Belt (Obi)

Object Details

Collector

Commodore Matthew C. Perry

Donor Name

Emperor Of Japan

RECATALOGED AS ETHNOLOGY# 004030 IN THE 1950'S. LATER CANCELLED. CANCELLED NUMBER, IN BRACKETS, REMAINS ON OBJECT. FROM CARD: "SILK, MEDIUM BLUE. APPARENTLY, ACCORDING TO NAVAL HISTORY THIS MUST BE JUST AN INFORMAL PIECE OF CLOTH, THAT WAS USED AS A BELT. FROM C.S. HOUCHINS, 5/10/84:BLUE HAKATA-ORI, WARP-FACED PLAIN WEAVE SILK WITH WARP FLOATS IN WHITE GEOMETRIC PATTERN. MAN'S BELT TO BE WORN FOLDED DOUBLE OVER AN OUTER ROBE. THE HAKATA (PT. OF FUKUOKA, KYUSHU) WEAVE IS ALSO CALLED HAKATA KARA ORI, BECAUSE OF ITS CHINESE ORIGIN. "MAY 19, 1965: LOANED FOR EXHIBIT TO NAVAL HISTORY. INVENTORIED 1968. RETURNED FROM LOAN, 11/17/89. **ALSO PER C.S. HOUCHINS(MUS. SPEC. IN THIS DEPT.) 1984 ON LOCATION OF MANUFACTURE: HAKATA, PART OF FUKUOKA, ON THE ISLAND OF KYUSHU. THE ITEM WAS GIVEN TO PERRY IN RYUKYU, BUT THE BELT IS A JAPANESE PRODUCT." ACCORDING TO HOUCHINS, 1995, P. 49, "THE BELT PROBABLY WAS RECEIVED AT NAHA, RYUKYUS, AS AN INFORMAL GIFT, BUT IT WAS NOT INCLUDED IN ANY OF OFFICIAL LISTS OF GIFTS."

See Chang-Su Houchins. 1995. Artifacts of Diplomacy: Smithsonian Collections from Commodore Matthew Perry's Japan Expedition (1853-1854). Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, Number 37. P 48 and 49

Record Last Modified

6 Dec 2018

Specimen Count

1

Culture

Japanese

Accession Date

9 Mar 1859

Collection Date

1854

Accession Number

199043

USNM Number

E27-0

Object Type

Belt

Width - Object

18.732 cm

Length - Object

371 cm

Width

18.7 cm

Length

557.3 cm

Place

Naha, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, Japan, Asia

See more items in

Anthropology

NMNH - Anthropology Dept.

Topic

Ethnology

Record ID

nmnhanthropology_8378688

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/300f883c6-bf28-4ad6-ab0f-438c2b825be8