In 1890, Tokyo University professor Basil Hall Chamberlain codified an entire generation's view of Japan in his "Things Japanese," a collection of descriptions and apercus subtitled "Being Notes on Various Subjects Connected with Japan for the Use of Travelers and Others."
In so doing, he also created the canon for "Japaneseness" and validated the uniqueness of what he canonized -- no matter that it had originally come from Korea or China or even further afield. Simultaneously, if inadvertently, he "taught Japan to the Japanese," as one commentator has noted.
Japan itself had no need of Japaneseness until only some decades before Chamberlain published his book, because a standard of comparison had not been necessary. Now it was -- the United States had intruded, breaking the locks and forcing the doors. Faced with their sudden national differences from the rest of the world, the Japanese found a need to classify and annotate themselves -- a process which, as international exposure has grown, has continued ever since.
Though Chamberlain did not seem aware of it, his categorization served a political end. It insisted upon the different, the separate, the unique. Special claims could then be attached to these qualities and "Nihonjinron" (the theory of Japanese uniqueness) was created. Innocent and apparent as are the singularities of Mount Fuji, cherry blossom and geisha, focusing on these differences has led directly to claims of different brains, longer intestines and consequent pleas for special consideration.
At the same time, however, things Japanese often do have a recognizably "Japanese" flavor. And, as Nicholas Bornoff affirms in his excellent text, these things remain -- "the wooden Japanese house still exists -- in many cases just as an interior in a high-rise apartment." And their cultural weight still prevails. Some Japanese "would happily agree that many such objects remain signifiers of their culture, even if they have never seen them."
Choosing among those things the Japanese have maintained, Bornoff and Freeman naturally emphasize the traditional. Sixty items are chosen for illustration and explanation and their history and cultural significance is stressed. They are divided into four categories: houses and gardens; possessions and clothing; eating, drinking and entertainment; and customs and religions.
The futon is there, now stuffed with much else besides cotton and frequently imported from abroad (almost a third of Japan's futons now come from overseas, mainly from China). Traditional stationery ("bunbogu") is still very much with us, particularly the variety of envelopes used to contain money. The "tanuki" makes an appearance, holding an empty sake bottle in one paw, an account book in the other -- signifying that this money was wasted on wine and women. As Bornoff tells us: "Some say that the vast scrotum is due to sexual overindulgences but, since his penis has disappeared, another interpretation is more likely" -- an entertaining aside from the author of "Pink Samurai -- An Erotic Exploration of Japanese Society."
Things Japanese are given their original value in this book and their use as political markets is not insisted upon. We are thus shown the objects much as Chamberlain saw them. Perhaps we see them even better. Not only has time refined their various uses, but Michael Freeman's pictures are also beaux-arts perfect, stressing the aesthetic qualities of each object, removing it from any context, and thus displaying pure form.
The combination of informed writing and comely photography thus offers a visual catalog of perceived Japaneseness. There are many uses to which this could be put but the authors (and the publisher, who has provided lavish layout and fine binding ) opt squarely for the informed aesthetic. Echoes of Nihonjinron are stifled and any political use ("Orientalism") to which this information might also be put is steadfastly ignored.
Rather, we are given a useful and beautiful rendition of just what Chamberlain had in mind, but with all the contemporary advantages of high-quality paper, advanced color printing, digital type-setting and over a century's hindsight.
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