Hakama thru Hikimaku

Ukiyo-e Prints

浮世絵版画

Port Townsend, Washington

Index/Glossary

Hakama thru Hikimaku

The purple morning glory was used to mark additions

in September and October 2011.

TERMS FOUND ON THIS PAGE:

Hakama, Hakke, Hako-makura, Hakuuchigami,

Hama, Hana, Hanabishi, Hanabi, Hanagatsuo,

Hanamachi, Hanami, Hanamichi, Han-eri,

Hanetsuki, Hanji-e, Hanmoto, Hannya, Hanshita,

Hara Budaya, Haraegushi, Hariko

Harimaze, Harimise, Hashira-e, Hatamoto,

Heian Period, Heishi, Heko-iwai

Hi and Hikimaku

袴, 八卦, 箱枕, 箔打紙, 濱 or 浜, 破魔矢,

花, 花菱, 花火, 花鰹, 花街 or 花町, 花見,

花道, 半衿, 羽根突き, 判じ絵, 版元,

般若, 版下, 祓串, 張子, 張交図,

張り見世, 柱絵, 旗本, 鳩笛,

平安時代, 瓶子, 日and 引幕

はかま, はこまくら, はくうちがみ, はま,

はまや, はな, はなびし, はなび,

はながつお, はなまち, はなみ, はなみち,

はんえり, はねつき, はんじえ,

はんもと, はんにゃ, はんした, はらえぐし,

はりこ, はりまぜ, はりみせ, はしらえ,

はたもと, はとぶえ, へいあんじだい,

へいし, へこいわい, ひ and ひきまく

One more note about this page and all of the others on this site:

If two or more sources are cited they may be completely contradictory.

I have made no attempt to referee these differences, but have simply

repeated them for your edification or use. Quote anything you find here

at your own risk and with a whole lot of salt.

TERM/NAME

KANJI/KANA

DESCRIPTION/

DEFINITION/

CATEGORY

Click on the yellow numbers

to go to linked pages.

Hakama

袴

はかま

Wide legged trousers: Some sources describe it as a "man's formal divided skirt". Reading The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon finally answers for me the question of which sex wore these garments. Ivan Morris in footnote 336, p. 331, "Hakama (trouser-skirt or divided skirt worn by men and women..." Now we know. In a book review written by S. Yoshitake of Wilfrid Whitehouse's Ochikubo Monogatari or the Tale of the Lady Ochikubo we learn that "...both men and women began to wear [these] at an early age ..."

In kendo the hakama has seven pleats, five in the front and two in the back. "These pleats have been assigned a symbolic meaning, with each pleat standing for a particular samurai virtue." Those virtues are jin (仁 or じん) or benevolence/humanity, gi (義 or ぎ) or honor/justice, rei (礼 or れい) or gratitude, chi (智 or ち) or wisdom, shin (信 or しん) or truth/sincerity, chū (忠 or ちゅう) or loyalty, and kō (孝 or こう) or filial piety, but often referred to as simply piety. (Quote and list based loosely on Kendo by Jeff Broderick.) This list corresponds to the seven Confucian virtues.

See also our entry on nagabakama.

Hakke

八卦

はっけ

The 8 Trigrams: The Book of Changes summarizes the Ommyōdō formulation of both time and space. It depicts yin as two broken lines and yang as a whole line and identifies sixty-four hexagrams (arrangements of six yin and/or yang lines) considered to depict all possible combinations of the two forces in the universe. These sixty-four are formed by using cominations of eight basic trigrams (arrangement of three yin and/or yang lines), that are called the Eight Trigrams (Mandarin: pa kua; Japanese: hakke). (Quoted from: Spirit Tree: Origins of Cosmology in Shintô Ritual at Hakozaki by E. Leslie Williams, p. 70)

"The best known of the many line ornaments found in Chinese arts and crafts is the pa-kua 八卦 consisting of eight trigrams arranged in
a circular pattern around the t'ai chi t'u 太極圖, the graphic representation of the origin of all from the Absolute. This design forms an
often seen symbol of Good Omen above the doors of Chinese houses." (Quoted from: Chinese Flower Symbolism by Alfred Koehn)

To the left is a detail from a Kuniyoshi print. To see that page click on the image.

Hako-makura

箱枕

はこまくら

Box pillow: The evolution of the pillow must be a common trait among all groups. In ancient Japan it was said to be bundles of straw or wooden blocks. Large families were said to use a single log. The same was true for workers and apprentices. In the morning "...the father or employer would strike one end with a hammer to wake them up..." In time the hako-makura was invented and a small padded pillow was added to the top.

