Photographs

The traditional clothing and the performances that the women have to play are being portrayed and brought back to the context of the tea ceremony. Three women are sitting down playing different instruments while, one is standing up and performing to the audience. The tea ceremony presents a vision of the social class entertainers and how they have to please the tea ceremony attendees. The women’s faces looks like they are very young and have entered in the working class status where they must work hard to provide money for their family. The women are there to put on a show and please the audience and people within the tea ceremony. The women are not allowed to do any other activities except the role of entertaining the audience which shows the motif of being inferior to the people at the ceremony that gets to celebrate and enjoy the ceremony. Similarly, the clothing of the women showed that they had to wear traditional dresses that made them look very beautiful, aesthetic, and very well mannered. During that time period, the women were all very pretty and had many physical appearance that were deemed as the typical “beautiful Japanese woman.” These characteristics had physical appearance of a traditional dress with flowers that were aesthetically beautiful, tight knit hair styles, makeup, and black large cloth that wraps around their waist. These women were performing to higher class people at the tea ceremony. During that time, they would play traditional Japanese instrumental music as well as anything soft toned that would coalesce with the atmosphere to make the tea ceremony an enjoyable one. A motif pops up which is inferiority. At this stage in the tea ceremony, the entertainers are not able to roam around freely and are not allowed to join the ceremony. They are only playing music and entertaining the guests, which ties them only to the stage.

The kabuki actors present themselves as male actors in the role of a female. It definitely shows gender binaries and how exotic looking women must be with makeup and white face that is present on the photo. On the same note, the men are dressed in a traditional clothing and have a posture that is very polite and docile which gives into the gender binaries of how women must be quiet and respectful of men and how they must always be this exotic figure. The women are being projected as something very unique and traditional. The way the kabuki actor is standing and the posture show how women are very “delicate’ and respectful to other which also adds into the traditional role of how women must respect others. The tight knit hair, dress, and flower and beautiful dress of the female actor symbolizes the things they wore during that time in Japan history. Furthermore, the female is holding a basket. This basket is filled with food and this also brings up a motif of thoughtfulness and caretaking. The women is always the one bringing in the food, items, and tools to help feed and take care of the kids or even her husband. Similarly, the women is usually wearing a dress that is very aesthetically beautiful in the way that it is presented. There are flowers, sun, and animals that represents the nature in a beautiful sense in Japan. The way that the woman is standing is very polite, which pinpoints to the characteristics of being a women during this time period. Women are usually projected as a polite, thoughtful, and very caring towards the family and her husband. The facial features and modeling of the actor expresses a “slimness” for the women which shows that women usually keep their body and shape in good form.

This picture depicts the cultural and societal expectations that women must meet in order to fit into the role of a women. Women must have proper clothing, as well as erotic essence to help with the smell, and proper skills to take care of the household was prioritized for the Japanese women. Japanese women often felt that they had to take a long time in preparation to get dressed and look very nice into this stereotypical figure, while the men just put on clothing really faster without putting anything in their hair or putting perfume on. The dress of the women are ones that are very typical for Japanese women. The gown and Obi shows that women are very patient and also take a lot of time to perfect and take care of themselves in order to look beautiful and nice. In this picture you can see that two women are helping each other to fit and wear the gown. This definitely  gives to perspective that to be this “beautiful Japanese women” it is taught at a young age, while younger generations and also their parents and take time in order to teach each other. In the picture you can also see some things that women use in order to help them be as beautiful as they can be. Some things the use are mirrors, stands, make up boxes, and dressers. Furthermore, the colors of their dresses are very different physically and also in terms social status. One color is purple, while the other one is green. Purple symbolizes more about the royal, wealth, and independence. The other color is green which represents harmony, freshness, safety, and nature. One is more directed towards a higher social class, while the other one is directed towards more a lower social class.

This photograph depicts two women working profusely on laundry. On a bigger context and scale, it shows the gender binaries that men usually do not perform these work at the house and at home. Women had to take care of all the laundry and take care of the house, while the male are out and about in the city. This also shows how society did not accept women to work in the city and be in charge of people, because they are to stay with their babies and take care of the house. The facial expression of the women show sadness and also how they are under control from the male superiors. They are not happy and it feels like they are being forced to do this work. Similarly, women are still wearing these traditional dresses with obi. The obi and the traditional dress makes the women look beautiful and thinner; however, it symbolizes that women are not free to look any way they want and that they always have to look very slim and conform to the ideal image of a beautiful Japanese women. Women are also very hard working, they work during the day and take care of the family while they are doing so. One of the women looks older than the other women. This symbolizes that that way of teaching younger generations of women how to behave and work like their grandparents and parents, is that it is through “experience.” Similarly, women are prone to only wear these aesthetically traditional dresses even when they are working in doing laundry. This is very important because it shows that Japanese women in society during this period show that wearing these clothing means a lot to them in the way of being a housewife.

The picture depicts two younger japanese women seeming like they are selling food and water to the customers which is the japanese man. The women’s positioning seems like that she is serving her customer and the women standing seems like she does not like what she does. This can be impacted by gender, the japanese man is looking down on the young women and that would show the hierarchy of gender and how the japanese societal expectations are that the women are always below the man. The man also looks at the women can show a sexual depiction that can show that women are seen as erotic sex objects as well as hard working wives. There are so many items and levels of the basket that makes me think about how much heavy the weight that the women must carry the items only to receive little pay; similarly, how heavy must it be to have the societal and cultural expectations that women must do these kind of work. The weight of the buckets and the items that the women are holding compared to the man, symbolizes that the females work harder than the males in ways to provide a little bit of income and work to support the family. Similarly, the women both look very younger, which represents that younger generations of women are being trained to work hard at a young age. The traditional dress and the obi is still present and shows that the women still have to maintain this sense of “Japanese womaness.” This is characterized by wearing the traditional kimono and the obi. Without a doubt, this is within their culture. In addition to that, the man is looking down on the women, which represents that social status that male usually will have the higher power when they are with women (tend to look down both socially, mentally, and also sexually).