Java hokokai batik: legacy of wartime Indonesia

By Rita A. Widiadana

JAKARTA (JP): Hardship can enhance people's artistic creativity. This was true for numerous local batik artisans in Central Java living in the miserable World War II period between l942 and l945.

Indonesia was occupied by Japanese troops and people in Java and other parts of the archipelago suffered from a lack of proper food and daily facilities.

Despite the calamity, the development of arts, batik in particular, surprisingly still flourished.

These local batik makers developed new designs in batik. One of the most striking designs was Batik Djawa Hokokai, the Java hokokai batik, an evolution of the Javanese pesisir coastal batik style with strong influences from Dutch and Chinese designs, currently on display at the National Archive Building in Central Jakarta until Sept. 24 (except Sept. 17), as part of the Indonesia-Japan Week 2000.

Batik traditional textile art has been recognized in Indonesia for centuries and has been manufactured in some parts in the country, especially in Java and Sumatra. Batik was considered court art as it prospered within royal circles, especially in the Surakarta and Yogyakarta Sultanates between the 17th and early 20th centuries.

Batik master Iwan Tirta is buoyant when explaining Hohokai batik. "It was one of the most glorious stages in the history of batik development in Indonesia. In terms of technique and design, hokokai batik was excellent and incomparable," exclaimed Iwan, who is now reviving the design with modern touches.

Imagine, Iwan said, there were only limited cotton materials left by the Dutch and abundant batik makers. To keep the batik artists working, their bosses required them to draw various motifs and to experiment with colors and patterns in one piece of mori cotton cloth, he said.

The results were amazing. In one piece of Hohokai batik, there were millions of dots, locally called isen-isen, bold colors and an assortment of new designs.

The backdrop for hokokai batik were traditional motifs like kawung, parang (machete) and others. But they were added to with drawings of butterflies, sakura cherry blossoms and chrysanthenum flowers. Other flowers like roses, orchids and lotus flowers also appeared in the designs.

In addition to butterflies, bird motifs, especially peacocks, also emerged in the designs. The peacock is symbol of beauty and elegance and came from China. Japanese culture was influenced by Chinese elements.

Miserable

"Batik makers used such colors to enlighten people's miserable lives during the war and Japanese occupation period," Iwan added.

Iwan continued that the design of hokokai batik resembled coastal batik styles from Pekalongan, Central Java.

So far, there have been few thorough studies on the development of hokokai batik, but experts and collectors like Iwan, Eiko Adnan Kusuma and Nian Djumena have found some distinguishing characteristics in this type of batik.

Hokokai batik was usually created as pagi-sore wear, literally meaning morning and afternoon, two different batik motifs and colors on a piece of cloth.

The first design was painted in lighter color and the other side was darker. This pagi-sore batik was created because, at that time, most people could not afford to buy clothes. People could wear batik pagi-sore for morning and afternoon occasions.

Eiko Adnan Kusuma, one of the most ardent batik and traditional textile collectors in Indonesia, said there were always butterflies on each hokokai batik.

"But, actually, butterflies do not mean anything to most Japanese people," said Japanese-born Eiko.

She suspected there was Chinese influence in the design. Most hokokai batik were produced by Chinese manufacturers. For these ethnic people, butterflies are symbols of eternal love.

Some hokokai batik were also produced by Arabic businessmen, mostly batik traders. Some hokokai batik, the low quality ones, were produced by Arabic manufacturer H. Basmeleh.

Many people think hokokai batik was sold to the Japanese buyers. This is a wrong perception. Wearers of this type of batik were Chinese ladies who combined it with kebaya encim, traditional Javanese blouses modified with Chinese-style embroidery.

Therefore, where did the word "hokokai" come from? Iwan said that batik designs were very dynamic and heavily influenced by social, cultural and political conditions in certain period.

During the Dutch colonial period, there was Batik Kumpeni, influenced by European designs. Between the 1950s and l960s, during the Sukarno era, Indonesia's first president, there was Batik Trikora. There was also batik adopting the communist trademark hammer and sickle. The New Order's ruling Golkar Party had its own batik styles.

Djawa Hokokai was the name of people's loyalty organization deriving from the political concept that Javanese cooperation was essential for the greater prosperity of Asia. Iwan said in his book Batik, a Play of Light and Shade that: "Enterprising batik entrepreneurs launched hokokai batik as a token of adjustment to the new regime in order to seek favor."

Iwan, however, added the production of hokokai batik obviously enriched the dictionary of Indonesian batik designs which could not be found in anywhere in the world.

"We will never be able to produce these kind of batik designs with similar techniques. This hokokai batik must be preserved as part of Indonesian art legacy," lamented Iwan, who is now trying to reproduce hokokai batik for wall hangings.