Love After The Tale of Genji

Love After The Tale of Genji PDF

Author: Charo B. D’Etcheverry

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-03-23

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1684174554

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"The eleventh-century masterpiece The Tale of Genji casts a long shadow across the literary terrain of the Heian period (794–1185). It has dominated critical and popular reception of Heian literary production and become the definitive expression of the aesthetics, poetics, and politics of life in the Heian court.But the brilliance of Genji has eclipsed the works of later Heian authors, who have since been displaced from the canon and relegated to critical obscurity.Charo B. D’Etcheverry calls for a reevaluation of late Heian fiction by shedding new light upon this undervalued body of work. D’Etcheverry examines three representative texts—The Tale of Sagoromo, The Tale of the Hamamatsu Middle Counselor, and Nezame at Night—as legitimate heirs to the literary legacy of Genji and as valuable indexes to the literary tastes and readerly expectations that evolved over the Heian period.Balancing careful analyses of plot, character, and motif with keen insights into the cultural and political milieu of the late Heian period, D’Etcheverry argues that we should read such works not as mere derivatives of a canonical text, but as dynamic fictional commentaries and variations upon the tropes and subplots that continue to resonate with readers of Genji."

The Last Tosa

The Last Tosa PDF

Author: Sandy Kita

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 1999-03-01

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0824865685

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Iwasa Katsumochi Matabei (1578-1650) is one of the most controversial figures in Japanese art history. For more than half a century, historians have argued over Matabei's role in Japanese art: Was he, as he asserted, "The Last Tosa" (the school of painters who specialized in Yamato-e, a kind of classical courtly painting) or, as others characterized him, "The Founder of Ukiyo-e," the style of painting associated with the urban commoner class. In this highly original and convincing study, Matabei emerges as both--an artist in whose work can be seen elements of both Yamato-e and Ukiyo-e. Extending its analysis beyond the individual artist, The Last Tosa examines the trends and artistic developments of a transitional period and makes heretofore unexamined connections between the world of the aristocrat and the merchant as well as the two artistic schools that reflected their tastes. It addresses these larger issues by identifying Matabei as a member of a social group known as machishu. Excerpts from noblemen's diaries, an investigation of the etymology of machishu, and an analysis of art by its members, indicate that machishu included both commoners and gentry, thus revealing a rich tradition of egalitarianism--an important departure from the conventionally held belief that seventeenth-century Japan's urban society was rigidly stratified. The Last Tosa provides an exhaustive study of Matabei's paintings, including all his important works and key attributions. Translations of all documents available on Matabei are given, in particular his travel diary, a unique source, the only known example of such a text by a seventeeth-century classical painter. With its fusion of cultural history with political, social, and economic history, this sophisticated study will appeal to not only art historians, but also to students of history, anthropology, and culture studies interested in questions of group identity and the political uses of culture.

A Kamigata Anthology

A Kamigata Anthology PDF

Author: Sumie Jones

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2020-02-29

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 0824882636

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This is the first of a three-volume anthology of Edo- and Meiji-era urban literature that includes An Edo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Mega-City, 1750–1850 and A Tokyo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Modern Metropolis, 1850–1920. The present work focuses on the years in which bourgeois culture first emerged in Japan, telling the story of the rising commoner arts of Kamigata, or the “Upper Regions” of Kyoto and Osaka, which harkened back to Japan’s middle ages even as they rebelled against and competed with that earlier era. Both cities prided themselves on being models and trendsetters in all cultural matters, whether arts, crafts, books, or food. The volume also shows how elements of popular arts that germinated during this period ripened into the full-blown consumer culture of the late-Edo period. The tendency to imagine Japan’s modernity as a creation of Western influence since the mid-nineteenth century is still strong, particularly outside Japan studies. A Kamigata Anthology challenges such assumptions by illustrating the flourishing phenomenon of Japan’s movement into its own modernity through a selection of the best examples from the period, including popular genres such as haikai poetry, handmade picture scrolls, travel guidebooks, kabuki and joruri plays, prose narratives of contemporary life, and jokes told by professional entertainers. Well illustrated with prints from popular books of the time and hand scrolls and standing screens containing poems and commentaries, the entertaining and vibrant translations put a spotlight on texts currently unavailable in English.

The Artist as Professional in Japan

The Artist as Professional in Japan PDF

Author: Melinda Takeuchi

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 9780804743556

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"The book also addresses issues of canon formation: by what complex process are some artists and objects singled out to communicate rhetorical or aesthetic meaning while others lapse into the background."--BOOK JACKET.

