Professor Aida Yuen Wong of Brandeis University will speak on Kimono Fabric Reuse in Scroll Mounting for Japanese Women’s Calligraphy as part of a larger online conference, "Writing & Women Calligraphers in East Asia," presented by Princeton University.

Professor Wong will be speaking at 2pm on a panel titled "Writing and Mediums" with Harvard University Professor Melissa McCormick who will speak on "Rengetsu’s Calligraphy in Clay: Historicizing Script and Sound, Surface and Sensation." Registering for the conference will provide Zoom access to any of the panels throughout the conference.

See full conference information, schedule, and registration here.

Writing & Women Calligraphers in East Asia:

East Asian calligraphy encompasses a vast and rich tradition. With profound discourses on ideology, diverse artistic styles, and outstanding calligraphers, it stands out as a unique art form, deeply intertwined with its social and cultural environments. Women, however, are conspicuously underrepresented in historical accounts related to and dealing with East Asian calligraphy. This workshop aims to explore the circumstances and stories about women within it. 

We begin with a series of questions: Is the history of East Asian calligraphy, in its terminology as well as institutions, truly as male-dominated as it appears? How did women navigate the traditional framework of calligraphy to learn and create in this art form? In what ways have their contributions been recorded and evaluated? How did they manage to find or establish their own position within the artistic and cultural domains of calligraphy? Finally, in what ways is calligraphy gendered in East Asia?

Scholars specializing in China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan studies will present their research on women and writing/calligraphy in East Asia. The topics include case studies as well as broader reflections on gendered writing in East Asia and their wider implications for the field. The program also includes an artist’s narrative on the story of her creative journey in the modern world.

Kimono Fabric Reuse in Scroll Mounting for Japanese Women’s Calligraphy

This paper explores the historiography and material evidence surrounding the reuse of kimono fabric in Japanese scroll mounting (表具, hyōgu), particularly for calligraphic works created by women. Scroll mounting, the art of attaching calligraphy or painting to fabric or paper to create a complete artwork, is an important yet understudied aspect of Japanese visual culture. The focus of calligraphic studies tends to remain on the calligraphy itself, while the mounting is often treated as secondary or incidental. As a result, the documentation of textile reuse, especially in relation to calligraphy, is sparse and fragmented, making it challenging to trace consistent historical practices.

The history of women’s calligraphy in Japan is especially well-documented during the Heian period (794–1185), an era when court women played a central role in shaping Japanese literary and calligraphic traditions. Heian court women developed a distinctive calligraphic style called onnade (女手, “woman’s hand”), which later evolved into hiragana, the phonetic script that remains a cornerstone of the Japanese writing system. Texts from this period, such as The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon (c. 1000 CE), offer glimpses into the lives and artistic practices of court women. However, they do not specifically address the reuse of garments, such as kimono fabric, in artistic or calligraphic contexts. This gap leaves much of the intersection between textile reuse and calligraphy speculative, though it is known that fabrics were often repurposed for utilitarian and artistic purposes.

While Heian-era documentation remains elusive, evidence of fabric reuse in calligraphy becomes more prominent in later periods. For instance, in religious contexts, Buddhist nuns were known to repurpose textiles for artistic and devotional works. This included reusing worn or donated garments to create calligraphic sutras or other ritual objects. The use of garments in such practices often carried spiritual significance, imbuing the fabric with new meaning as part of the creative process.

The Edo period (1603–1867) saw a noticeable expansion in the use of textiles for artistic purposes, including calligraphy. Kimono sashes (obi) were sometimes repurposed into smaller decorative objects, such as scroll mountings, screens, or hanging panels. Merchant families, eager to demonstrate their wealth and piety, frequently donated ceremonial kimonos to temples, where the fabrics were transformed into altar cloths or scroll mountings for religious texts. Geisha, who were influential trendsetters in Edo society, often engaged in calligraphy as a leisure or performance art, further connecting textiles and calligraphy to the world of women’s creativity.

Significant innovations in fabric and calligraphy emerged during the Meiji period (1868–1912), driven by the introduction of new textile technologies and increasing Western influence. The mechanization of silk weaving and dyeing processes expanded the availability of intricate textiles, which were sometimes adapted for use in scroll mountings. This period also saw a growing interest in preserving traditional arts, including hyōgu, leading to a reevaluation of older practices such as textile reuse in calligraphy.

This paper examines how these historical developments—from Heian courtly practices to Edo commercial innovations and Meiji industrial advances—have shaped the relationship between kimono fabric reuse and scroll mounting, particularly in the context of women’s artistic contributions. It also considers how these traditions persist or evolve in contemporary Japanese art.