Okay, seriously, I was NOT searching for schoolgirls!!! This is just a coincidence.
Seriously!!!
Well, anyway, let's start with the first two images which both deal with Christianity. I don't need to elaborate on the Western influence there...hopefully.
Futaba Girls School, Tokio (Catholic), After Scholl
Sunday School children at Friends' Mission, Shimotsuma, run by Mr. & Mrs. Binford (Quakers)
Obviously the influence is that these both depict Christian schools. The children are still wearing Japanese clothes, but the schoolgirls in the first picture have adopted sailor fuku. It makes for an interesting contrast with the girl in the kimono carrying an umbrella. Could this be a mother picking up her daughter or an older sister picking up a younger sister?
Now for the second picture. Let's play Spot the European!! Well, anyway, it shows a Sunday School class run by Quakers.
Now for the other pictures. Once again, the fact that they all show schoolgirls in COINCIDENTAL!!! If there were pictures with Japanese schoolBOYS I would have posted them....oh well...
Anyway, these three pictures show Japanese schoolgirls doing exercises. This may seem insignificant, but it marks a major transition in Japanese education. Until the Western influence arrived in Japan, girls were "sheltered." They were not allowed to exercise. This departure marks a step forward for female equality and also demonstrates how Japan tried to adapt to Western educational models and standards.
Girls School Meiji Shrine GroundsNow for the second picture. Let's play Spot the European!! Well, anyway, it shows a Sunday School class run by Quakers.
Now for the other pictures. Once again, the fact that they all show schoolgirls in COINCIDENTAL!!! If there were pictures with Japanese schoolBOYS I would have posted them....oh well...
Anyway, these three pictures show Japanese schoolgirls doing exercises. This may seem insignificant, but it marks a major transition in Japanese education. Until the Western influence arrived in Japan, girls were "sheltered." They were not allowed to exercise. This departure marks a step forward for female equality and also demonstrates how Japan tried to adapt to Western educational models and standards.
Girls High School, Tokio, Daily Drill Notice how in this picture the girls still wear traditional (and one can only imagine cumbersome) clothing. The uniforms that students wear during physical education (which I do not know the name of) have not yet been introduced. It seems like the teachers were trying to adapt Western methods of education, but didn't feel comfortable enough to switch to more practical clothing for fear of stripping themselves (no pun intended) of a feeling of national identity. Or maybe they simply hadn't designed them yet. For more on impractical athletic clothing, observe exhibit E:
Girls Basket Ball, Jiyu Girls School Um...yeah...let's just hope the boys weren't around when they figured out how to dunk...
I guess for the physical education photograph it's possible the drills the students were required to perform were made with the attire the girls wear daily in mind. What caught my eye in this photograph is the colors. The colors on the uniforms all appear amongst all of the natural elements of the photograph as well...with the exception of the color purple. And the red in the first photograph may be highlighting the youth of the girls. Interesting selection of photographs
ReplyDelete-Michael T.
In the eighteenhundreds, I'm sure any high class European would be horrified to see girls in anything less then skirts (recall that women in America were required to wear skirts to class in college until the 1960's or so, let alone 'sensibilities' of Europe and Japan at the time). The taker of these pictures is displaying the change in Japan, but the choice to show images where there -are- still girls wearing the older school uniforms must be a choice very deliberate. They -could- have cut them out of the image in the framing, but instead they make sure they are there and present. Against the (more familiar) European styles, the older unifroms stand out even more as cultural curiosities. Notice how in the first image it is the girl in the 'different clothes' who is coloured while the others are not. There's aslo this display--look at what the missionaries are doing in Japan, and how they are doing it, and the numbers of people they are helping in Japan. The image is packed with a sense of crowd and people ebcause of how it was framed, as opposed to most of the other pictures which have quite a bit of open space. There is the intent to show crowed and numbers with the school girls.
ReplyDeleteThe first picture does not just color the girl in the kimono. If you look, the girls wearing the sailor fuku (ugh...I feel like such an otaku using that term)have their scarfs colored red and their skirts colored blue. Their uniforms are naturally white, so the girl in the kimono would naturally stand out more.
ReplyDeleteThe missionary picture probably was intended to show the influence of the West in Japan. The site of a crowded class would indicate that the Japanese are flocking to Christian churches and schools.
Look at the fourth picture. Most of the girls are wearing colorful Japanese clothes, but there are a couple wearing sailor fuku. This could imply a class difference (in terms of grade level or economic standings). Maybe the girls who couldn't afford the uniforms had to bring their own clothes to school.
In the last picture, all but one girl sitting in the stands is wearing sailor fuku. By this time, the uniforms were either made widely available for cheaper prices or the girl's families could get a hold of them.
Great comments. Keep them up!!
I remember going over this post in class. I think you did a good job here. I don't know what else I can add, since I feel that it'd be like beating a dead horse after the brilliant class discussion.
ReplyDeleteI do however, want to say that I enjoyed seeing a different look at school life, from a foreigner's perspective. I have to say that my favorite slide is the first one though, perhaps because I normally don't see many pink umbrellas? Nah, it must be because I find the use of color interesting. The fact that there is red and pink in the picture when normally both colors clash and are normally not used together, adds a sense of character to the slide.