Eventually these box pillows became more elegant and delicate and were raised in height since the were set just beyond the futon. "This type of makura was used because the people, both male and female, dressed their hair elaborately in olden times and they did not wish to spoil the coiffure while sleeping. They rested their neck on the hako-makura wile their head would be free." Quote from: Mock Joya's Things Japanese, p. 42. 1

Hakuuchigami

箔打紙

はくうちがみ

A special paper used in the preparation of gold and silver foil 1

Hama

濱 or 浜

はま

Censor whose seals were used in the 1840s & early 1850s. Full name Hama Yahei - 浜弥兵衛 or はまやへえ. 1

Hamaya

破魔矢

はまや

A Shinto ceremonial arrow used to drive away evil.

The image below was posted at commons.wikimedia.org by Katoris.

It can also be described as a demon-quelling arrow. Here 魔 means demon or evil spirit. E. Leslie Williams in Spirit Tree: Origins of Cosmology in Shinto Ritual at Hakozaki notes on p. 155 that "The popular idea exists that amulets and talismans are only effective for the year in which they are bought. At the end of the old year, these ritual items must be returned to the shrine to be burned..." and new ones must be purchased to replace them.

The hamaya is the most commonly purchased amulet at New Years which is then taken home and displayed to absorb evil spirits throughout the year.

Louis Frédéric in the Japan Encyclopedia (p. 283) says that after purchasing the arrows the visitor to a shrine places them "...between the backs of their necks and their collars." Later he adds that "Hamaya, adorned with white feathers and with a kabura ('turnip-shaped' whistle) in their heads, are still placed on rooftops of newly built houses to ward off bad luck."

A hamayumi or small bow is given to a new born male at his first New Years celebration.

Hana

花

はな

Japanese term for flower or a beautiful woman 1

Hanabishi

花菱

はなびし

A flower shaped family crest

Hanabi

花火

はなび

Fireworks

Thanks to our generous correspondent E. we are able to show you two very different images illustrating the Japanese enjoyment of fireworks. The top one is a detail from a print by Kuniyoshi of a public viewing whereby boatloads of spectators are out on the water oooing and aaahing - in Japanese, of course. The second image on the left is a detail from a book illustrations by Utamaro showing a boy lighting a 'pinwheel'. Look closely and you will notice the flame he is using to ignite the fuse. This is the more private experience. Close up and personal.

Thanks E!

Hanagatsuo

花鰹

はながつお

Dried bonito shavings: You can find it under hanakatsuo (flower bonito) or katsuobushi (鰹節 or かつおぶし), too.

To the left is a wreath made of dried bonito just waiting to be flaked. This comes from a Hiroshige illustration. Above is a block of dried bonito which was posted at commons.wikimedia.org by Andy King50.

The Connoisseur's Guide to Fish & Seafood by Wendy Sweetser (p. 202) it says of bonito flakes: "Produced in Japan by steaming, drying, smoking and curing fresh bonito until it becomes hard enough to be shaved into flakes, a process that takes six months. The shaved flakes are an essential ingredient in the Japanese soup stock, daishi."

In 1,001 Foods to Die For it notes that when serving wafer-thin sashimi shaved bonito flakes are included in the ponzu sauce (ポン酢醤油 or ポンずしょうゆ) which also includes soy, lemon juice and a light rice wine. "Now largely sold in packets, bonito flakes used to be literally shaved off a curved block of the fish and bear a strong resemblance to wood shavings. (In Chinese they are known by the name that traslates as 'firewood fish'.)" (p. 274)

See also our entry on katsuo.

Hanamachi

花街 or 花町

はなまち

Red-light district: Literally 'flower street' or 'flower town'. The term itself is a euphemism for the term 'pleasure district' which in its turn is a euphemism for... We are sure you know the grittier expressions.

To the left is a detail from a print by Hokusai from a series of 36 views of Fuji. In the middle ground is an enclosure with structures. Those are the 'pleasure houses' of Senju, its hanamachi. It dates from the early 1830s.

Most Western references to hanamachi are centered around geisha. Other than that there is little solid informatin to be found on the Internet using this term.

Hanami

花見

はなみ

Cherry blossom viewing (or the viewing of any other flower)

Hanamichi

花道

はなみち

A raised walkway through an audience to a stage

Han-eri

半衿

はんえり

A replaceable neck piece or collar - "When the ceremonial kimono is worn, the han-eri (neck band) must always be white; thus the phrase shiro-eri mon-tsuki (white collar and crest) has much the same meaning for us as 'black tie' has in the West." Quote from: Japanese Etiquette an Introduction, pp. 68-69.

