BASHOFU: BANANA-FIBRE CLOTH ANDITS TRANSFORMATIONS OF USAGE AND MEANING

ACROSS BOUNDARIES OF PLACE AND TIMEIN THE RYUKYU ARCHIPELAGO

Katrien HendrickxKatrien Hendrickx

23 March 200623 March 2006

CONTENTS

Subject and purpose of this study

Research questions and methods

Key findings and importance of this study

Future research

SUBJECT AND PURPOSE

The raw material:fibre banana plants (Musa balbisiana)

silk-like bashofu

to clarify bashofu’s origins

to give an overall picture of the acculturation of bashofu weaving through history

in the Ryukyu Archipelago

PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY

RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODS

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the origin and provenance of Ryukyuan bashofu?

2. Why and how did banana-fibre weaving develop in the Ryukyu archipelago?

3. What are the characteristics of present-day bashofu?

M E T H O D S

viewpoints from various fields• history

• folklore

• phytohistory

participant observation

viewpoints from technical experience

• philology

fieldwork

• botany

• ethnography

text analysis

SOURCES

• Ryukyuan and Japanese primary sources

> written sources> pictorial sources: drawings, paintings, photographs

• Chinese and Western primary and secondary sources

M E T H O D Sviewpoints from various fields

• history

• folklore

• phytohistory

participant observation

viewpoints from technical experience

• philology

fieldwork

• botany

• ethnography

text analysis

comparison of bashofu with Musa-fibre cloth

SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS

Map showing the distribution of Musa species in East and Southeast Asia

(source: P. Pollefeys et al., Preliminary analysis of the literature on the distribution of wild Musa species using MGIS and DIVA-GIS. 2004. (P.4))

RYUKYU

• Musa balbisiana was introduced into the Ryukyu Archipelagoby man

SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS

Map showing the distribution of Musa species in East and Southeast Asia

(source: P. Pollefeys et al., Preliminary analysis of the literature on the distribution of wild Musa species using MGIS and DIVA-GIS. 2004. (P.4))

RYUKYU? ?

roton-ori

hana-ori

techniques of Chinese origin such as

dubble-faced float weave

The boiling of banana fibre in an alkaline solution

Amami

(19th century)Shuri, May 2000 Yaeyama,

December 2001

Shuri (19th century)

• Musa balbisiana was introduced into the Ryukyu Archipelagoby manfrom Southern China

• Bashofu weaving in the Ryukyu Archipelago

replaced silk at the Shuri court

developed first at the Shuri court

spread throughout the islands from the 18th C onwardswas never interrupted during World War II in some Yaeyama and Amami Islands

of Okinawa’s cultural identity

SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS

• Bashofu became a symbol

of Japan’s cultural diversity

as tributary gift to the Ming court

FUTURE RESEARCH

fieldwork outside the Ryukyu Archipelago

in Southern China

in Northern China

• comparison of Musa-fibre cloth with bashofu

• Musa balbisiana in Fujian province?

• research on remaining material examples of previous Ryukyuan bashofu

for

your

attention

THANKYOU