平安男性貴族の服装への眼差し

Abstract

This paper explores various views of male aristocratic attire of the Heian period, in particular the form known as nōshi, assuming that the existence of such views was the basis for clothing to function as an act of representation. Nōshi appeared at the Japanese court in the mid-tenth century as a relatively informal garb worn by the emperor and as courtier attire used for night service and outside the court. In literary works, nōshi is often depicted as an outfit symbolizing aristocratic nobility and elegance. For example, The Pillow Book records the eminent courtier Fujiwara no Tadanobu wearing a splendid nōshi and praises the elegant nōshi of aristocrats attending a religious event as a pleasant sight. The gorgeous outfits of the participants were a significant aspect of major events, and courtiers both male and female cast sharp eyes on such attire. By comparing what they saw with a character or a scene from a tale or picture, they also interwove the world of reality with those of imagination and fiction. For us today, strongly affected by such texts, nōshi bears a compelling image as elegant informal dress. However, nōshi in the Heian period was not solely the object of favorable regard. Tadanobu’s nōshi was repeatedly criticized by his contemporary Fujiwara no Sanesuke as awkward and discourteous. According to Sanesuke’s diary, Tadanobu, who was not directly related to an emperor or imperial consort, should not have entered the court in nōshi and courtiers widely despised his behavior and presumption. Having noted such different attitudes towards the same outfit, this paper draws attention to two related issues. One, while texts such as The Pillow Book or historical tales such as The Great Mirror offer abundant records of clothing, we have to remember that such narratives use clothing to depict a figure’s character or to contrast competing groups and often exaggerate or distort the facts. Needless to say, in using such texts as historical sources, we have to keep in mind the authors’ outlook and intentions and also place the works in a larger context. A second point is the benefit of adapting the ideas of fashion studies to the study of court clothing. The existence of both positive and negative comments regarding the same outfit is an inbuilt aspect of fashion. The styles of clothing and manners that represent a certain political or social position or way of thinking are inevitably ambivalent. Despite assertions to the contrary, the Heian court was not a society where clothing was always regulated by fixed norms, or where elegant courtiers were always praised for their sensibility. It was a society in which new norms and deviations emerged ceaselessly under the sharp eyes of its members.