In The Kimono Inspiration: Art and Art-To-Wear in America han-eri is described as "A decorative neckband that covers the juban's collar." (p. 192) The juban is an undergarment.

The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary defines 'han'eri' as "a quality collar for an under kimono".

The image to the left was posted at commons.wikimedia by Hazel88. Below is an Ito Shinsui print from 1929 called A Neck Collar.

"The collar (han-yeri) which protects beyond the outer dress or kimono is attached to the shita-juban and is almost always of a richer material than the body of that inner garment." Quoted from a 1922 publication of the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, pp. 43-44.

"The The under-kimono (shi- tagi) is occasionally of light color, but the collar (han- yeri) which projects beyond the outer garment as in the case of the woman's costume, is always of black for winter and of white silk for summer wear." Ibid., p. 52.

"Sometimes a chemisette, or han-yeri, of delicately worked or embroidered silk is worn under the kimono to show a pretty edge round the open neck and to keep the chest warmer as well." Quoted from: The Real Japan:
Studies of Contemporary Japanese Manners, Morals, Administration, and Politics by Henry Norman, 1892, p. 193.

Hanetsuki

羽根突き

はねつき

"...a game played by women at New Year's and is similar to the Western game of badminton. Hanetsuki is played without a net, however, and can be played alone." (Source: The Shogun Age Exhibition, cat. entry #268, p. 259)

Hanji-e

判じ絵

はんじえ

A rebus: When I was small I remember playing with books filled with picture puzzles. Clearly they were created for my age group and skill level and were probably a very good learning tool. Even as I grew older the rebus continued to show up in everyday life. For example, "I (heart) New York" is known and understood by all. Or, nearly all. However, sometimes the rebus plays a more significant role - be it political or sinister or politically sinister. Timothy Clark notes in the Utamaro catalogue that "Although the use of picture-riddles in various series was certainly a playful pictorial device, it also started out as a necessary response to the edicts of 1793 forbidding the inclusion in prints of the names of women other than Yoshiwara courtesans. By another edict of the 8th month, 1796, these picture-riddles were forbidden [themselves]..."

Quote from: The Passionate Art of Kitagawa Utamaro, published by the British Museum Press, London, 1995, text volume, p. 167.

The image to the left is a detail from a print by Kuniyoshi created decades later.

Hanmoto

版元

はんもと

Publisher

Hannya

般若

はんにゃ

A female demon most poignantly portrayed by a frightening mask worn in certain Noh dramas.

In an entry on hannya masks Mock Joya states: "As to the origin of this fierce female mask, it is traditionally said that there was once a very jealous woman, and in his attempt to cure her of evil, a Buddhist priest named Hannya-bo (般若坊 or はんにゃぼう) carved out such a mask to impress upon her how ugly she was at heart."

"The hannya mask also seems to have some connection with the hannya sutra of Buddhism [the kanji is the same]. In the Noh play named Aoi-no-ue, the vindictive ghost of a woman causes the suffering of many persons, and a priest prays for her salvation, chanting the hannya-kyo sutra, and then the evil spirit disappears."

Quotes from: Mock Joya's Things Japanese (p. 403)

The demonization of women as everyone knows is not limited to the Japanese. One woman's weakness causes the Fall. To be fair the man was weak too and deserve much of the credit. Pandora opens the box, Helen causes the war - although in both cases there were underlying circumstances well beyond their control. But still, even with the advancements women have made in the last century old bigotries die hard. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why an anagram for mother-in-law can be so bitingly witty: Woman Hitler.

A puzzling connection: As noted above the kanji for hannya has two diametrically opposed meanings. However, this is not completely inscrutable. Remember that the fierce and daunting image of Fudō Myōō which to the unaccustomed eye would seem evil is actually just the opposite. He saves souls where it would look likes he would be punishing them. There are other such examples within East Asian traditions and this should serve as an object lesson that appearances can most certainly be deceiving.

The top image to the left is a detail from a print by Hokusai while the one below that is isolated from a print by Yoshitoshi.

Hanshita

版下

はんした

Line drawing laid down on the keyblock for carving. The example shown here is attributed to Hokusai. It is illustrated in an article in "Andon" by Richard Illing entitled "Hokusai drawings - from draft to finished print".

Properly speaking for this drawing to be a true hanshita it would have been destroyed in the publishing process. But since it wasn't it gives us a superb example of what a hanshita would have looked like.

A hanshita is a traced drawing made for cutting the keyblock. A sen-gakii is an outline drawing.

