Bird Tea-houses in Edo Japan 花鳥茶屋、孔雀茶屋

People that come to Japan often make the observation that Japanese people are kind of obsessed with "the West" and with other countries (esp America). Fashion, music, food, TV, cosmetics; a lot of things considered "in vogue" are imports from some other land. This is not a recent phenomenon. Ever since westerners first set foot on Japanese land, Japanese society has had an insatiable desire to learn about these people and their customs and a strong sense of curiosity regarding things from "other lands".

One good example I have discovered in my research diggings, is the existence of "Bird Teahouses" (花鳥茶屋）and "Peacock Teahouses" (孔雀茶屋）in Edo period Japan. These were basically shops that had caged exotic birds on display, including peacocks and cockatoos, where you could sip your green tea and be in awe of weird wonderful creatures. It sounds so poetic written down like that but I bet it would have been noisy and smelly and dirty, even. We are talking late 1790's in Edo, Osaka and Kyoto.

Some of the first foreign birds to be imported to Japan were Cassowaries and Peacocks, brought by Dutch traders to Japan in the late 1700's. They were brought as gifts for the people in power, the Shogun, Daimyo retainers etc but were very popular as "mise-mono", literally, Showing-things. They were curious birds never seen in Japan before so it's no wonder they attracted attention amongst the public.

Before long, more foreign birds, (smaller and prettier ones) were imported, again mainly by the Dutch and eventually these Bird Teahouses openened to cash in on the public interest. It is said that these teahouses are the forerunners of public zoo's in Japan.

Scene of a so-called Peacock Teahouse

These people are looking in at some peacocks

Looks like these men are enjoying tea and some food, even. (is this the Edo equivalent of the Husband bench?!)

Toyokuni print of a Bird Teahouse in 1793.

You can see the cages around the edges full of birds.



A typical print of the day depicting foreign birds with their names given in Chinese characters. Here you see a peacock bottom right and a Parrot top second from right

Although its just another example of Japan's closed-nature and their obsession with anything and everything foreign, I really like the idea of these teahouses.
Wouldn't it be cool to recreate a "bird teahouse" of sorts, using textiles instead of the real birds themselves? This is something I'm thinking about for the culmination of my research and textiles work here in Kyoto. Stay tuned!!

Ugly Parrots?

I found this image today, its a woodblock print of a parrot by 嵩岳堂 which I think is read as Sūgakudō from 1859.

Don't know about you but I wouldn't say its a very pretty rendition of a crimson rosella or whatever its meant to be. But you know, it is interesting because it shows how artists are sometimes so clueless when it comes to depicting things that are foreign to them.

Take for example the "gum trees" in Australian landscapes painted by early colonial English artists who came out to Australia. It's not their fault but they really had no idea:

John Glover, The bath of Diana, Van Diemen's Land 1837

http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?View=LRG&IRN=180222

Poor John, he just couldn't shake the english trees from his mind.

I wonder whether Sūgakudō had a real bird to draw from or if he took it second hand from somewhere else. In which case it might be fair enough its sooooo ugly? The face only a mother could love....

Foreign Elements 横浜絵

For the purpose of writing a research proposal, I've recently found myself wondering exactly what kind of art it is that I like. Or more, what area within Art and Textiles really grabs my interest? I found I could narrow my interest down to the following vague sounding statement (haha, it needs some honing)

The appearance of “foreign elements” in Japanese art & design.

I already gave some examples of this in a previous post, where exotic birds appear in Japanese paintings and textiles.

But another great example of this is Yokohama-E 横浜絵

Yokohama-e simply means images of Yokohama. These are Ukiyo-e prints (woodblock prints in multiple colours) which were created in a very small and particular window of Japanese history. During the 1860's, after Japan had been "opened" to the outside world by American Commodore Matthew Perry and his fleet of "Black Ships", Japan signed a series of trade agreements with 5 major nations. (France, Russia, Great Britain, Holland and the United States) These agreements allowed merchants from those countries to establish shopfronts and quarters in the port area of Yokohama.

What resulted was a small and curious population of foreigners residing in Japan. Ukiyo-e artists like Sadahide Utagawa (1807-1873) made these incredible prints which depicted these strange foreigners. Primarily these were intended for Japanese audiences and you can tell from the outrageous fashions and grotesque faces on the subjects that these were often not done from observation but from guesswork and secondary images like foreign newspaper illustrations.

I think they're great. The way they show foreigners through Japanese eyes, and in such a typically Japanese technique is priceless.

This print above by Sadahide is called People of the Five Nations - The Dutch and is meant to represent a typically dutch couple. Since most foreign merchants in Yokohama were male, its said there were actually very few women in Yokohama during the period the prints were made. Does that account for how....unattractive this dutch lady is?

I believe the text describes the attributes of the Dutch people and the sorts of technologies they were well known for, like the telescope the man is holding.

This print is also by Sadahide from 1860. Its long winded title is Life Drawings of People of Foreign Nations: Picture of Russians raising sheep for Wool. Unfortunately Sadahide has depicted a goat instead...
This final image is Banquet of Five Nations (at the Yokohama Club) by Yoshikazu, from 1861. The little labels tell us which nations these foreigners are supposed to be from. There's some fantastic head gear in there too, though I dont think it helps us tell the nations apart as Yoshikazu had probably intended...

There are so so many more of these prints. MIT has a great website about Yokohama-E with loads more images and an essay: http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/yokohama/yb_essay04.html