On The Costume Of The Wu Ji(Dancer) In The Buddha Worshiping Band In The Murals Of Mogao Grottoes Of Tang Dynasty In Dunhuang

The beautiful costumes in the imagery data of dance in Dunhuang Murals have abundant implications. This paper, by analyzing and reorganizing the images of 110 Wu Ji (Dancer) in the Buddha Worshiping Band in the Dunhuang Murals of Tang Dynasty, with a review of the literature, and through a restoration of image and a comparison of relative figures, obtains a comparatively integrated and profound apprehension of the costumes of Wu Ji (Dancer) in the Buddha Worshiping Band in the Murals of Mogao Grottoes of Tang Dynasty in Dunhuang. Moreover, this paper breaks the limitation of the method of pure correspondence of imagery and literal materials applied by former researchers in the study of the images of the dancers, by using the important clue of the visual effect of the costumes, which also serves as a supplement for the method of defining a dance style and its artistic source through the single still postures, thus makes the argument more reasonable.In the first chapter, the author introduces the derivation and present situation, purpose and significance, objects and contents, and the main studying approaches of this subject, distinguishes highly confusing terms such as Yue Ji and Wu Ji, defining Wu Ji as the entertainer who dances primarily thereby separating it from the category of Yue Ji. And the author defines the object of the research to be costumes of Wu Ji (Dancer) in the Buddha Worshiping Band in the Murals of Tang Dynasty, and finds the practical significance and the objective advantages of the research.In the second chapter, the author analyzes one by one the dressing style of 110 Wu Ji appearing in the Buddha Worshiping Band in the Murals of Tang Dynasty, putting the results of the analyses in four parts by the sequence of time: head, the upper body, the lower part of the body and the decorations, and then classifies and reorganizes the results according to the dressing type and expressing technique, by focusing on 9 kind of designs in the upper and lower parts of the body, their diversification and collocation, the color patterns, as well as the dressing effect, etc. It is found that Wu Ji could be generally sorted into 3 categories: the smooth, the brave and somewhat between the two, which corresponds with the conclusion of the former researchers. And lastly, by drawing the style duplication, the construction of Wu Ji costume is clearly presented.In the third chapter, the author compares the style of Wu Ji costume with that of Yue Ji, Bodhisattva, Heavenly Kings, Ji Yue Ren (musicians) and relative characters, builds up connections between the dressing style and the complicated imagery materials and the time background, to get the in-depth comprehension from plural aspects. Through comparison, it is easy to find that the smooth style in Wu Ji costume is primarily influenced to a great extent by the Bodhisattva costume, but the brave style borrows elements from that of Heavenly King. Speaking of the overall image, Wu Ji resembles these two styles more and differs greatly from the image of singers and dancers in Tang Dynasty, not simply the reproduction of secular musicians, nor the ideal feminine image of Tang Dynasty.At the end of the paper, the author proposes the necessity of combination of history and reality, and expects the association between the research on ancient costume and the fashion design.