What is it that makes a Japanese old lady so obsessed with Chinese blue printed cloth and tirelessly work hard to promote the introduction of blue printed cloth?
Kubo Massa
In a secluded new lane on Changle Road in Shanghai, there is a Chinese blue printed cloth hall. It is a Spanish-style building hidden deep in the lanes. Originally a private residence, it became a museum of blue printed cloth, and this delicate small building with beige facades has become a popular art and historical attraction. Walking into this small building, you can understand the development process of Chinese blue printed cloth from ancient times to the present, and you can also see various styles of blue printed cloth for more than three hundred years. However, it is hard to imagine that the person who founded this Chinese blue print cloth museum is an old lady from Japan, her name is Kubo Massa.
I still vividly remember that more than twenty years ago, I was invited by Kubo Massa to visit the Blue Printed Cloth Museum. Kubo Masa stood at the door of the small building to greet me, with silver hair and a smile on her face, and the clothes she wore were all blue printed cloth. That year, she was nearly eighty years old. This old Japanese lady has formed an indissoluble relationship with Chinese blue printed cloth. The exhibits in the China Blue Printed Cloth Pavilion embody her decades of hard work and feelings. Since the early 1970s, she has made the collection, research and promotion of Chinese blue printed cloth her career, and for more than 30 years, she has devoted all her efforts, time and energy to this cause without regret. In this Chinese Blue Printed Cloth Museum, she exhibits the blue printed cloth works she collected from all over China, which represent the blue printed cloth art of different eras. These exhibits show people the beauty of Chinese blue printed cloth, and also tell people about the affection of an old Japanese man for China.
Interior view of the Chinese Blue Printed Cloth Museum, Lane 637, Changle Road
Photography by Yang Xiaohui (hereinafter the same)
When accompanying me on the tour, Kubo Massa carefully introduced me to the blue printed cloth in the pavilion, and the blue printed cloth works she personally collected from all over China were as precious as a few. She said that China's blue printed cloth is one of the few beautiful flower cloths in the world, and like the famous Chinese blue and white porcelain, she expresses the rich and simple emotions of the Chinese people in blue and white, and is also the imaginative creation of Chinese folk artists. On the blue printed cloth, you can see a variety of flowers and trees, insects, fish and birds, and those dots or lines are connected to the pattern, bringing together the wonderful spirits between heaven and earth. In that pure blue, there is an endless wealth of colors. Paul Masa said to me, "I like the blue printed cloth of China. In the pattern of blue printed cloth, the wisdom and wisdom of Chinese are condensed, and it also shows Chinese love for nature and pursuit of beauty. In the daily use of cloth, very few can have the characteristics and style of the times like blue printed cloth. The blue printed cloth created by Chinese not only belongs to China, but also to the common wealth of mankind. It is an honor in my life to be able to do a little bit to promote the introduction of China's blue printed cloth. ”
I was touched and amazed, what was it that made this old Japanese lady so enamored of Chinese blue printed cloth? What motivates her to work so tirelessly to promote the introduction of blue printed cloth? After many exchanges with Kubo Massa, I learned about her background and experience, and how she had an indissoluble relationship with Chinese blue printed cloth.
Maya Kubo was born in 1921 in Shirakawa, Fukushima, Japan, and her original name was Watanabe. In 1940, she was very touched by the drama "Volcanic Ash City" written and directed by the writer Ei kubo in Tokyo. After that, she worked as an assistant to Mr. Kubo and became his adopted daughter, and changed her name to Kubo Massa. Ei Kubo was a well-known progressive playwright in Japan, who during World War II took a clear attitude against the war of aggression and openly expressed his friendship with the Chinese people in his plays. Kubo's views had a great influence on Kubo Massa. In Kubo Massa's heart, China is ancient and broad and intimate, and Chinese is kind, intelligent and kind.
For China's blue printed cloth, Kubo heisa fell in love at first sight. In 1955, the New China Commodities Exhibition was held in Tokyo, and Kubo Massa rushed to visit it with great interest. At the exhibition, there is a display case with blue printed cloth. Perhaps a fate in her life, Kubo Saw the Blue Printed Cloth of China for the first time, only to feel her eyes glow, these simple and beautiful native cloths, fascinated her. She bought back a horse and made it into a dress. When she went to work in this blue printed cloth dress, it caused the amazement of the people around her, and everyone asked her, where did such a beautiful fabric come from? Through the blue printed cloth, Kubo Massa has a wonderful and concrete understanding of the China she yearns for. She vaguely felt that her life and this beautiful native cloth from China had an inseparable maintenance.
