5 August 2011
The Meiji Restoration in 19th century Japan not only overthrew the Shogun’s rule but rewrote the nation’s religious map. That propelled the emperor into a deity whose absolute authority was crafted by the founders of the new regime for political purposes. Prior to that transformation, no traditional belief held that the emperors were gods; that was so even among scholars who believed in the Way of the Gods. This is the basic theme in Yasuhisa Ebisawa’s best-selling novel that got rave reviews in 2004 and is now available in paperback.
3 August 2011
by Simon Olding, with a foreword by Emmanuel Cooper, Crafts Study Centre, University of the Creative Arts, and the Leach Pottery, St Ives, 2010, 135 pages, 76 plates of Leach’s etchings, ISBN 978-0-954374-8-9 Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi This book was launched at Daiwa House in London on 23 November 2010 with an explanatory talk [...]
3 August 2011
The 1920s were a crucial period in modern Japanese history, when new and revolutionary western ideologies, like communism and fascism, entered Japan and found adherents there. Anti-Semitism was one of those western ideologies to arrive at that time. It offered a simplistic explanation of the perplexing turmoil of the world. It appealed to conservatives alarmed about communist subversion and to those attracted by conspiracy theories.
3 August 2011
Cross explains that his book “maps how the pleasures of tea were useful in the invention of a particular form of Japaneseness. Tea precepts such as purity, harmony and respectful appreciation of social stability will be shown to be coercive forces that became keywords in the official definition of wartime Japanese identity, a sacrament that demanded the ultimate sacrifice.”
3 August 2011
The title of this book gives only a hint of the scope of this masterly study. It focuses on the life and work of the Buddhist priest Chōgen重源(1121-1206). It covers the development of portraiture in East Asia and the revival of realism. It then describes the Great Buddha of Tōdaiji 東大寺and the efforts to rebuild the temple after its destruction in 1180 in the war between the Minamoto 源and the Taira平 clans. The development of Buddhist sculpture in Nara and Kyoto is described together with an analysis of the methods used. This is accompanied by an account of some of the leading sculptors.
3 August 2011
Great Living – In the Pure Encounter Between Master and Disciple – is a volume of essays and commentaries on the Japanese spiritual classic, the Tannisho (歎異抄), in a new English language translation for a western audience. The Tannisho is the most famous text of the Japanese Jodo Shinshu [浄土真宗] – True Pure Land School or ‘Shin Buddhist’ tradition and as such has seen several translations into English over the last 80 years. With Rev. Professor Sato’s translation and commentary, however, we have a meticulously detailed examination and profound appreciation of the text from the perspective of the living encounter between teacher and student that lies at the heart of the Shin Buddhist faith.
2 August 2011
This book is much more than a catalogue (see note 1). Karin Breuer outlines firstly the origins and development of the Japanese prints. The author then describes the aesthetics of ukiyo-e. This is followed by a discussion of “European Artists and Japonisme.” The last chapter is devoted to “the Japanese style in American Printmaking.”
27 July 2011
The late Richard Bowen was an accomplished student and instructor of judo. Bowen was also an indefatigable researcher into the history of judo in this country. He amassed a considerable archive of letters, photographs and other documentary records (which are now held in the Richard Bowen Collection at the University of Bath). His two volume history is a pleasingly written and the combined work runs to nearly 1000 pages.
9 May 2011
Until the Second World War individual Japanese houses retained some elements of the aesthetic which so pleased and inspired Edward Morse [author of “Japanese Homes and their Surroundings” – 1885], Bruno Taut [author of “Houses and People of Japan” – 1938] and others. In the war huge swathes of Japanese cities were destroyed by bombing and fire. Japan’s housing stock had to be almost completely replaced. Except in some country areas and in a few exclusive urban districts, the old style individual house generally ceased to exist.
15 December 2010
Dr A.M. Kanter’s Collection Laura Bordignon Antique Collectors’ Club pages 302 coplously illustrated with colour plates ISBN 978-1-85149-609-9 Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi Laura Bordignon is an antique dealer who has developed a close interest in the arts and crafts of the Meiji era. Dr Kanter has collected many fine pieces of ivory carvings made [...]
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