Stories Clothes Tell

Tatsuichi Horikiri is an independent scholar at the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History. Rieko Wagoner is principal lecturer in Japanese at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.

• IntroductionNotes to the ReaderEra Designation and TimelineMapList of Illustrations Chapter 1 Kasuri Mattress Cover from HomeChapter 2 Koshimaki Petticoat of 83 PatchesChapter 3 Echigo-jishi Costume for Boy DancerChapter 4 How Many Diapers?Chapter 5 Two Hanten Field JacketsChapter 6 Okiboda, the Pride of WomenChapter 7 My Teacher’s Sunday BestChapter 8 A Weighty QuiltChapter 9 Life with a Mosquito NetChapter 10 A Bed of Wood ShavingsChapter 11 The Meisen the Girl Could Not WearChapter 12 Dead HorseChapter 13 Female Coal MinersChapter 14 Aunties and UnclesChapter 15 Rich and PoorChapter 16 A Begging GirlChapter 17 Noble-minded LadiesChapter 18 A Gown of Leaves for the DeadChapter 19 Katatsuke-gasuri Chapter 20 A Lady in a Dilapidated MansionChapter 21 Female Workers in Textile MillsChapter 22 Forbidden TearsChapter 23 The Thousand-stitch WaistbandChapter 24 The Rising Sun Kimono That She WoreChapter 25 Gifts from My MotherChapter 26 Akemi’s Song Chapter 27 Military Uniforms and ShoesChapter 28 What Mompe Trousers SymbolizedChapter 29 A White Chima JeogoriChapter 30 Sarasa Print Bed QuiltChapter 31 Hanten StoryAfterwordAcknowledgmentsTerm GlossarySelected BibliographySupplemental BibliographyIndex

This work touched my heart as much as my head. It brilliantly captures the human spirit of working-class Japanese in the first half of the twentieth century: farmers, schoolgirls, laborers, miners, housewives, soldiers. Drawing on his massive collection of the threadbare clothes that people wore, Horikiri gives us thirty-one stories full of haunting sadness and dignified resilience along with his own trenchant observations about Japanese life and values. His reflections on war should be read by everyone.