Kubo died in 1958 while Kubo Massa worked in a repertory theatre. In 1971, Kubo Massa quit her job at the Repertory Theatre and began running Chinese blue printed fabrics in Tokyo, deciding to spend the rest of her life promoting Chinese blue printed fabrics. What used to be a vague desire is now very clear. It was at her home that she opened Japan's first Chinese blue printed cloth shop. Before the blue printed cloth shop opened, Kubo Masaaki personally mimeographed fifty postcards with the pattern of blue printed cloth on them. She sent the fifty postcards to fifty Japanese writers, painters, and artists, all of whom were friends of Mr. Kubo. Japanese artists and their wives who received invitations came to Kubo's asa shop one after another. Almost everyone who steps into this small shop has a strong interest in Chinese blue printed fabrics. Many people wore blue printed cloth clothing. Kubo, on the other hand, wore almost only blue printed cloth cloth clothing from the age of fifty. She said that the blue printed cloth is soft and comfortable, and it is breathable, hygroscopic, and comfortable to wear than other fabrics. More importantly, wearing a blue printed cloth costume, she felt distant China and she was close to it.
The Chinese blue printed cloth shop is becoming more and more influential under the meticulous management of Kubo Massa. She rented a house in an elegant location in Tokyo, expanded the Chinese blue printed cloth store, the new store has a two-bay façade, although the store is not large, but the customers are full of doors, becoming a unique store in Tokyo. At Kubo's shop, she is often asked the question: How do people make and use blue printed cloth in China? Unable to answer such a question, Kubo Massa regretted it. She wanted to go to the hometown of blue printed cloth to see, to go to the field to investigate Chinese how to make blue printed cloth, to see how blue printed cloth was integrated in the life of Chinese.
In 1972, on the eve of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, Kubo Massa finally had the opportunity to visit China. She participated in a Japanese women's visit to China and visited China for the first time. She found that in the Chinese cities at that time, there were no blue printed cloths in people's daily lives, which made her regret and a little confused. Such a beautiful flower cloth, why don't Chinese like it? In Mao Zedong's former residence in Shaoshanchong, Hunan Province, she found blue printed cloth for the first time, and the bed where Mao Zedong's family slept was stacked with hand-woven blue printed cloth bedding. She was deeply moved by this. Later, in the former residence of Qiu Jin in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, and the former residence of Mao Dun in Wuzhen, she saw a mosquito net with blue printed cloth. She found that the blue printed cloth in the north and south of China has different colors and patterns, and the blue printed cloth occupies a very important position in the Chinese's former life. However, in the life of contemporary Chinese, hand-woven, manual printing and dyeing of blue printed cloth products have become more and more rare, and the process of hand-printed blue printed cloth in many places is gradually being forgotten by people. The blue printed cloth created by the predecessors has long been used in life for thousands of holes and white sores, and it is rare to preserve it well. If not collected in time, those precious blue printed cloth artworks will eventually disappear from the world. So, Kubo Massa had a thought in her mind, she wanted to find a way to collect Chinese folk blue printed cloth. This idea became a cause that she worked hard for the rest of her life.
Since then, Kubo Massa has come to China once a year, and she has begun to collect folk blue printed cloth in the Chinese countryside. In north China, in Jiangnan, the footprints of this old Japanese man have been left everywhere. She walked from small town to town, from old town to old town, village by village, and wherever there was blue printed cloth, her figure appeared. She not only collected old blue printed cloth and bed sheets, quilts, wrapping cloth, turbans, bibs, shirts, skirts, but also made in-depth research on the production process of blue printed cloth. Whenever she heard that there were workshops producing blue printed cloth, she always tried to find a way to go there for field investigations. Some farmers joked that the old Japanese man, who was obsessed with blue printed cloth, was an "Oriental zodiacobo."
