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HOME > the spirit of the brabd nihonbashi-bijin > Aesthetics of Iki–Natives of Edo Mr. Jusaburo Tsujimura, Puppet master
The spirit of the brand Nihonbashi-bijin, Japan Beauty from Edo-Tokyo is based on the traditional aesthetic sense of “Iki” – Cool. Cool women with their back ramrod-straight shine from the inside ﾑthey are dignified and graceful.
Yasube Hosoda, the adviser to Eitaro Sohonpo who is taking over the aesthetics of Edo, gave us his opinion of iki and Nihonbashi-bijin, women who are beautiful in body and mind.
Yasube Hosoda, the adviser to Eitaro Sohonpo who is taking over the aesthetics of Edo, gave us his opinion of iki and Nihonbashi-bijin, women who are beautiful in body and mind.
Iki and Nihonbashi-bijin
Mr. Jusaburo Tsujimura,
Puppet master
Puppet master
Iki of dolls
I usually keep in mind Edo's iki (being cool) when I make puppets.
I made only Western puppets when I was young. However, after I produced puppets for NHK's Shin Hakkenden TV puppet show broadcast in 1973, I became aware that I was Japanese. I felt a new enthusiasm and thereafter have been creating Japanese puppets.
Dolls from Kyoto have the elegant and bright “miyabi (gracefulness)” that is similar to the dressed-up maiko (apprentices of geisha). Taking dolls for the Girls' Festival as an example, Kyoto's miyabi and Edo's iki are very different, with their own attraction. My puppets are still iki even when they are based on the Tale of Genji, a Kyoto-based story.
I usually keep in mind Edo's iki (being cool) when I make puppets.
I made only Western puppets when I was young. However, after I produced puppets for NHK's Shin Hakkenden TV puppet show broadcast in 1973, I became aware that I was Japanese. I felt a new enthusiasm and thereafter have been creating Japanese puppets.
Dolls from Kyoto have the elegant and bright “miyabi (gracefulness)” that is similar to the dressed-up maiko (apprentices of geisha). Taking dolls for the Girls' Festival as an example, Kyoto's miyabi and Edo's iki are very different, with their own attraction. My puppets are still iki even when they are based on the Tale of Genji, a Kyoto-based story.
Expressing beauty
One of my favorite movie directors is Federico Fellini. When he came over to watch my theatrical show in Italy when I was in my 40s, he said “expressing something is being ferocious and sensitive,” which was shocking to me at that time.
Puppets can't express their feelings by themselves, so we need to put words into them to make them understood by the audience. Their strong characters are sensitively expressed by their external cloth.
When playing characters created by Izumi Kyoka, I put the vocabulary from his novels into the puppets. By having them wear a dancer's fan or flute on their obi (sash), I convey the anecdote behind the characters, such as that of a dance master or flute master. I may study many ukiyoe works created by Utamaro, Hiroshige and other artists, interpret them in various ways and use what I receive from them as my form of expression. After examining such processes, puppets become the characters themselves.
Curiously, if I dress puppets with kimonos that don't go well with their face, they get angry and refuse to wear them. So I put clothes on them piece by piece while having a conversation with them.
Beautiful dolls are always lively. Being dynamic enhances their existence. To realize this, they need to have sexual charms. Don't you think that you can't find sexual charms in dolls that are gloomy? You will see the aura of being iki in the sexual charms of puppets that show a vivid, strong existence instead of flattering people.
One of my favorite movie directors is Federico Fellini. When he came over to watch my theatrical show in Italy when I was in my 40s, he said “expressing something is being ferocious and sensitive,” which was shocking to me at that time.
Puppets can't express their feelings by themselves, so we need to put words into them to make them understood by the audience. Their strong characters are sensitively expressed by their external cloth.
When playing characters created by Izumi Kyoka, I put the vocabulary from his novels into the puppets. By having them wear a dancer's fan or flute on their obi (sash), I convey the anecdote behind the characters, such as that of a dance master or flute master. I may study many ukiyoe works created by Utamaro, Hiroshige and other artists, interpret them in various ways and use what I receive from them as my form of expression. After examining such processes, puppets become the characters themselves.
Curiously, if I dress puppets with kimonos that don't go well with their face, they get angry and refuse to wear them. So I put clothes on them piece by piece while having a conversation with them.
Beautiful dolls are always lively. Being dynamic enhances their existence. To realize this, they need to have sexual charms. Don't you think that you can't find sexual charms in dolls that are gloomy? You will see the aura of being iki in the sexual charms of puppets that show a vivid, strong existence instead of flattering people.
Expressing beautyDignity of castle “down” town
The downtown area around Nihonbashi in the Edo period was literally a castle “down” town, which was located down under the castle. Feudal lords who created the basis of Edo by developing water channels to transport goods and materials valued their town's magnificence and dignity. Naturally, merchants of Nihonbashi also lived in dignity.
I imagine that merchant wives at the time were decisive and snappy. Having a resolute confidence in yourself is a key element of being iki.
The aesthetics of iki, which is the basis of those people, probably is being decisive, or the snappy way of living where you don't have an obsession with things or regret too much. I feel that women who are not decisive are not beautiful no matter how attractive they look. I believe the aesthetics of iki develop the true Nihonbashi-bijin.
The downtown area around Nihonbashi in the Edo period was literally a castle “down” town, which was located down under the castle. Feudal lords who created the basis of Edo by developing water channels to transport goods and materials valued their town's magnificence and dignity. Naturally, merchants of Nihonbashi also lived in dignity.
I imagine that merchant wives at the time were decisive and snappy. Having a resolute confidence in yourself is a key element of being iki.
The aesthetics of iki, which is the basis of those people, probably is being decisive, or the snappy way of living where you don't have an obsession with things or regret too much. I feel that women who are not decisive are not beautiful no matter how attractive they look. I believe the aesthetics of iki develop the true Nihonbashi-bijin.
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