potd - Old Map

Something a little different....  a map of the Tokyo  Peace Commemorative Exhibition at Ueno Park  in 1922.  The advertisement in the top right hand corner is for the Hananoka brewery that was founded in 1902 and  still sells sake with the same logo.

 

Home Front Textiles

As this month is the 70th anniversary of the Second World War  I thought it would be a good chance to bring out my collection of wartime home front textiles and ephemera. I'll  give  a talk and display  my collection here at the shop on Thursday 27th August  from 7pm until 8.30ish  (we'll have a cup of tea as well). The collection isn't huge but includes propaganda fabrics, senninbari amulet belts, fabric air raid helmets, a comfort doll, magazines, postcards etc.  If you'd like to come along  there's no charge but I don't have a lot of space so please send me an email or give me a call so I know how many are coming.

Late1930's undergarment fabric:

Detail of senninbari ('thousand people needle') amulet belt:

 Imon ningyo (comfort doll) designs by Nakahara Junichi:

potd - Theatre Postcards

Old pre-war theatre postcards. The first one is dated 1920.  The living room scene is my favourite - I'm not sure what's going on there!

potd - Kabuki Postcards

We have a stack of old theatre postcards. These ones are (all male) kabuki actors from c.1920.

 

 

potd - Antique Map

Antique tourist map of Kamakura. This is undated but is most likely  from the mid-19th century. I'll put this out in the shop soon but it's already in my online catalogue.

potd - Antique Paper

I'm spending the day making up lots of antique paper packs. The paper comes from old damaged books and business records and much of it is over 100 years old. We sell whole books as well. It's great for all kinds of paper art and covering lanterns etc,  and traditionally is also sometimes recycled into shifu ('paper fabric').

1913 Taisho Obi Design Book

I  am selling this wonderful old design book on my website (link below).  It's a book of original handpainted  full size  obi weaving designs which have been pasted onto old bookkeeping records and bound.  It measures 37cm x 50cm and has around 140 different designs; the photos here are only a small sample.   The cover reads:  'Design Book , 2nd year of Taisho (1913), 7th volume, Miyake Sei Shoten'.  Miyake Sei Shoten was a clothing and fabric shop in central Kyoto which sadly closed last year. This album of designs is from their archive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you're interested in this album  it is  listed on my online shop here, or you can contact me directly.

1930's Hats and Hair

Takashi  recently brought back a couple of old photo albums from the 1930's. I think I'm supposed to be selling them but I always find old family albums fascinating and irresistible. It's very sad that at some time in the life of the family someone has thought they weren't  worth keeping and treasuring.  I love looking at what they were wearing and doing  but there is also a poignancy in knowing that within a few years life in Japan would change so dreadfully. 
What struck me about these particular albums were some wonderful hats and some fairly wild hairdos. The ones that have been dated are from around 1934-35. (Click on any photos to enlarge)

This last one is my favourite - some very cool young men. 

1950's 'style'

We just acquired this selection of  1950's clothing patterns cut from newspaper. They're  sorted into  large envelopes neatly labelled  by brush:  'Boys' Patterns', 'Children - Adults - Pants ('pantsu')', 'Women's collar patterns' , 'Children - Adults - Pants ('zubon') patterns'.  There are any number of patterns in each envelope.

 

There is also a smaller envelope made from an old poster titled 'style collection' which holds cuttings from magazines. It's an interesting glimpse into 1950's taste (click on any of the pictures to enlarge):

 

 

 

 

A couple of pages of summer hairstyles by Nakahara Junichi:

 

And some autumn hairstyles:

 

 

 

It looks like there might have been plans for a family wedding:

 

 

This wedding cake looks delicious compared to the huge fake  (rubber?) monstrosities that were the vogue by the time I first went to Japan in the 80's.  At the first wedding I  ever went to the 'cake' must have been at least twelve foot tall. It's a very long time since I've been to a Japanese wedding so I don't know if that's still what they do but I hope it's fad that is dying out!

 

 

At typical  Japanese weddings the bride changes her outfit up to six times. Four seemed standard in our area: a white kimono for the ceremony, a brightly coloured kimono, a western wedding dress and then a voluminous 'cocktail dress'.  These bridal outfits from the 50's are very elegant:

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 





 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 



 



 

In Store - Theatre Postcards

I've just put out a stack of these old theatre postcards. Most of them are simply glossy black and white photos that have been printed out with a 'postcard' backing. I don't know very much at all about Japanese  theatre but we sometimes have old photos in the shop and they're always fun - the costumes are wonderful. The actors are all male.