In order to collect the blue printed cloth scattered in the countryside, Kubo Massa can be described as a hard work. Sometimes, in search of an old blue printed cloth piece, she can travel for days. In the Blue Printed Cloth Museum, there is an old belly pocket sewn with blue printed cloth, which has a history of more than 100 years. In Kubo Massa's collection, this little belly pocket was not easy to come by. That year, Kubo Massa was looking for blue printed cloth in the Fujian countryside, and she heard that the tea village of Anxi had once been a source of blue printed cloth, so she drove on the muddy road. However, many places were searched but found nothing. Her sincerity and spirit touched the people of Anxi. After Kubo Massa left, some local people took the initiative to find the remaining blue printed cloth for her. After returning to Shanghai, she received a letter from Anxi, which provided information about this late Blue printed cloth belly pocket, which was collected by an old man of the She ethnic group. When Kubo Masa heard about it, he worked hard and spent a lot of money to buy this precious old belly pocket.
In 1980, Kubo Massa held an exhibition in Tokyo titled "The Past and Present of Chinese Blue Printed Cloth", which exhibited the Chinese blue printed cloth she had collected over the years. This exhibition has aroused a lot of interest in Japan, and it has also answered many questions about blue printed cloth that she had difficulty answering before. Many Japanese people visited her exhibition and learned about the Chinese blue printed cloth, and then fell in love with this Chinese folk art. Kubo Massa designed a variety of postcards printed with blue printed cloth patterns, totaling more than 80 kinds, printing more than 200,000 copies, and distributed widely in Japan. It is through these postcards that countless Japanese people have learned the charm of Chinese blue printed cloth.
Seeing more and more people wearing blue printed cloth costumes on the streets of Tokyo, Kubo Wasa felt a heartfelt relief. This not only brought a wonderful art created by Chinese to Japan, but also used these blue flower cloth to connect a bond of friendship between China and Japan.
Kubo Massa collected more and more blue printed cloth, and she wanted to make the most reasonable home for these precious works of art. She felt that their destination should not be in Japan, but in China. She used almost her life savings to buy a small building on Changle Road in Shanghai, preparing the venue for her dream of a Chinese blue printed cloth museum. After years of preparation, on September 15, 1990, the China Blue Printing Cloth Museum was officially opened in Shanghai, and the sign of "China Blue Printing Cloth Museum" was hung in front of this small building on Changle Road. Kubo Massa was 71 years old that year. It was a day that Kubo Massa will never forget. When she stood at the door and welcomed the Chinese and tourists from all over the world into the hall, when she saw the visitors face the blue printed cloth with a surprised look, she felt that her later life had lived a beautiful value.
In Shanghai, Kubo Massa also opened a blue printed cloth shop, which is right in front of Sun Yat-sen's former residence on Xiangshan Road. The blue printed cloth shop on Kayama Road is not far from my house, I have visited that store many times to shop, and sometimes Kubo Masa waited for me in the store hall and personally introduced me to the blue printed cloth products in her shop. At this shop, we sell a variety of blue printed cloth clothing and fabrics, many of which are creatively designed by Kubo Massa himself. In my shop, she said, it was necessary to provide customers with real Chinese blue printed cloth. Kubo is not only fond of Chinese blue printed cloth, but also very interested in other Chinese arts. Whenever she sees a fresh work of art, she always wonders, can she transplant the pattern in the painting to the blue printed cloth? In Kubo's Chinese blue printed cloth store, many of the patterns on the blue printed cloth are designed by herself.
There are two blue printed cloth shops in Tokyo and Shanghai at the same time, and Kubo Massa must be personal about the business in the store, such as the production of handmade blue printed cloth, the production of clothing, and the inspection of product quality. Because, they are related to the reputation of China's blue printed cloth. At the airports in Shanghai and Tokyo, she can often be seen hurrying around with a weary face, sometimes making several trips back and forth every month. For an old man who is too old, such work and life is too hard and tiring. However, Kubo Massa has always enjoyed it.
