Dressing Up During the Meiji Restoration: A Perspective on Fukusei (Clothing Reform)

Abstract

Nowadays, Japanese wear Western attire—known in Japanese as yōfuku (Western clothes)—without any sense of strangeness. They instead feel it is more special to wear wafuku (traditional Japanese clothes). It is well known that during the Meiji era yōfuku was mandated for government offices and at court. However, it remains uncertain why Western attire was necessary in the first place and how Japanese society as a whole viewed the prescription. Presenting the major reasons for the institutionalization of a nationwide Westernization of the clothing system (fukusei), Osakabe demonstrates that yōfuku was championed by the government in the Meiji era as a policy to exert class equality. Acceptance was not unanimous, however. Osakabe uncovers oppositions among the social elites. Wafuku survived in the form of ceremonial costumes for Shinto priests and in cultural events that preserve the culture of the nobility. By understanding both sides of the issue, Osakabe sheds light on how Japanese people have come to identify on which occasions to “dress up” in yōfuku or wafuku , with influences into the present day. The discussion shows that fukusei was a critical component of Japan’s nation-building. It was carried out thoughtfully and methodically, but not without conflict.