Kingdom of Beauty

Kingdom of Beauty PDF Author: Kim Brandt
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822340003
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
A Study of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University Kingdom of Beauty shows that the discovery of mingei (folk art) by Japanese intellectuals in the 1920s and 1930s was central to the complex process by which Japan became both a modern nation and an imperial world power. Kim Brandt’s account of the mingei movement locates its origins in colonial Korea, where middle-class Japanese artists and collectors discovered that imperialism offered them special opportunities to amass art objects and gain social, cultural, and even political influence. Later, mingei enthusiasts worked with (and against) other groups—such as state officials, fascist ideologues, rival folk art organizations, local artisans, newspaper and magazine editors, and department store managers—to promote their own vision of beautiful prosperity for Japan, Asia, and indeed the world. In tracing the history of mingei activism, Brandt considers not only Yanagi Muneyoshi, Hamada Shōji, Kawai Kanjirō, and other well-known leaders of the folk art movement but also the often overlooked networks of provincial intellectuals, craftspeople, marketers, and shoppers who were just as important to its success. The result of their collective efforts, she makes clear, was the transformation of a once-obscure category of pre-industrial rural artifacts into an icon of modern national style.

Kingdom of Beauty

Kingdom of Beauty PDF Author: Kim Brandt
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822340003
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
A Study of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University Kingdom of Beauty shows that the discovery of mingei (folk art) by Japanese intellectuals in the 1920s and 1930s was central to the complex process by which Japan became both a modern nation and an imperial world power. Kim Brandt’s account of the mingei movement locates its origins in colonial Korea, where middle-class Japanese artists and collectors discovered that imperialism offered them special opportunities to amass art objects and gain social, cultural, and even political influence. Later, mingei enthusiasts worked with (and against) other groups—such as state officials, fascist ideologues, rival folk art organizations, local artisans, newspaper and magazine editors, and department store managers—to promote their own vision of beautiful prosperity for Japan, Asia, and indeed the world. In tracing the history of mingei activism, Brandt considers not only Yanagi Muneyoshi, Hamada Shōji, Kawai Kanjirō, and other well-known leaders of the folk art movement but also the often overlooked networks of provincial intellectuals, craftspeople, marketers, and shoppers who were just as important to its success. The result of their collective efforts, she makes clear, was the transformation of a once-obscure category of pre-industrial rural artifacts into an icon of modern national style.

Japanese Modernisation and Mingei Theory

Japanese Modernisation and Mingei Theory PDF Author: Yūko Kikuchi
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 0415297907
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
Yanagi Soetsu, Bernard Leach and Hamada Shoji are the golden trio of the Mingei (folkcrafts) movement. The theory at its core and its adaptation by Leach, has long been an influential 'Oriental' asethetic philosophy for studio craft artists in the West.

The Unknown Craftsman

The Unknown Craftsman PDF Author: Muneyoshi Yanagi
Publisher: Kodansha International
ISBN: 9780870119484
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Mr. Yanagi sees folk art as a manifestation of the essential world from which art, philosophy, and religion arise and in which the barriers between them disappear. The implications of the author's ideas are both far-reaching and practical.

The Essence of Japanese Cuisine

The Essence of Japanese Cuisine PDF Author: Michael Ashkenazi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136815562
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
The past few years have shown a growing interest in cooking and food, as a result of international food issues such as BSE, world trade and mass foreign travel, and at the same time there has been growing interest in Japanese Studies since the 1970s. This volume brings together the two interests of Japan and food, examining both from a number of perspectives. The book reflects on the social and cultural side of Japanese food, and at the same time reflects also on the ways in which Japanese culture has been affected by food, a basic human institution. Providing the reader with the historical and social bases to understand how Japanese cuisine has been and is being shaped, this book assumes minimal familiarity with Japanese society, but instead explores the country through the topic of its cuisine.

The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi

The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi PDF Author: Dave Lowry
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1458764141
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
Sushi restaurants have become more popular than ever, with new locations popping up every day in big cities and small towns all across the country. Though Westerners are quickly learning to appreciate the unique flavors and textures of sushi, few truly understand the intricacies of the preparations, terminology, and culture they find at sushi restaurants. Fortunately, The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi is here to help. With detailed explanations of everything from maki to sake, Dave Lowry demystifies the language, lore, and - of course - the food that diners may encounter. He offers an alphabetical exploration of both the mainstays of the sushi restaurant (including the types of fish and sushi available) and the more adventurous offerings and toppings. There are also sections on sushi accompaniments, such as pickled vegetables, wasabi, beverages, etc.; on sushi etiquette; and on what to look for in a good sushi restaurant. Advice and anecdotes abound, ensuring that those who read this book will feel confident (and maybe even a little smug) the next time they go out for sushi.

