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>Hi all,
>
> Does anyone have a clear idea of the origin of the Komuso Tengai Hat? and
>Why is it constructed in such a way? Does it convey any meaning in it's form?
> Thank for the active and helpful shakuhachi community!
A "clear idea" of almost anything having to do with the history of
the shakuhachi and its associations is something often sought but
seldom found; what follows is an excerpt from a scholarly paper
published in 1979 in Monumenta Nipponica (Vol. XXXII, No. 4). The
author is James H. Sanford, and the article is entitled Shakhachi
Zen, The Fukeshu and Komuso. Sanford's article is regarded by many as
the definitive review of available materials on this subject
(footnotes and their identifying numerals are omitted):
"The 'three implements' given to the new komuso consisted of
the shakuhachi, the kesa, and the tengai hat. The hat was the most
distinctive item of clothing worn by a komuso pilgrim, although prior
to about 1700 it was no more than a fairly shallow sedge hat of no
special note. In later years, from about 1720 on, the tengai was
transformed into its more familiar form, a sort of inverted reed
basket which covered the wearer's entire face. The reeds were tightly
wovern everywhere except just in front of the eyes so that the wearer
could view the outside world while remaining hemself quite
unidentifiable. According to the rules of the late Tokugawa Fuke
sect, the komuso monk was never supposed to remove his tengai except
with the precincts of a Fuke temple; if caught outside in a
rainstorm, he was not to open an umbrella over the tengai. In theory,
use of the developed tengai was restricted to full-fledged members of
the fraternity and unauthorized use was a punishable offense. As time
went on, the enforcement of this monopoly relaxed somewhat, and
samurai traveling incognito took to wearing this type of headgear; it
was eventually even affected by destitute warriors and their wives
who had been reduced to roadside begging. Nevertheless, the legal
restriction remained. When the kabuki play Kura was staged in the
early 1800's, one of the cast had to appear wearing a komuso tengai;
since such a hat could not be legally purchased, the producers were
obliged to borrow one directly from Ichigetsuji after paying a
deposit of 300 ryo.
[Like the three seals,] the three implements could be
obtained only from one of the major Fuke temples. This naturally
helped to centralize control of the movement and also helped t
guarantee that virually anyone carrying the seals and the three
implements could be taken as a bone fide komuso and was not simply a
dressed-up beggar or a disguised bandit."
eB
--Belief is thought at rest. --William James
=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>= Ed Beaty Boulder, CO edosan@boulder.net =<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=
****-_-_-_ ^..^ > /\ /\ "Buzz"
--============_-1139668368==_ma============
<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { padding-top: 0 ; padding-bottom: 0 } --></style><title>Re: Komuso Tengai Hat</title></head><body> <blockquote type="cite" cite>Hi all,<br> <br> Does anyone have a clear idea of the origin of the Komuso Tengai Hat? and<br> Why is it constructed in such a way? Does it convey any meaning in it's form?</blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite> Thank for the active and helpful shakuhachi community!</blockquote> <div><br></div> <div>A "clear idea" of almost anything having to do with the history of the shakuhachi and its associations is something often sought but seldom found; what follows is an excerpt from a scholarly paper published in 1979 in Monumenta Nipponica (Vol. XXXII, No. 4). The author is James H. Sanford, and the article is entitled<i> Shakhachi</i> Zen, The<i> Fukeshu</i> and<i> Komuso</i>. Sanford's article is regarded by many as the definitive review of available materials on this subject (footnotes and their identifying numerals are omitted):</div> <div><br></div> <div><x-tab> </x-tab>"The 'three implements' given to the new<i> komuso</i> consisted of the<i> shakuhachi</i>, the<i> kesa</i>, and the<i> tengai</i> hat. The hat was the most distinctive item of clothing worn by a<i> komuso</i> pilgrim, although prior to about 1700 it was no more than a fairly shallow sedge hat of no special note. In later years, from about 1720 on, the<i> tengai</i> was transformed into its more familiar form, a sort of inverted reed basket which covered the wearer's entire face. The reeds were tightly wovern everywhere except just in front of the eyes so that the wearer could view the outside world while remaining hemself quite unidentifiable. According to the rules of the late Tokugawa Fuke sect, the komuso monk was never supposed to remove his t<i>engai</i> except with the precincts of a Fuke temple; if caught outside in a rainstorm, he was not to open an umbrella over the<i> tengai</i>. In theory, use of the developed<i> tengai</i> was restricted to full-fledged members of the fraternity and unauthorized use was a punishable offense. As time went on, the enforcement of this monopoly relaxed somewhat, and samurai traveling incognito took to wearing this type of headgear; it was eventually even affected by destitute warriors and their wives who had been reduced to roadside begging. Nevertheless, the legal restriction remained. When the kabuki play<i> Kura</i> was staged in the early 1800's, one of the cast had to appear wearing a<i> komuso tengai</i>; since such a hat could not be legally purchased, the producers were obliged to borrow one directly from Ichigetsuji after paying a deposit of 300<i> ryo</i>.</div> <div><x-tab> </x-tab>[Like the three seals,] the three implements could be obtained only from one of the major Fuke temples. This naturally helped to centralize control of the movement and also helped t guarantee that virually anyone carrying the seals and the three implements could be taken as a bone fide<i> komuso</i> and was not simply a dressed-up beggar or a disguised bandit."</div> <div><br></div> <div>eB</div> <div><br></div> <div><br></div> <x-sigsep><pre>-- </pre></x-sigsep> <div><font face="Geneva" color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><font color="#211D19">Belief is thought at rest.</font></div> <div><font color="#211D19"><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>--William James</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br> <b >=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=</b ><br> Ed Beaty<br> Boulder, CO</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">edosan@boulder.net</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><b >=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+<span ></span>>=</b></font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br> <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>****-_-_-_ ^..^<br> <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab> <x-tab> </x-tab> ><br> <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab> /\ /\<br> <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab> "Buzz"</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> </body> </html> --============_-1139668368==_ma============-- _____________________________________________
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 06 2004 - 14:09:37 PST