times when patterns start to become popular. Of course, there is also the fact that people simply get tired of large patterns.新しさが消費されていく、ということですから。
Furthermore, as we chased after new things, ideas gradually dried up. Such a situation surfaced around the 1730s in the latter half of the Kyoho period. In addition, back patterns will appear, but while we are looking for patterns that have never existed before, strange monkey patterns and eccentric things will appear. Kakitsubata is a standard pattern, but it's already covered with eye marks, so if you write it in kanji, it's written as iris flower, swallow's child flower, but the design also makes the shape of the flower a swallow. lol形をツバメにしちゃったりとかするんです（笑）。
At that time, publishers specializing in hinagatabon, which were concentrated in Kyoto, gradually disappeared, and by the end of the 18th century, hinagatabon had come to an end.ます。
After that, the center of fashion was Edo. The overall appearance becomes important, such as the hairstyle and the harmony with the obi. The center of心と流行の中心が一体化していくんです。

── Does that mean that styling becomes important?か。

It's a little strange, but the shogunate frequently issued bans on kimonos, but not so many on obis. Why is that an issue for the future?題なんですが。

I want modern kimono to have the playfulness of the Edo period。

── You've asked me a lot about Edo period kimono, but what do you think about modern kimono?か？

I think people in the Edo period tried every possible pattern. It may sound like an exaggeration to say that people are adventurous, but in short, the people of Edo were playing with patterns. It was a play, so the major role of the pattern was how to create a sense of playfulness.きな役割だったわけです。
Even the samurai, who valued dignity, played with patterns. Modern kimonos, which had elements of solving problems, don't have that kind of playfulness, do they? And there is a clown lolと、ピエロがいたりするんですよ（笑）。

── There are cats, musical notes, and things like that.とあります。

Also, for example, when I talk to people at department stores, there are times when things that I feel are good are different from what I have here. I think it's going to taper off. The origin of kimono culture is in Edo, but it's hard to find anything that goes back to Edo.のぼるものがなかなか出てこないんです。

── What is the reason for not coming up with anything interesting?か？

Now that you can do anything, I think it can be boring. The same goes for car design. I used to be obsessed with design, but now it's easy to make any kind of complicated shape, so it's not fun.が面白いんですよね。
In that sense, kimonos have a lot of restrictions. The shape of the garment is fixed, and it has to look beautiful when worn, so you have to understand where to put the pattern and where to hide it. If we take advantage of the constraints and express them, we should be able to create really interesting designs, but I felt that the constraints weren't being fully utilized. Butのもあったんですけどね。
After all, it was an era when the wearer was able to discern what was good, and the creators were able to do various things, right? I think that when the wearer sees something like that because they go to safety measures, they stop wearing it because of the kimono.、ということがあると思いますね。

Kimono is the only form of clothing in the world that can produce patterns.ある。

── Sensei, what do you want kimonos to look like in the future?？

After all, I want you to return to the consciousness of Edo, but the problem is the dressing of women's kimono. On the other hand, wearing a kimono with a matching length would negate the existence of the obi. Since it is a result of linking with the lengthening of the hem of the kimono, if you wear it with a counter length, a thin belt like a men's kimono will be enough.充分でしょ、ということになってしまう。

── However, if you are currently wearing a kimono with a length similar to the length of your body, there is an opinion that it would be better to wear a kimono with no length.ありますが…。

After all, I think that the volume of the clothes under the obi is actually important. As for the appearance, considering the trouble of putting it on, it's easier to decide on the length, but that's a difficult problem, isn't it? I don't know, but in reality, it's difficult to achieve a good balance by pulling the hem long and tying the hair with a complicated obi at the waist and tying the hair with a certain amount of volume, but that's difficult nowadays.それは今では難しいことですよね。

── Finally, what do you think is the charm of kimono?うか？

Kimono is the only form of clothing in the world that can produce patterns. But in the case of Japan, it was part of everyday scenery, and it wasn't just clothing, it was also a presence that colored the city. In such a situation, kimono was the only opportunity for ordinary people to see various colors and shapes such as red, yellow, and purple. I think that's one of the interesting things about Japanese kimono, which is different from Europe.それはやっぱり、ヨーロッパとは違う、日本の着物の面白さだと思いますね。