Relay Column: Understanding Through Wear – The Attitudes of Women Experienced Through Clothing (Ayano Sudo)

In the solo exhibition "MISSING" held from November to December 22, 2024, I focused on modern Japanese women who became well-known through media exposure but gradually vanished as their era passed. I presented self-portrait photographs recreating their images from the blurry photographs that remain in the present.

In this work, I introduced two women who lived during the same period and explored the historical background and status of women at that time, drawing insights from the clothing they wore.

The first person is Yoshiko Kawashima. Her real name is Aisin Gioro Xianyu (愛新覚羅顯㺭). She is a descendant of the Aisin Gioro family, which led the last Chinese empire, the Qing dynasty, known for the last emperor. Amid the chaos from the late Qing dynasty to the establishment of Manchukuo, she was strategically adopted by a Japanese power figure. Traumatized by sexual abuse from her adoptive father, she attempted suicide with a pistol, but later decided to shave her long hair and live as a man. "I want to stand at the front like Joan of Arc and recover the lost land of the Manchu dynasty someday" (Yoshiko Kawashima, from "動乱の蔭に," p. 40). She donned a self-made military uniform and led an officially recognized vigilante group by the Japanese army in Japanese-ruled Manchukuo. After the war, she was executed as a war criminal by the Republic of China, but the execution was conducted in private; it is said she had a stand-in and eventually vanished into mainland China to live out her days.

The phrase “beautiful woman in male attire” is often heard even today, and it is said to have been first used in a novel by writer Shofu Muramatsu, inspired by Yoshiko Kawashima.

I have long desired to depict her rare life through the medium of self-portraiture. My grandparents served in Manchukuo under Japanese rule, so my father was born there in 1944, the year before the war ended. Fortunately, his family returned to Japan before the end of the war, and here I am now. However, I have long been interested in Manchukuo, a country that no longer exists, where my father was born. I remember encountering the persona of Yoshiko Kawashima while researching the history of Manchukuo.

First, I began with how to acquire the “self-made military uniform” she wore. Since military uniforms during the war were made for the men going to battle, although many were actually used, we can say that there were no uniforms specifically designed for women for combat purposes. Thus, it was inevitable to have one crafted from scratch. While searching daily for a tailor who could custom-make military uniforms, I by chance found a tailor called Shisuikoubou that specializes in military attire in China. Renowned among contemporary military enthusiasts in Japan, this tailor had previously recreated Yoshiko Kawashima's military uniform, which I discovered through social media. I reached out and successfully placed an order. Taking measurements from head to ankle, the result, after about a year of craftsmanship, is the military uniform of Yoshiko Kawashima depicted in the photographs. The beautifully draped patterns along the body, the meticulous sewing, and the high-quality fabric left me in awe. Although I had previously had costumes custom-made for other projects, once you experience the beauty of tailored clothing, it feels like a potential addiction.

However, the journey of military attire didn’t end with merely having the outfit made. As I finally slipped into the custom-made military uniform that arrived across the sea, something felt off even though it was created from precise measurements. My body was overwhelmed by the garment, making me feel as though I was drowning in it. I quickly realized that an athletic core was required to wear that uniform, which fit my body like a corset from head to toe. For the following months, I trained my core daily while attending Pilates, which was developed by military doctors. After this body transformation, I too shaved my head, preparing for this shoot. The military uniform, especially in formal attire, has a substantial propaganda element focused on “looking beautiful” before the practicality intended for combat, something I experienced through this production process. The refined designs meant to create a bold image illuminated the societal backdrop asking for an ideal body to wear it, in the context of nationalism. Within such a situation, how special was the existence of Yoshiko Kawashima, a soldier in male dress who dreamed of the Qing dynasty’s revival, with bloodlines from Aisin Gioro? The Japanese army made full use of that as prime propaganda. During the war, Yoshiko Kawashima’s promotional photographs were sold, and she even made a record debut. I imagine many women were stirred by her appearance, cutting their hair, and were shaken not only by her perverse aesthetic of cross-dressing but also by her bravely transcending gender roles to venture into battlefields and male-dominated society.

Another person is Sada Abe, a notorious serial killer whose crimes and escape captivated the public right before the outbreak of World War II.

