2008 Woodie Awards
Miami alumnus speaks on 1,700 years of Japanese social clothing
Jason Hunt
Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: Campus
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The question may arise exactly why people spend so much on clothing.
While the answer may never be clear for the American college student, for the Japanese men and women of the last two millennia, it was because social standards and expectations
demanded it.
Sukeo Kanabayashi, a 1960 graduate of Miami, has been in a family business that goes back about 250 years: making costumed Japanese dolls. The Kanabayashi family has created these mini-models dressed in appropriate Japanese garb for eras reaching back 1,700 years into Japanese history.
Kanabayashi addressed a full house Tuesday in Miami's Shriver Center Multipurpose Room, using photos of his family's work to unveil how the Japanese dress highlights the finer details of Japanese culture and social standing.
Exposure was the aim of the Farmer School of Business in bringing Kanabayashi back to his alma mater, according to Alan Oak, the assistant dean for external relations at the business school.
"The Farmer School of Business has been very aggressive in urging students to gain a global perspective in this increasingly global environment," Oak said. "Part of that is gaining a sense of the tradition and depth of Japanese culture as displayed by the Kanabayashi family."
As Kanabayashi displayed slides of dolls dressed in complex multi-layered kimonos from the various eras in Japanese history-Nara, Heian, or Kamakura, for example-the audience marveled at how intricately the costumes were designed and displayed on the dolls.
Because each miniature doll was dressed in a different outfit, Kanabayashi explained that not only the colors, but also the patterns on each layer of the kimono were and still remain symbols of social status within Japan. Certain patterns were reserved solely for the emperor, while others signified princes and princesses.
He then described how combinations of kimonos are put together and layered, adding that there is no shortage of options, with more than 500 combinations of colors and patterns available to even the ordinary Japanese citizen.
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