The Introduction and Contemporary Practice of Academical Dress in Japan

T history of the introduction, evolution and contemporary—albeit limited—practice of academical dress in Japan is a story that parallels the revolutionary changes which swept across the once feudal nation as it emerged into the twentieth century. In the clash of East and West that characterized the rise of modern Japan, the parallel story of academic dress is one which debunks the model notion that conventions of Westernization and the process of modernization are inextricably linked.1 Set apart from the conventions of popular fashion, academic dress in the West represents the highest scholastic achievement. However, prior to Western contact, the wearing of robes called the kimono (着物) was already the standard practice amongst the people of Japan. To this day, the wearing of the kimono is widely accepted as a common practice both in academia and on almost any formal occasion. In Japan the introduction and assimilation of the practices of Western courts and popular fashion has had a greater impact upon the Westernization of Japanese culture than have had the robes of Western academia. Nevertheless, the robes of academic achievement are inexorably linked to the Westernizing standards of scholasticism and the general rejection of that standard is of genuine interest when considering Westernization as a concurrent prerequisite in the modernization of Japan. From the sixth century onward cultural imperialism emanating from the Chinese literary and Confucian traditions and upon the teachings of Buddhism served as the ideological foundations upon which Japanese scholarship was based. The Tokugawa Shogunate, also known as the Tokugawa Bakufu (徳川幕府) and later as the Edo Bakufu (江戸幕府), was the dynastic military dictatorship through which the Tokugawa family ruled Japan in seclusion from 1603 to 1867. Credited with establishing the works of the Neo-Confucian philosopher Chu Hsi (朱熹, 1130–1200) (see Fig. 1) as the official doctrine of the Tokugawa Shogunate was Hayashi Nobukatsu (1583–1657). During the ‘two-hundred years of peace’ provided for by the rule of the Shogunates, Sinophobe-centric academia remained the status quo and was propagated throughout the feudal empire.2 The arts of the Neo-Confucian scholar in Japan included an individual’s mastery of Qin (琴), the ability to play a musical instrument; Qi (棋), the ability to play the strategic board game ‘Go’; Shu (书), one’s proficiency in calligraphy; and Hua (画), skill in traditional painting. The curricula of the Samurai schools as operated by the Tokugawa elite also focused upon the disciplines of agriculture, war, engineering, mathematics, medicine and astronomy. Meanwhile, the majority of commoners were educated at temple schools (寺子 屋 terakoya), which had evolved from even earlier Buddhist schools. Prior to the opening of Japan to foreign trade and influence, the academic dress of the nation was already evident in the vestments of the officials from China and/or of those