Haraegushi (or haraigushi)

祓串

はらえぐし

"Purification wand. A wooden stick up to a metre long with streamers of white paper and/or flax attached to the end. It is normally kept in a stand. In a movement known as sa-yu-sa (left-right-left) the priest waves and flourishes the haraigushi horizontally over the object, place or people to be purified. An alternative is a branch of evergreen (e.g. sakaki) with strips of paper attached (o-nusa); the smaller version for personal use is called ko-nusa."

Quoted from: A Popular Dictionary of Shinto, by Brian Bocking, NTC Publishing Group, 1997, p. 45. (Bocking spells this differently: haraigushi.)

To the left is a cropped photo placed in the public domain by Fg2 at http://commons.wikimedia.org/. We are grateful for the chance to use it. This haragushi is from Nikko.

The paper strips are called shide.

Hariko

張子

はりこ

Papier mâché

The image to the left was posted at commons.wikimedia.org by Kuribo. It shows hariko inu or paper maché dogs for sell.

Harimaze

張交図

はりまぜ

A composite print with several separate images in various motifs. Often this type of print was cut by the owner into its component parts. 1 Note that occasionally these single sheets include images by more than one artist.

"Sheets of two or more subjects or designs printed on the one sheet and intended to be cut afterwards; very uncommon."

Quote from: A Guide to Japanese Prints and Their Subject Matter, by Basil Stewart, Courier Dover Publiscations, 1979, p. xv

The term harimaze is also a description used for folding screen - harimaze byōbu (貼交屏風 or はりまぜ.びょうぶ) to which various cut-outs have been applied for decoration. These additions might be from old sections of painted scrolls, fans, religious tokens such as stamped images of the Buddha, etc. Not only that but these screens were popular before the creation of this genre of Japanese woodblock prints and were probably the inspiration for this style among publishers.

Scrapbooks could be called harimaze-cho (貼雑帖 or はりまぜちょう) - literally a 'paste and mix book'. [Note that the kanji is not the same as that used for the prints.]

We know that Hiroshige, Kuniyoshi, Toyokuni III, Sadanobu, Gengyo, Gekko, Yasuji and Kyōsai worked in this genre. We will add other names as we come across them.

Harimise

張り見世

はりみせ

The lattice work of a brothels "display window."

"Establishments had a grill or cage front, behind which the women were on display. Some of the most famous print artists depicted these street scenes. Large lattice houses were the most costly, and the lowest houses had horizontal bars instead of vertical one, so a man - no matter how befuddled by sake - could not mistake the cost and class of the woman he was seeking."

Quote from: Yoshiwara: The Pleasure Quarters of Old Tokyo, by Stephen and Ethel Longstreet, Yenbooks, 1989, p. 32.

"Symbolic of the system's general dehumanization of the women was the practice of harimise, or displaying prostitutes behind gratings in rooms fronting upon the thoroughfares of Yoshiwara and other big city quarters.The keepers used these 'cages' to entice customers who would then make their selections. The displays also attracted gawkers and the general public."

Quoted from: Molding Japanese Minds, by Sheldon Garon, Princeton University Press, 1997, p. 97.

"Many former prostitutes recalled feeling like animals in a zoo. Writing in a noted women's journal, one summed up her five years of sitting inside the grating as 'the greatest humiliation a woman can suffer.' Bowing in large part to foreign criticism, the authorities in Tokyo, Osaka, and other cities banned the harimise in 1916." (Ibid.)

(See also magaki.)

Hashira-e

柱絵

はしらえ

Pillar print: Roger Keyes stated in the catalogue of prints at Oberlin College that: "They were sold in paper mounts as hand-scrolls and were hung on the narrow support posts on the walls of rooms in houses." Later he added that: "Jacob Pins has pointed out that the early pillar prints were printed on a single sheet of paper, but that from the 1790s on they were printed on two sheets joined around the middle. The vogue for pillar prints diminished in the early nineteenth century."

Quote from: Japanese Woodblock Prints: A Catalogue of the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection, Roger Keyes, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, 1984, p. 100.

In the introduction to Pins catalogue Keyes wrote: "This is the first book in any language devoted to those miracles of grace and ingenuity, the hashira-e... The pillar print is an improbable shape, half a person's height, yet narrower than the palm of a hand."

Keyes points out the Japanese had a "...tradition of hanging long decorated strips of wood, bamboo, textile, ceramic, or paper on the hashira of buildings.... So it was natural and even inevitable that woodblock prints would eventually be designed and used as pillar coverings." Keyes goes on to tell us that Pins "...shows, the first long narrow prints appeared by accident."

