gifts and violence

Yesterday I was in an antiques store in Leesburg, VA with some friends and I saw a beautiful Obi draped over a bench near the register. I could tell from the fact that the embroidery ran all along the length of the obi on both sides, it was pre World War II. There was hardly any discoloration and it was in excellent condition in which the colors were still very bold and pronounced.

The owner of the store said that it was once a gift to a Four Star General who had served in Japan during World War II and was brought back here to Virginia. After the man died, the properties of his estate was sold and this store had acquired quite a few of his items.

Obviously I could be falling for the oldest trick in selling. Tell an interesting story about the thing and suddenly customers will want it. Not to far away in the store were some brass bowls from China which were obviously made in China for tourist to buy. Separated merely by time and space the same occurrence could be happening to me.

But regardless, if it was true, it's an interesting thought on the travels of this piece of garment. The exchanging of hands from Japan to the US, the history of the cloth and it's symbolism as a gift to a US General. There are layers of meaning which cuts across different cross sections of class, nations, gender and race. Is there a significance to the giving of a woman's clothes as a gift to a General to mark the end of a war?

The collection of souvenirs of war service reminds me of a story my aunt once said of a man who was in service in Vietnam for a number of years. This man was struck by the beauty of the Vietnamese "áo dài" and wanted to take one home for his wife to wear. Now there are two parts to an áo dài, the top dress-like part which is similar to a Cheongsam has a slit which will typically go to about an inch above the hips. The man not knowing much about how an áo dài is worn only bought this part and forgot the crucial set of pants which go with it. When the man brought the dress home his wife was quite shocked about how revealing it was and was suspicious of her husbands endless praise on how beautiful it looked on the local women in Vietnam (and their sense of modesty.) So here we have an interesting scenario of the formulation of an intellectual intersection in concepts of gender between the husband, the wife and the women of Vietnam.

What meaning did the giver attribute to such a gift and what meaning did either military person take with him on receiving the gift. Did the gift have meaning for himself, or was it thought of only as a gift for a woman? The weight of these things hang on my head as I think of this obi now draped over a bench in some sleepy antiques store in Leesburg and I wonder who will pay the 450 to buy it and what meaning that buyer will give it.