Art History 371: Transforming Traditions: Art and Visual Culture in Japan

"Chado: The Way of Tea is the first English translation of the classic Japanese work on the tea ceremony, Sado Saijiki. It offers the reflections of Sasaki Sanmi, one of the most highly regarded tea masters of the 20th century, on the scholarly and aesthetic aspects of Japan’s beloved tea ceremony. With detailed descriptions of the month-by-month rules and spirit of chanoyu, Chado explores the harmony between humanity and nature-as the elements of the ceremony change to reflect the continuous cycles of the seasons. It includes explanations of the how to incorporate appropriate flowers, foods, utensils, and events for each month. Revered as the “bible” of the Japanese tea practitioner, this charming work express the heart of the Way of Tea through elegant prose, poetry, and art." - Back of Book

"This paper ties together Eastern ideals of 1) Self-mastery, 2) the Zen notion of Being, as-it-is-ness, as the demonstration of enlightenment; and relatively new Western scientific research into ideas of 3) paradigms, 4) the holographic universe, 5) brain-based learning and 6) spiritual dimensions in adult education, with the objective of finding and awakening in others methods to bring to formal education to move humanity into the next millennium using Chado, The Way of Tea – a Way that successfully combines method and content, as a pedagogical model. "-Author's Abstract

"The history, culture, and aesthetics of the Momoyama period are explored by analyzing and reproducing masterpieces of artists in many media: paintings (including many superb screen paintings), sculpture, calligraphy, tea ceremony utensils, lacquerware, ceramics, metalwork, arms and armor, textiles, and Noh masks. A team of leading scholars and specialists in Japanese art contributes an introduction to each section with an essay that places the individual works in a broader art-historical and cultural context." "This beautiful book reproduces works of art from temples and private collections in Japan which have rarely been seen, as well as the most famous masterpieces of the major museums. It also serves as the catalogue of an exhibition held at the Dallas Museum of Art in cooperation with the Japan Foundation and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs."-Book Jacket, Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

"The concept that the Japanese call ki, meaning the spirit of things, can be seen throughout Japanese life and culture. What Gian Carlo Calza calls 'Japan style' in his authoritative text is demonstrated through such things as an exquisitely arranged single flower or the particular quality of meticulously designed architectural forms and spaces, the rituals of the traditional tea ceremony, and the attention that is paid to the manner of creation as well as to the finished object itself." "The book identifies the specific qualities that make up aspects of Japanese culture, examining the elements intrinsic to its art, architecture, objects and rituals, and gives the reader the pleasure of a journey into the Japanese aesthetic, past and present."-Book Jacket

"The tea ceremony originated in China but was transformed in Japan into an art of infinite resonance with precise rules and formulations. This program is devoted to the Omote Sen-ke school."-Summary

"This book examines the complex relationship between class and gender dynamics among tea ceremony ( chado) practitioners in Japan. Focusing on practitioners in a provincial city, Akita, the book surveys the rigid, hierarchical chado system at grass roots level. Making critical use of Bourdieu's idea of cultural capital, it explores the various meanings of chado for Akita women and argues that chado has a cultural, economic, social and symbolic value and is used as a tool to improve gender and class equality. Chado practitioners focus on tea procedure and related aspects of chado such as architecture, flower arranging, gardening and pottery. Initially, only men were admitted to chado; women were admitted in the Meiji period (1868-1912) and now represent the majority of practitioners. The author - a chado practitioner and descendant of chado teachers - provides a thorough, honest account of Akita women based on extensive participant observation and interviews. Where most literature on Japan focuses on metropolitan centres such as Kitakyushu and Tokyo, this book is original in both its subject and scope. Also, as economic differences between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas have become more pronounced, it is timely to explore the specific class and gender issues affecting non-metropolitan women. This book contributes not only to the ethnographic literature on chado and non-metropolitan women in Japan, but also to the debates on research methodology and the theoretical discussion of class."-Book Cover

"Preparing tea : spaces, objects, performances -- Creating tea : the national transformation of a cultural practice -- Selling tea : an anatomy of the iemoto system -- Enacting tea : doing and demonstrating Japaneseness -- Beyond the tea room : toward a praxeology of nationness and nationalism."-Contents