Osaka Modern

Osaka Modern PDF Author: Michael P. Cronin
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 168417578X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
"Images of the city in literature and film help constitute the experience of modern life. Studies of the Japanese city have focused on Tokyo, but a fuller understanding of urban space and life requires analysis of other cities, beginning with Osaka. Japan’s “merchant capital” in the late sixteenth century, Osaka remained an industrial center—the “Manchester of the East”—into the 1930s, developing a distinct urban culture to rival Tokyo’s. It therefore represents a critical site of East Asian modernity. Osaka Modern maps the city as imagined in Japanese popular culture from the 1920s to the 1950s, a city that betrayed the workings of imperialism and asserted an urban identity alternative to—even subversive of—national identity. Osaka Modern brings an appreciation of this imagined city’s emphatic locality to: popular novels by Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, favorite son Oda Sakunosuke, and best-seller Yamasaki Toyoko; films by Toyoda Shirō and Kawashima Yūzō; and contemporary radio, television, music, and comedy. Its interdisciplinary approach creates intersections between Osaka and various theoretical concerns—everyday life, coloniality, masculinity, translation—to produce not only a fresh appreciation of key works of literature and cinema, but also a new focus for these widely-used critical approaches."

In Pursuit of Composite Beauty

In Pursuit of Composite Beauty PDF Author: Mari Nakami
Publisher: Apollo Books
ISBN: 9781920901349
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
In Pursuit of Composite Beauty is a study of the life and thought of Yanagi Soetsu (1889-1961), known primarily as the founder of Japan's mingei (folk crafts) movement. Mr. Yanagi was a thinker who believed that world peace could not be achieved by 'painting the world in one single color.' Before and during World War II, when Japan was invading Asia and enforcing its cultural assimilation policy in its colonies and occupied territories, Yanagi aspired to realize a world in which multiple races and cultures could coexist. His pacifist thought rests on the idea of 'composite beauty, ' an ideal of creating a world in which heterogeneous entities can accept their differences and learn from each other. Tracing Yanagi's intellectual development, this insightful and comprehensive book presents a positive reevaluation of the contemporary significance of his thought from the viewpoint of international relations, shedding light on the ways to achieve interdependence and mutual respect

Japan

Japan PDF Author: Khoon Choy Lee
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9789810218652
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
This work, written by an ex-Ambassador to Japan, is a first-hand account and observation of the various aspects of Japanese society ? political, historical, social and economic. It introduces themes such as Japanese religions and the political system, as well as describing and explaining many of the country's rich traditions. The author's personal experiences of Japan are interspersed with historical tales and factual details, providing an insight into Japanese behavior, thinking and way of life. This book will be immensely useful to those who wish to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Japanese mind. It is the result of a four-year stay in Japan by the author, a Singaporean ex-Ambassador and politician.

Men of Uncertainty

Men of Uncertainty PDF Author: Tom Gill
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791448274
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
A fascinating exploration of the subculture of Japanese day laborers, whose lives depart radically from the traditions of stability Westerners associate with Japan.

Since Meiji

Since Meiji PDF Author: J. Thomas Rimer
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824861027
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 554

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Book Description
Research outside Japan on the history and significance of the Japanese visual arts since the beginning of the Meiji period (1868) has been, with the exception of writings on modern and contemporary woodblock prints, a relatively unexplored area of inquiry. In recent years, however, the subject has begun to attract wide interest. As is evident from this volume, this period of roughly a century and a half produced an outpouring of art created in a bewildering number of genres and spanning a wide range of aims and accomplishments. Since Meiji is the first sustained effort in English to discuss in any depth a time when Japan, eager to join in the larger cultural developments in Europe and the U.S., went through a visual revolution. Indeed, this study of the visual arts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries suggests a fresh history of modern Japanese culture—one that until now has not been widely visible or thoroughly analyzed outside that country. In this extensive collection, which includes some 190 black-and-white and color reproductions, scholars from Japan, Europe, Australia, and America explore an impressive array of subjects: painting, sculpture, prints, fashion design, crafts, and gardens. The works discussed range from early Meiji attempts to create art that referenced Western styles to postwar and contemporary avant-garde experiments. There are, in addition, substantive investigations of the cultural and intellectual background that helped stimulate the creation of new and shifting art forms, including essays on the invention of a modern artistic vocabulary in the Japanese language and the history of art criticism in Japan, as well as an extensive account of the career and significance of perhaps the best-known Japanese figure concerned with the visual arts of his period, Okakura Tenshin (1862–1913), whose Book of Tea is still widely read today. Taken together, the essays in this volume allow readers to connect ideas and images, thus bringing to light larger trends in the Japanese visual arts that have made possible the vitality, range, and striking achievements created during this turbulent and lively period. Contributors: Stephen Addiss, Chiaki Ajioka, John Clark, Ellen Conant, Mikiko Hirayama, Michael Marra, Jonathan Reynolds, J. Thomas Rimer, Audrey Yoshiko Seo, Eric C. Shiner, Lawrence Smith, Shuji Tanaka, Reiko Tomii, Mayu Tsuruya, Toshio Watanabe, Gennifer Weisenfeld, Bert Winther-Tamaki, Emiko Yamanashi.