Installation view, royal family's costume

Royal family's costume from the Bafut kingdom. There are around 230 various kinds of tribes living in Cameroon, the largest number in Africa. 300 years ago, tribes such as the Tikar and Guenba tribes immigrated to the westem BAMENDA plateau from northern Cameroon. They are well known for their highly developed handcraft technology, such as wooden mask carving, bronze sculpturing, and bead processing. Even today, they are maintaining the social system of the small kingdom (Chiefdom), and the Buft kingdom of the Gurnba tribe is also alive and well. A king’s clothes called ”fon” belong to the current king, and consist of a gorgeous dressing gown with which the crest of a fon was shown on the back, and a lower belt from right to left. This style was finished in the late 19th century, and the high ranked people started to wear the gown. There are tools sculptured into the throne and tables. Accessories (such as a head decoration using horse hair), a beaded necklace, a cane, as well as the sacred animal, signifies the king. At the time of an important wedding, the guade are usually semi-naked, and wearthe cotton waist clothes of the traditional royal blue.