Dr. Drew's Infrequent Blog

21 March 2008

Bashofu, Japan’s Mingei Movement, and the Creation of a New Okinawa

Bashofu, Japan’s Mingei Movement, and the Creation of a New Okinawa During the Occupation Years (1945-1972) By Dr. Amanda Mayer Stinchecum

Date: Monday, March 31, 2008
Time: 3:00-4:30 PM
Place: Tokioka Room (Moore 319)
From the time of his first visit to Okinawa in 1938, Yanagi Sōetsu, founder of Japan’s Folk Craft (Mingei) Movement, promoted an image of bashōfu (cloth made from the fiber-banana) as emblematic of an essentialized, idyllic and homogeneous Okinawan culture. Yanagi’s view of Okinawa as a “tropical country,” a southern island paradise, became the theme of the islands’ budding tourism industry after Japan’s surrender in 1945. Since the sixteenth century, bashōfu has clothed the people of the Ryukyu islands, from Ryukyu’s kings to its poorest villagers. The cloth is still worn for local celebrations in which Okinawans assert their own identity as “simple island people.” Bashōfu has become an emblem of that identity. Kijoka bashōfu, today purchased primarily by Mainland Japanese collectors, was designated by the Japanese government as an “Important Intangible Cultural Property” in 1974, through the intervention of Yanagi Sōetsu and his colleagues. The Mingei view of Okinawa has shaped an image of the islands that came to be held by both Okinawans and Mainland Japanese.

Dr. Stinchecum is an independent scholar specializing in the history of Ryukyu/Okinawa through the medium of textile production, use, and meaning. She is currently engaged in a study of a simple cotton sash made only in the Yaeyama islands of southern Okinawa. The history of minsaa reflects social, political, economic, and cultural changes in Yaeyama over the past one hundred forty years.

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1 Comment(s):

  • Dear Dr, Drew

    I had been taking 8 30 mg Oxycodone HCL for several years due to injuries.
    During the recent Statewide recall my pain clinic charged me 600 dollars for 200 dollars of medicine.
    I went home thinking my life was over. I knew they had taken advantage of the shortage to double the price
    of the medicine knowing I was dependant. That first night, March 13, I actually ended up taking 16 of the 30 mg tablets in frustration.
    The next day, I got a grip on myself and was able to stay on the 8-10 pills for the rest of the weekend. It is important to mention here that I had also been taking 30 mg of Pexeva antidepressant for years as well (prescribed by my Psychiatrist). That doctor of 10 years had made his only mistake and called in Amitriptyline HCL 50 mg a few weeks earlier which was meant for another patient.. Out of desperation and hope that providence may had been responsible for the error, I tried the Amitriptyline Monday March 16.
    The next day I needed NO Oxycodone tablets, the only time that had happened for years. The last 2 weeks I have limited my use of the pain medicine to less than 3 tablets a day. I know that is a still a large dosage, but the craving for the medicine was fractional compared to the period before March 13. Unfortunately, serious side effects of the Amitriptyline HCL forced me to stop last Wednesday. Yesterday I was back to 8 tablets. I took the Amitriptyline last night concerned by the increase and today I once again have not felt a craving for the pain medicine. I have no illusions that I am in a life threatening situation. My appointment with the pain "doctor" ( a legal drug pusher in my mind as a result of my last appointment) is coming up on April 7. I will have to confront him about his phony price increase. I know it was done only since he knew no pharmacy had any medicine and I was forced to pay for it in his office pharmacy.
    I know in my mind and body that some chemical change has occurred between the Pexeva and
    the Amitriptyline HCL. I will not complicate this unusual letter by listing the problems that had forced me
    to stop the new antidepressant. I am praying that switching to Desipramine might allow me to remain on both antidepressants unleast until the newer antidepressant takes hold, since trying to stop the Pexeva
    right now creates a clinical depression after 3 days of stopping it. Is it possible that by some miraculous coincident, combining these 2 antidepressant medicines might help free me from the grips of addiction to the pain medicine. Is there some possible biochemical reaction at work? I had no chance of stopping Oxycodone and surviving before taking the Amitriptyline HCL. I am stunned when I remember it was meant for another patient and called in to my pharmacy by mistake. I even tried to return it, but the pharmacist would not let me and suggested it might help me sleep. But that too is another
    issue
    Sincerely,
    Alan

    By Blogger gardealan, at Sunday, March 29, 2009 5:12:00 PM  

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