Greater>Than Clothing

In this post, I’ll describe the second of two prototype designs that are currently in the works, as mentioned earlier. The first can be found here.

Continuing with a theme of learnings from other cultures (I now realize), this tee is inspired by the Bushidō code of the samurai warrior class of feudal Japan. I have long appreciated the stoicism, honor, and discipline that the memory of these legendarily deadly men continues to evoke. I think a big part of what I dig about the samurai, as opposed to other fighters respected historically for their effectiveness, was their lack of blood lust. Killing was their vocation, and they went about it with the utmost seriousness. Much of the Bushidō code revolves around preparation for death, which couldn’t help but remind the samurai of the gravity of ending someone else’s life.

In that context, it makes sense that one of the seven virtues of the way of the warrior was “jin”, best translated to English as “benevolence”. Far from dispassionate killing machines, they were trained to maintain a charitable disposition, to live their lives with kindness in their hearts. On the other hand, of course, they were called upon to kill without mercy when the situation called for it. It is this dichotomy that I hope to explore with this design.

The image will convey the mood as a battle looms, the calm before the storm. A lone samurai looks into the distance, steeling himself for the task at hand. A flag standard rises from his back, bearing a single character, our greater than symbol. Behind him, in Kanji, is the well-known craftsman’s adage “measure twice, cut once”. The overall aesthetic is stark, serious, and a little rough. It’s a two-color print, with the text and greater than symbol in one color and the man in another (red on black, for example).

The culture clash is a key part of this design. “Measure twice, cut once” isn’t a cliché in Japan like it is here in the US, but the message will be written in Japanese text. So the shirt is also a commentary on the difficulty of understanding a culture that isn’t your own, and the barriers to cross-language communication. Lost In Translation is one of my favorite movies.

That’s the basic idea. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.