Tosa Mitsunobu and the Small Scroll in Medieval Japan

Tosa Mitsunobu and the Small Scroll in Medieval Japan PDF

Author: Melissa McCormick

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13:

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Tosa Mitsunobu and the Small Scroll in Medieval Japan is the first book-length study to focus on short-story small scrolls (ko-e), one of the most complex but visually appealing forms of early Japanese painting. Small picture scrolls emerged in Japan during the fourteenth century and were unusual in constituting approximately half the height of the narrative handscrolls that had been produced and appreciated in Japan for centuries. Melissa McCormick's history of the small scroll tells the story of its emergence and highlights its unique pictorial qualities and production contexts in ways that illuminate the larger history of Japanese narrative painting. Small scrolls illustrated short stories of personal transformation, a new literary form suffused with an awareness of the Buddhist notion of the illusory nature of worldly desires. The most accomplished examples of the genre resulted from the collaboration of the imperial court painter Tosa Mitsunobu (active ca. 1469-1522) and the erudite Kyoto aristocrat Sanjonishi Sanetaka (1455-1537). McCormick unveils the cultural milieu and the politics of patronage through diaries, letters, and archival materials, exposing the many layers of allusion that were embedded in these scrolls, while offering close readings that articulate the artistic language developed to an extreme level of refinement. In doing so, McCormick also offers the first sustained examination in English of Tosa Mitsunobu's extensive and underappreciated body of artistic achievements. The three scrolls that form the core of the study are A Wakeful Sleep (Utatane soshi emaki), which recounts the miraculous union of a man and a woman who had previously encountered each other only in their dreams; The Jizo Hall (Jizodo soshi emaki), which tells the story of a wayward monk who achieves enlightenment with the help of a dragon princess; and Breaking the Inkstone (Suzuriwari soshi emaki), which narrates the sacrifice of a young boy for his household servant and its tragic consequences. These three works are easily among the most artistically accomplished and sophisticated small scrolls to have survived.

Japan Encyclopedia

Japan Encyclopedia PDF

Author: Louis Fr?d?ric

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 1130

ISBN-13: 9780674017535

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"Knowing Japan and the Japanese better," Louis Frédéric states in the introduction to this encyclopedia, "is one of the necessities of modern life." The Japanese have a profound knowledge of every aspect and detail of Western societies. Unfortunately, we in the West cannot say the same about our knowledge of Japan. We tend to see Japan through a veil of exoticism, as a land of ancient customs and exquisite arts; or we view it as a powerful contributor to the global economy, the source of cutting-edge electronics and innovative management techniques. To go beyond these clichés, we must begin to see how apparently contradictory aspects of modern Japanese culture spring from the country's evolution through more than two millennia of history. This richly detailed yet concise encyclopedia is a guide to the full range of Japanese history and civilization, from the dawn of its prehistory to today, providing clear and accessible information on society and institutions, commerce and industry, sciences, sports, and politics, with particular emphasis on religion, material culture, and the arts. The volume is enhanced by maps and illustrations, along with a detailed chronology of more than 2,000 years of Japanese history and a comprehensive bibliography. Cross-references and an index help the reader trace themes from one article to the next. Japan Encyclopedia will be an indispensable one-volume reference for students, scholars, travelers, journalists, and anyone who wishes to learn more about the past and present of this great world civilization.

Turning Point

Turning Point PDF

Author: Miyeko Murase

Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 1588390969

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Japan's brief but dramatic Momoyama period (1573-1615) witnessed the struggles of a handful of ambitious warlords for control of the long-splintered country and finally the emergence of a united Japan. This was also an era of dynamic cultural development in which the feudal lords sponsored lavish, innovative arts to proclaim their newly acquired power. One such art was a ceramic ware known as Oribe, whose mysterious sudden appearance and rise in popularity are explored in this book. Ceramics are closely connected to the tea ceremony and central to Japanese culture. In this context Oribe wares represented a unique and major development, since they were the easiest Japanese ceramics to carry extensive multicolor decoration. Boldly painted with geometric and naturalistic designs, they display sensuous glazes, especially in a distinctive vitreous green, as well as a whole repertoire of playful new shapes. Their genesis has tradtionally been ascribed to Furuta Oribe (1543/44-1615), a warrior and the foremost tea master of his time, who appears to have played a crucial role in redefining the aesthetics of Japan. Over seventy engaging vessels of Oribe ware, along with striking examples of other types of wares produced in the same milieu, make up the heart of this catalogue. -- Metropolitan Museum of Art website.

The Art and Architecture of Japan

The Art and Architecture of Japan PDF

Author: Robert Treat Paine

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1981-01-01

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 9780300053333

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Once slighted as mere copying from China, the arts of Japan are now seen as a unique alternation of advances and withdrawals. At times the islanders produced Chinese-style works of great beauty, unmatched on the continent. When they chose to be independent, their art differs at every level. Sculpture, and even more painting, are concrete, sensuous, and emotional, speaking directly to all.