Huang Shan’s cosplay album ‘Remember the Time’ and the aesthetic spirit of the Wei and Jin Dynasties
Monday, August 29th, 2011
Cover image of 'Remember the Time' （溯时). This photo belongs to a series entitled 'Mr Butterfly: Hallucination of Life' (蝴蝶先生), in which he appears in a white dress.
I am a huge fan of the Chinese cosplayer Huang Shan [黄山]. I finally got my copy of his most recent cosplay album Remember the Time [溯时]. Among others, he cosplayed the Sengoku-era general Imagawa Yoshimoto [今川義元]. Below is my rough translation of his observations of this historic personality:
“We often see the common stereotype of Imagawa Yoshimoto as a clown, but at the time he was also known as “Tokaido’s champion archer” as well as “the man closest to the Shogun”. I believe the real him was quite different from the stereotype of him as a foolish, fat man. It is also my guess that he was not even fat when he was young!
“How much courage does it take for an individual to persist on a kind of aesthetics that does not belong to his times, a kind of aesthetics that has been left behind by his times?
“Perhaps he just wanted to see poetry gatherings in the sakura season as a pass-time popular not just among aristocrats at court. The spirit of aristocracy was embodied in his entire person. Maybe his way was interpreted as foolish, or even idiotic. But I think in the times he lived, it was an amazing thing that he knew what he wanted and pursued it. Compared to a lot of people who were lost on the way to power, Imagawa Yoshimoto was a person of greater depth.
“He was only born in the wrong times. Therefore he should not be blamed.
“If he was born 500 years earlier, perhaps you would see this man dancing, at a splendid feast in the Heian capital of Kyoto – with beauty and joy, and faithful to his ideals to the last.”
![On the left, Huang Shan appears as Charles I, and we are told that more photos on that theme will appear in his second album "溯时". On the right is his work dated 2007, in which he appears as "Louis XXXIII" [路易三十三].](http://www.iwanihana.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/721420365310868822.jpg "On the left, Huang Shan appears as Charles I, and we are told that more photos on that theme will appear in his second album \"溯时\". On the right is his work dated 2007, in which he appears as \"Louis XXXIII\" (路易三十三) in a series of photos entitled \"幻帝 路易三十三\".")