Figure 1.--This is the Urushibara family in Tokyo during 1935. The portrait shows father Yoshijiro, mother Tsuru, daughter Hideo (6 years old), and son Ichiro (5 years). |
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Here we see a family photo of the distinguished Japanese specialist and curator of Japanese woodcut prints, Yoshijiro Urshibara. He worked in both Toyko and London. The portrait shows him and his wife, Tsuru, in Tokyo (1935). His daughter, Hideo, was born in 1929; his son Ichiro was born a year later in 1930, so the children are 5 and 6 years old respectively. Notice that the boy wears short trousers with white long stockings and supporters. The girl also wears white stockings. The children are dressed in typical clothing for an affluent Tokyo family. We do not see English influences beyond the generalized westernized children's styles. English boys in the 1930s did not wear long stockings. They were not even common with girls, but we do see them worn at conservative girls schools. Long stockings were very common in Japan. Long stockings must have been made very long as Ichiro's short pants are rather short. Before the War Japanese boys usually wore knee-length shorts. Shorter shorts were more likely to be worn by fashionable, well-to-do families. I don't think this is a British influence as before World war II, British boys still wore knee-length shorts.
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