5th International Conference on Okinawan Studies
Imagined Okinawa: Challenges from Time and Space

Amanda Mayer STINCHECUM
Bashōfu: Japan's Mingei Movement and the Construction of a New Okinawa

From the time of his first visit to Okinawa in 1938, Yanagi Sôetsu, founder of Japan's Folk Craft (Mingei) Movement, promoted an image of bashōfu (cloth made from the fiber-banana) as emblematic of an essentialized, idyllic and homogeneous Okinawan culture.  Yanagi's view of Okinawa as a "tropical country," a southern island paradise, became the theme of the islands' tourism industry after Japan 's defeat in 1945.
Since the 16^th century, bashôfu has clothed the people of the Ryukyu archipelago, from Ryukyu's kings to its poorest villagers.  Production and use of the cloth persists today in two strains, defining Okinawan identity from inside and outside.  These two merge in tourism development—the creation of a an "island paradise" within Japan .  The cloth is still worn for local festivals and celebrations.  Okinawans have made it an emblem of their own identity as "simple island people."  In contrast, the most finely-made bashôfu, from the village of Kijoka , is purchased primarily by Mainland Japanese.  It has been appropriated by the Japanese government, which has designated it an "Important Intangible Cutlural Property."  Its leading maker, Taira Toshiko, was named as a "Living National Treasure" in 2000.
Through the intervention of Yanagi and his colleagues, the Mingei view of Okinawa has shaped an image of the islands that came to be held by both Okinawans and Mainland Japanese.  It persists today.  My paper examines bashôfu as one medium through which members of the Mingei Movement and other outsiders, and through them, Okinawans themselves, have defined Okinawan identity.