Floating Along in the World of Japanese Prints

Traditional Games: Konkonchiki

I've decided to start a series of posts about traditional Japanese games that you might come across in Japanese prints. I'll post a new one every now and then, when the mood takes me. Today we have the game called Konkonchiki. The object of the game was to put your hand through a loop that had been formed in the middle of a long sash, grab a sake cup that had been placed on a stand just beyond the loop, and then remove your hand before the other participants could close the loop and trap you. Failure to snatch up the cup and remove your hand resulted in you having to drink a cup of sake. The game was played by geisha at parties and was popular at the New Year. A children's version of the game replaced the cup of sake with one of water.

Playing Konkonchiki, Kusakabe Kimbei albumen photo, c. 1880.

Keeping Your Sleeves out of the Soup

Nowadays, if we want to do a spot of washing or cleaning (though I never find myself wanting to do either of those) we simply roll up our sleeves and get on with it. But imagine what a time we'd have had of it in Japan in the days long before the introduction of Western clothing. How did the women of 18th-19th century Japan get their spring cleaning done, or manage to cook or wash clothes without getting those kimono sleeves into a right old mess? Well, they used a tasuki to tie back those troublesome sleeves. A simple sash or cord was looped around each arm, like the straps on a backpack, and crossed at the back, so that there was never any need to worry about finding more than sliced mushrooms floating around in your miso soup.

The woman in the print below, which is the left side of a diptych, is engaged in preparing a meal, peeling an aubergine in front of a traditional Japanese stove. You can see that the pink tasuki is holding back her sleeves so that they are raised above the elbow. And in the design below that, three women are wearing tasuki to protect their sleeves whilst stretching silk floss; the one on the left is turned so that you can see the way the sash is tied in a simple knot at the back.

Kitchen scene, left-hand sheet of a diptych depicting women cooking, by Kitagawa Utamaro, c. 1795.

The tenth sheet from the set Joshoku kaiko tewaza kusa (Silkworm Culture: The Handiwork of Women), by Kitagawa Utamaro, c. 1798-1800.

The other thing that needed protecting when a woman was engaged in any sort of labour-intensive work within the home, or outside of it if she happened to be employed, was her hair. A woman's hair would be heavily oiled to keep it in place, and if at all possible she'd have wanted to avoid exposing her neatly arranged coiffure to dust, steam, and anything else that might cause it to unravel or become dirty, especially as women at that time would have washed their hair no more than once a month (with combing and oiling done daily). To this end, she would wrap a simple cloth called a tenugui around her head, safeguarding her hairdo in the presence of boiling stock pots, washing tubs, and small insects coming in to land.

Women washing clothes, albumen photo, c. 1880.

Women displaying their tasuki, albumen photo, c. 1880.

Teahouse girl, Kusakabe Kimbei albumen photo, c. 1880.