Kubo Massa became a Japanese who lived in Shanghai. On the streets of Shanghai, many people have seen this old lady dressed in blue printed cloth. Upstairs in the Blue Printed Cloth Pavilion is her home in Shanghai. Her home is also a world of blue printed cloth. Kubo Massa often entertains Chinese friends at home, and the friends who come to her living room to party are intoxicated by the blue and white atmosphere, simplicity and elegance. I have been invited to her house many times to drink tea together, listen to artists play the guqin together, and review the history of literary and artistic exchanges between China and Japan. On the wall of her living room, there is a calligraphy that Cao Yu gave to her father, which is also framed in blue printed cloth.
In Shanghai, whenever she heard that there were art exhibitions, she always had to rush to see them. I heard that there was a "Shen kiln" in Shanghai, and a group of painters gathered, and she was also excited to go with me to see the painters painting on porcelain, and these painters became her friends. The painter Yu Also sketched a sketch for her on a pen holder.
Over the decades, it has been difficult to count how many Chinese blue printed cloths Kubo Massa has collected. She collected these blue printed cloths in order to preserve the history and style of an ancient art to the world, but also to promote this wonderful Chinese folk art. In 1995, Shanghai held an international fashion festival, and in the opening ceremony performance, in order to show people China's ancient history and folk art, the director designed 16 actresses wearing blue printed cloth dresses to dance on stage, but they could not find quality blue printed cloth. When Kubo Masa heard about it, he immediately donated a batch of hand-printed blue printed cloth that he had collected from all over China and kept for 18 years for the organizing committee to rush to make clothes. At the opening ceremony of the international fashion festival, Chinese fashion models wore blue printed cloth costumes on the T-shaped stage, which made Chinese and foreign guests feel refreshed.
Kubo Massa's blue printed cloth has a nice brand: "Red Dragonfly". The name comes from a Japanese folk song she likes, this song, she has sung from her childhood to the present, the song sings like this: "The red dragonfly in the sunset, please tell me, when I met you in my childhood, when I met you..." The wonderful art created by the people will never disappear, because they contain the goodness and beauty between heaven and earth. Just like the Blue Printed Cloth of China, just like the Japanese "Red Dragonfly".
In the fall of 1999, I was visiting Japan, and Kubo Massa happened to be in Tokyo, and she was very happy to hear that I had come. When we were on the phone, she said, "I'm going to ask you to watch Kabuki." You don't have to watch the whole scene, the last "Mirror Lion", you can watch. That night, she rushed to the hotel where I was staying in a taxi and picked me up at Tokyo's largest Kabuki-za. In order to make me look real, she pre-ordered two of the most expensive tickets, each 15,000 yen, equivalent to more than 1,000 yuan, sitting in the middle of the fourth row. During the performance that day, I was deeply impressed by the kabuki traditional famous drama "Mirror Lion". Kubo Masa told me that she hadn't been in Kabukiza for thirty years since she went into the blue printed cloth business, and she still wouldn't have come if she hadn't been with me. Walking into this ancient theater also evoked many good memories for her.
In 2001, Kubo Massa will celebrate her eightieth birthday in Shanghai. I want to pay tribute to this old Japanese man who is so friendly to China, leave a little souvenir, and take the time to write a documentary TV script that records her love affair with blue printed cloth, and Teng Junjie, a famous director of Shanghai Television, is ready to shoot. Just a few days before the documentary tv film began, Kubo Masa went to a blue printed cloth workshop in Nantong to investigate, and accidentally fell on the way, fractured his leg, and could no longer move. Filming of television films can only be shelved. Since then, her quality of life has been greatly affected, and she rarely goes out to move. She had consulted me many times about what to do with the precious blue printed cloth that she had spent most of her life collecting. Nippon Organic Conception collected her blue printed cloth and promised to provide a fixed exhibition hall for these precious Chinese folk art works, but Kubo Massa thought twice and politely refused. She said to me, "These blue printed cloths are created in China, so leave them in China." ”
Kubo Massa died in Tokyo in May 2011 at the age of 90.
Recently, I received an invitation from the China Blue Printed Cloth Museum, in order to commemorate the centenary of Kubo Masa's birth, the China Blue Printed Cloth Museum is ready to hold a commemorative symposium for her, and the blue invitation card is printed with five words "Love China Blue". I am very happy that people still remember Kubo Massa, and I still remember this old Japanese man who has worked hard all his life for the blue printed cloth for China. (Zhao Lihong)