Source and quotes from: The Japanese Pillar Print: Hashira-e, by Jacob Pins, Robert G. Sawers Publishing, 1982, p. 9.

To see a larger version of the print to the left click on the image.

Hatamoto

旗本

はたもと

"Swashbuckling and potentially violent gangs of hatamoto (banner men), young samurai who worked directly for the shogunate, were a common feature of life during the early days of Edo. Short of money, they would refuse to pay their bills; when flush, they became violent at an imagined slight when a shopkeeper might offer change for a bill paid. The 'White Hilt Gang' was typical of this unstable element on the streets of the city. Their longer than average swords were decorated like their obi (sashes) with white fittings. In summer they chose - perversely - to wear long kimonos, in winter short ones, placing lead in the bottom hems and edges of their cloths [sic] to make them swing, an effect intended to lend a swagger to their movements." (Quoted from: Tokyo: A Cultural History by Stephen Mansfield, p. 20)

Hato-bue

鳩笛

はとぶえ

Pigeon-whistle: "Structurally, a folk-toy such as the 'pigeon-whistle'... a local product of the town of Usa (Oita prefecture), is a well-functioning wind instrument, but its primary purpose lies in the multiple layers of symbolic meaning associated with it: the pigeon is the emblematic animal of the god Hachiman (whose main sanctuary is Usa) and functions as his messenger and means of communication; the sound of the whistle, a strikingly close imitation of the bird's cooing, is, by a tangle of associations too complicated to unravel here, deemed to be highly auspicious; and the whistle itself is thought to possess a magical efficacy against children's choking..." according to Josef Kyburz in his article Omocha: Things to Play (or not to Play) With.

Heian Period

平安時代

へいあんじだい

One of the greatest ages of cultural flowering in Japan (794-1185). Named after the newly constructed city of Heiankyō which is now known as Kyōto. Literally "Capital of Peace and Ease." Seat of the imperial court. "...the Heian period has long been an established division of history, seen by the Japanese as the apogee of the nation's aristocratic age, when some of its finest literary works were produced and one of the world's most exquisitely refined cultural styles flourished."

It was during this period that what had been the slavish adoption of Chinese influences were assimilated and became much more truly Japanese. The reason for the original move to Heiankyō is unclear, but it may have had something to do with the court's wish to get away from the Buddhist influences on the civil service. A second reason may have been due to a struggle for power between various aristocratic factions. Superstition also played a role: The living were eager to move away from the vengeful spirits of deceased nobles.

What followed the Heian period were the feudal states of the Kamakura period - from a centralized power run by a civil aristocracy to one of dispersed militarized states.

Source and quotes from: Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, vol. 3, p. 165, entry by G. Cameron Hurst III.

Heishi

瓶子

へいし

Saké bottle motif: Dower in his The Elements of Japanese Design says next to nothing about this item used as a family crest. It would be hard to imagine that anyone other than a brew master would want to wear such an image. However, wrapped saké bottles were often presented as gifts to the gods and therefore would have an auspicious aura connected to them.

Heko-iwai

へこいわい

The ceremony when a boy is seven and receives his first loincloth or fundoshi (褌 or ふんどし).

日

ひ

Sun motif crest or mon: "The circular red 'rising sun' first appeared as a popular decorative pattern on fans in the early Heian period. It was not adopted as a national emblem until 1854..." and wasn't put on the flag until 1870.

Source and quote from: The Elements of Japanese Design, by John W. Dower, p. 44.

Hikimaku

引幕

ひきまく

Draw curtain in kabuki theater. "Unlike the Noh stage, which has remained practically unchanged since its inception, the Kabuki playhouse has undergone five major developments. ¶ The first occurred in the latter part of the seventeenth century with the addition of a draw-curtain (hikimaku) and the hanamichi." (Quoted from: Kabuki: A Pocket Guide by Ronald Cavaye)

The hikimaku can also be a jōshiki maku (定式幕 or じょうしきまく) or a vertically striped traveling curtain.

"While the major theatres boasted a pull curtain (hikimaku), the minor theatres only were allowed a drop curtain (donchō). The legal distinction between the 'grand' and 'minor' theatres was repealed in 1895, but the social distinction between the two theatre classes did not fade, and the nonlegal usage of terms such as 'minor' and 'major' theatre remained. Even today small-town theatres and actors are referred to pejoratively as drop-curtain theatres (donchō shibai) or drop- curtain actors (donchō yakusha), respectively. Unfortunately, using such derogatory terms fails to encapsulate the spirit of this type of kabuki." (Quoted from: Danjuro's Girls: Women on the Kabuki Stage by Loren Edelson)