"The story of Sen-no Rikyu, a Buddhist priest, who four centuries ago brought the art of the tea ceremony to perfection. Living in one of the most turbulent moments in Japanese history, Rikyu gained unexpected political influence as the confidant and cultural mentor to the powerful warlord, Hideyoshi Toyotomi. The film illustrates the classic struggle between art and politics and between the impulse to create and the impulse to destroy."-Summary
"Originally released as a motion picture in 1989."-Note

"The Japanese Tea Ceremony forms a compelling aesthetic and functional unity that can determine the very manner of living of its most devoted participants. No single element exists in isolation; rather, each is chosen both for its individual, internal harmony of form and use and for its corresponding harmony with all other elements of the ceremony. This is true of the architecture and garden of the tea hut, as well as for the utensils that are the subjects of this book. "-Preface

"The collection of essays is divided into two parts. Part One comprises essays that cover the history of chanoyu from its origins, beginning with the first records of tea drinking in Japan in the early Heian period, until the commencement of the modern age in the late nineteenth century. Part Two contains commentaries on chanoyu and its history by Dr. Sen, John Whitney Hall, and William H. McNeill."-Preface

"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 earliest 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. These dashing wares matched the vigorous, extroverted, rapidly changing world of the warlords. Their genesis has traditionally 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." "During the era of Oribe, a common aesthetic language bound all the visual arts more strongly than at any other time in Japan before or since, and intimate working relationships existed among artists in different media. The forces that nourished this creative energy, the transformations that occurred, and the splendid works that resulted - together constituting the subject of this catalogue - are discussed by twenty distinguished scholars." "Published in conjunction with an exhibition organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in collaboration with The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan, and held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from October 21, 2003, to January 11, 2004, Turning Point: Oribe and the Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan contains twelve essays and catalogue entries for more than 175 objects."-Book Jacket, Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

"Tea cannot be learned from a book. Tea is of the heart which may be instructed by another heart. Tea is a living tradition learned from teachers. None the less it seems the tea student might be helped by a study aid. That is the purpose of this handbook. It is produced only for the student who is studying with a qualified teacher and is available only through such teachers. Since the procedure of making Tea is more a visual process than a verbal one this handbook uses photographs, eliminating captions as much as possible."- Preface
"Volume 1 gives the history, the steps of the host, what is expected of a guest and the names of utensils used." -Kelton Rockett

"Tea cannot be learned from a book. Tea is of the heart which may be instructed by another heart. Tea is a living tradition learned from teachers. None the less it seems the tea student might be helped by a study aid. That is the purpose of this handbook. It is produced only for the student who is studying with a qualified teacher and is available only through such teachers. Since the procedure of making Tea is more a visual process than a verbal one this handbook uses photographs, eliminating captions as much as possible."- Preface
"Volume 2 goes into greater detail of the steps and traditions involved in performing a tea ceremony." -Kelton Rockett

"Yoshimasa may have been the worst shogun ever to rule Japan. He was a failure as a soldier, incompetent at dealing with state business, and dominated by his wife. But his influence on the cultural life of Japan was unparalleled. According to Donald Keene, Yoshimasa was the only shogun to leave a lasting heritage for the entire Japanese people." "Today Yoshimasa is remembered primarily as the builder of the Temple of the Silver Pavilion and as the ruler at the time of the Onin War (1467-1477), after which the authority of the shogun all but disappeared. Unable to control the daimyos - provincial military governors - he abandoned politics and devoted himself to the quest for beauty. It was then, after Yoshimasa resigned as shogun and made his home in the mountain retreat now known as the Silver Pavilion, that his aesthetic taste came to define that of the Japanese: the no theater flourished, Japanese gardens were developed, and the tea ceremony had its origins in a small room at the Silver Pavilion. Flower arrangement, ink painting, and shoin-zukua-i architecture began or became of major importance under Yoshimasa. Poets introduced their often barely literate warlord-hosts to the literary masterpieces of the past and taught them how to compose poetry. Even the most barbarous warlord came to want the trappings of culture that would enable him to feel like a civilized man." "Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion gives this long-neglected but critical period in Japanese history the thorough treatment it deserves."-Book Jacket