Even today, she leaves a strong impression, particularly due to various materials surrounding her. Among these, one photo from her arrest stands out with an eerie presence. Surrounded by detectives, she smiles sweetly at the camera. Living her life as a geisha and prostitute, she brutally killed her lover, cutting off his genitals and hiding them while fleeing. It is easy to imagine that the public felt a disturbing thrill reminiscent of the literature known as "erotic and grotesque nonsense" that was popular at the time upon seeing her unsettling smile. Coincidentally, her story overlaps with the February 26 Incident, and within the martial law, this femme fatale emerged like a flash, stimulating the sensibilities of various artists from then to the present, leading to the creation of numerous artworks inspired by her. My strong awareness of her was sparked by a performance called "阿部定" (Abe Sada) in a theater I occasionally visited for popular plays.

From the moment I saw her, Sada Abe's smile lingered in my mind, compelling me to explore the origin of that strangeness through my own work. In researching this one photograph, several intriguing details emerged. After her crime, she purchased a mouse-colored kimono with a scale pattern from a second-hand shop in Ueno, changing into it. While there were reasons for changing a soiled kimono and disguising herself, what caught my attention was the pattern of the kimono she chose. The scale pattern symbolizes snake monsters and female passions in Noh and Kabuki theaters. Even characters who appear as delicate princesses on stage will bear the mark of being serpent-like if their costume features this pattern somewhere. Whether Abe knew it or not, her choice of this pattern made me sense her innate femme fatale sensibility. Furthermore, it seems that this mouse-colored scale-patterned kimono is what Sada Abe wore in that famous photo during her arrest. To verify, I used an AI app to colorize the monochrome photo, confirming it to be a slightly purple-tinged mouse-colored kimono. After a long search, I was able to procure a long, slightly purple mouse-colored kimono with a scale pattern. Regarding the obi, it appeared to have a silvery sheen close to white, so I obtained one that matched that image. Upon seeing the combination, a snake-like eerie beauty was particularly highlighted.  

Moreover, upon closely examining the photograph of the captured Sada Abe, it can be noted that she is not wearing an obi cord. There are two types of photographs taken at the time of her arrest; one shows her wearing the obi cord neatly tied, while the other depicts her with a disheveled collar and a loosely wound obi without the obi cord. Since it is said that she hinted at suicide in her statements, I believe the obi cord was likely removed during the interrogation for suicide prevention. Typically, in kimono dressing, the obi cord is essential for the final touch when wrapping the obi. Hence, I consulted with the kimono stylist, Towako, to devise a way to tie the obi without requiring the obi cord. While dressing in accordance with Sada Abe's collar style, referencing her photographs, I discovered that the collar was pulled back to the extent that it exposed the back around the shoulder blades. I could only view the frontal photographs of Sada Abe at the time of her arrest, but by physically wearing the garment, I was able to understand its true appearance, which looks peculiar compared to contemporary exemplary kimono dressing. Indeed, it feels like the way someone accustomed to the entertainment quarters would wear it; the garment clings to the body as if melting into it, offering an unexpectedly comfortable and easy movement. In modern times, occasions for wearing kimono often call for formal attire which usually requires proper padding around the body to prevent disarray, making it somewhat suffocating. However, Sada Abe's style is so flexible, much like a robe one wears after a bath, that I found myself longing to incorporate kimono into my daily life if I could wear it so naturally and alluringly. From the perspective of forming the body's silhouette through attire, I felt that the military uniform of Yoshiko Kawashima was closer to the current formal kimono in terms of comfort and the feeling it provides when worn, including the straightened spine.

By examining and actually donning the clothing worn by Yoshiko Kawashima and Sada Abe, I was able to learn many things that I could not grasp through reading the materials alone. When embarking on this project, the greatest challenge was the difficulty in finding appropriate costumes, so I initially considered creating replicas using 3DCG or AI. However, by experiencing wearing garments from nearly a century ago, I gleaned a multitude of information that could not be obtained virtually. The experience of wearing allowed for a deeper contemplation of how they walked such contrasting paths in life, which can be regarded as a significant achievement.

After completing the photo shoot, while printing the works for the exhibition, I found myself gazing at the images printed at almost life-size scale, which enhanced the sense of reality, akin to looking in a mirror. Each shoot was conducted several months apart, inclusive of research and preparations, but upon viewing the two prints displayed side by side, a question crossed my mind regarding how much temporal difference existed between the lives of these two individuals who lived such contrasting lives, even before the war. Quickly, I referenced Wikipedia on my iPhone. Sada Abe was born in 1905, while Yoshiko Kawashima was born in 1906. With only a one-year difference in their birth years, they indeed lived in nearly the same era. It was then that I decided to display them side by side.