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The colors of women's garments were also significant, indicating the rank of their husband or family. The queen and royal princesses wore goldish yellow silk or satin damask, a color long considered an Imperial color in China, while wives of ''[[anji]]'' or ''[[ueekata]]'' wore ''[[kasuri]]'' (ikat) fabrics, especially ''tsumugi'', in green or pale blue (or yellow, for higher-ranking ''anji'' families). Pink ''kasuri'' garments indicated wives of those of ''[[peechin]]'' or ''[[satunushi]]'' status, while the wives of the ''[[chikudun]]'', the lowest-ranking nobles, wore blue ''kasuri''. The highest ranking noblewomen wore gold hairpins, while other noblewomen wore silver; commoners wore hairpins made of copper, brass, bronze, wood, or other materials. Deep blue garments dyed with indigo were standard among the commoner/peasant class; these were made of various materials, including ''bashôfu'' and cotton, but excluding ramie (''jôfu''), which was off-limits for commoners. ''Kasuri'' garments were worn by members of all classes, from the royalty down to the peasantry,<ref>Gallery labels, Naha City Museum of History, August 2013.</ref> but particularly large ''kasuri'' patterns were limited to the aristocracy.<ref>''Bingata! Only in Okinawa'', 108.</ref>
The colors of women's garments were also significant, indicating the rank of their husband or family. The queen and royal princesses wore goldish yellow silk or satin damask, a color long considered an Imperial color in China, while wives of ''[[anji]]'' or ''[[ueekata]]'' wore ''[[kasuri]]'' (ikat) fabrics, especially ''tsumugi'', in green or pale blue (or yellow, for higher-ranking ''anji'' families). Pink ''kasuri'' garments indicated wives of those of ''[[peechin]]'' or ''[[satunushi]]'' status, while the wives of the ''[[chikudun]]'', the lowest-ranking nobles, wore blue ''kasuri''. The highest ranking noblewomen wore gold hairpins, while other noblewomen wore silver; commoners wore hairpins made of copper, brass, bronze, wood, or other materials. Deep blue garments dyed with indigo were standard among the commoner/peasant class; these were made of various materials, including ''bashôfu'' and cotton, but excluding ramie (''jôfu''), which was off-limits for commoners. ''Kasuri'' garments were worn by members of all classes, from the royalty down to the peasantry,<ref>Gallery labels, Naha City Museum of History, August 2013.</ref> but particularly large ''kasuri'' patterns were limited to the aristocracy.<ref>''Bingata! Only in Okinawa'', 108.</ref>
==Modern History==
The production and consumption of Okinawan textiles saw a major shift after the Japanese government's ''[[kyukan onzon|kyûkan onzon]]'' (preserving old customs) policy was ended in [[1903]], along with the traditional poll tax, and assimilation policies began to be put into place. Whereas the poll tax had previously been paid in handmade textiles, commercial production and sale now began to dominate. Assimilationist rhetoric promoted the wearing of Japanese-style [[kimono]] as part of "modern" "Japanese" ideas of how to be a proper modern woman, and a good wife and mother. Even as synthetic dyes, machine-spun yarn, and new types of looms came to dominate, Okinawan textiles nevertheless became a luxury export good, purchased by Japanese on the mainland as an exotic and special good while Okinawans found it cheaper to buy Japanese material for their clothing; by the 1920s or '30s, some 80-90% of textiles produced in Okinawa prefecture were exported.
==References==
==References==
