Mia's Dressed by Nature: Textiles of Japan - What Will You Learn?

Article by Becky Fillinger

Dr. Andreas MarksWe are blessed by a wealth of museums in the Twin Cities. You might have missed the announcement about Mia’s new exhibit, Dressed by Nature: Textiles of Japan. I had one question for Dr. Andreas Marks, who oversees Mia’s renowned collection of Japanese and Korean art, about the impressive exhibit covering textiles produced between 1750 and 1930. Check out the reasons for attending!

Close up detail of festival kimono decorated with carp ascending a waterfall made in Akita Prefecture

Q:  In many parts of the world, textiles embody the weaver’s or weaving communities’ beliefs, histories, folklore, motifs, and design sensibilities. Therefore, textile products are important representations of a given community and their material culture. What will museum-goers learn about Japan by visiting the exhibit? 

• Textiles embody the economical situation of the maker as well as the economical situation of the client. Even in preindustrial Japan, there were specialized makers whose occupation was to produce textiles, not necessarily for themselves or for their own community, but that might have been ordered for someone further away.

• The view of Japan as the land of the kimono, meaning the beautiful silk robe, is an oversimplification that is being repeated again and again. Exhibitions on Japanese textiles often follow the same concept, showcasing a few old kimonos and then examples of modern haute couture that were influenced by such kimonos. Our aim with “Dressed by Nature” is to illustrate the diversity of cultures in the Japanese archipelago. The kimono, how Westerners understand them, is not the standard clothing all over Japan. Silk was a luxury item that fell under sumptuary law and only people of a certain social status, the aristocracy, could wear it. There were social and regional differences that strongly influenced what you were allowed to wear or what you could afford to wear. Throughout Japan, the majority of people wore cotton as well as other fibers that could be harvested in their environment. Some regions developed patterning techniques that were very laborious to employ but famous all over the country, and although the garment was made of cotton, it was as expensive as silk.

• Another aspect to consider is that people often assume that Japan is ethnically homogeneous, but this exhibition gives visitors a glimpse of regional and ethnic differences, from the indigenous Ainu people to the Okinawans. In a nutshell, this exhibition is an eye-opener for the enormous variety of clothing that was produced in what is today the country of Japan.

• “Dressed by Nature” is set up to entertain and bring joy to visitors, but it is also a learning experience with a wealth of information available in the galleries. Nothing in this exhibition has ever been on view at Mia before.

Fireman's parade leather coat (kawabaori) with Ōhisa family crest

Dark blue-ground festival kimono sea creatures

Siberian salmon-skin woman’s robe

Attush robe with talismanic pendants