A History of Japanese Art
Page 3
The KBS and Tsuda's book's publisher, Sanseidō, also put out two influential books on Japanese architecture in 1936 and 1937 respectively (Taut 1936, 1937) by the German architect Bruno Taut (1880-1938), who had fled to Japan in 1933 to escape Nazi Germany. These books, for the first time in English, praised two buildings since then hailed as masterpieces of simplicity in accordance with modernist architectural values: the Katsura Imperial Villa and the imperial Shinto shrine at Ise. Taut's ideas had already gained attention before publication of his books, through lectures he presented at the Tokyo Imperial University in 1934. In his lectures, he declared Katsura the epitome of Japanese architecture and a triumph of modernism, in contrast to the shogunal mausoleum shrines at Nikko which he reviled. Prior to Taut's visit, Japanese modernist architects had already begun paying attention to Katsura in their efforts to find native sources for modern architecture, but as an outsider, Taut's observations gave these ideas greater credence. His lectures and books celebrated native traditions of Japanese architecture, declaring them as among the greatest contributions to world heritage, and described the affinity of Ise and Katsura with modernist architectural aesthetics, just the sort of laudatory comments about Japanese culture the KBS wanted to promote. Tsuda must have been aware of Taut's opinions because his comments recall those of Taut, particularly his denigration of Edo period architecture, including that of Nikko, as rococo (pp. 263). But though he praised Katsura, unlike Taut, he seems more enamored by its garden than its buildings, which he described as a masterpiece by Kobori Enshū (as did Taut), an attribution that has since been proven erroneous.
By the time Taut had arrived in Japan, the Japanese imperial government had already elevated the status of Ise over all other shrines in their efforts to link it to veneration of the emperor as the imperial family's ancestral shrine, and so it must have approved of his admiration for it. Tsuda's colleague, Harada Jirō (1878-?), also praised Ise during a 1935-1936 lecture tour in the United States, funded in part by KBS to help promote the Boston exhibition of Japanese art treasures. KBS published a selection of these lectures upon his return (Harada 1937; Reynolds 2001,323). Tsuda recounted the relationship between Ise and the imperial family in a lecture he gave in Tokyo in 1928 (The Japan Advertiser 1928), although he did not mention it in his Handbook of Japanese Art, where he curiously abbreviated his treatment of Ise. In his book's section on early Shinto architecture, he first described the Izumo Taisha (Grand Shrine of Izumo) as representing the oldest Shinto shrine style and noted that it took its form from primitive dwellings. Then he mentioned, almost in passing, that the shrine of Ise represented a more "advanced" style of architecture, called shimmei-zukuri (pp. 63), perhaps as praise for its well known association with the imperial family. Although Ise has, since the 1920s, been considered far more important architecturally than Izumo, until the 1950s it was only reproduced with line drawings, as they appeared in Tsuda's book. Permission for the production of the first detailed professional photographs of the building taken from within the shrine compound was facilitated by none other than the KBS. These helped solidify its reputation as an architectural icon and a model predecessor of modernism (Reynolds 2001).
Although it represented contemporary and official views of Japanese art in many areas, Tsuda's book also shows a distinctly old-fashioned approach in others. This stemmed in part from his lingering admiration for Ernest Fenollosa, whose seminal work, Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art, published posthumously in 1912 (Fenollosa 1963) was already obsolete when it appeared. Tsuda followed Fenollosa's text in wrongly ascribing some early paintings of the Heian and Kamakura periods to the hands of legendary members of the Kose, Takuma, and Tosa schools, although by the time his Handbook appeared such attributions had been thoroughly discredited. He also borrowed Fenollosa's terminology for several chapter headings, in particular Fenollosa's description of Muromachi period art as "idealistic" and Edo (Tsuda's spelling: Yedo) period art as "plebeian." Yet, in the content of both these chapters, in contrast to Fenollosa, Tsuda covered a wider breadth of materials, including crafts and architecture ( which his book featured much more prominently than Fenollosa's), and gave emphasis to types of art Fenollosa abhorred and intentionally overlooked. One of these was Japanese literati painting (bunjinga; Tsuda's spelling: bunjingwa), which Fenollosa famously dismissed in his Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art as "hardly more than an awkward joke."
As might be expected, Tsuda's book is weakest in presenting art of the modern period. Only in hindsight are we able to discern the lasting trends. Tsuda's discussion of the period offers a first hand, albeit subjective, observer's glimpse of the debates about his own era's artistic achievements. In his chapter on "art of the new age," Tsuda closely followed Fenollosa's assessment of recent art. Fenollosa, he remarked, greatly accelerated a reaction against the "blind westernization" that dominated the Meiji period from 1867 to around 1887. Tsuda also noted Fenollosa's influences on Okakura Kakuzō and described the new Japanese style painting taught at the school they helped found, Tokyo School of Fine Arts, as "a national art movement" (p. 275). Admiration for these men must have led him to illustrate in this brief section only art by two painters mentored by them (Kanō Hōgai and Hashimoto Gahō), mentioning only in passing the names of other contemporary Japanese-style painters. Tsuda described this new Japanese painting style, now known as "Nihonga," as "objective idealism" (p. 276). Despite high level patronage throughout the modern era, reassessment of Nihonga has only recently begun (Conant et al. 1995; Rosenfield 2001). Reflecting his bias for modernized native art traditions emanating from Tokyo, Tsuda scarcely or not at all, referred to other important developments in the art world, including Western style architecture, painting and sculpture; photography; the changing role of crafts in society; the creation of national museums; and modern Japanese art created in the rival art center of Kyoto. The partialities Tsuda expressed have been so persistent, pervasive and long-lasting that scholars have just recently begun to reassess the art of this era (Conant, ed. 2006).
In the short, non-illustrated last chapter, Tsuda attempted to define the state of the art world in his day, placing the legacy of Okakura Tenshin in the context of the many competing arts organizations, both public and private, that arose in the early twentieth century. His fascinating, brief descriptions of the arts bureaucracy in his own time reveal a flourishing of arts of diverse types and media. Tsuda ended his historical survey wondering why Japan had no museums of contemporary art. This issue had been widely debated since museums were founded in the Meiji period, and continued for many decades. Soon after Tsuda's book was published, in 1938 the Hyōkeikan building (which had opened in 1909) at the Tokyo Imperial Household Museum was turned into a space for displaying post-Meiji period art after that museum's new main building opened but its galleries were transformed into a place for displaying archaeological materials in 1956 (Tseng 2008, 209). By then, the first museum of modern Japanese art, the Kangawa Prefecture-sponsored Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, had opened in 1951. The next year, Japan established the first National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo.
Tsuda's text reveals his deep knowledge and love of his subject. He carefully situated the objects, gardens, and buildings he discussed within historic, religious, and cultural contexts, and he meticulously described the varied and complex techniques of the many types of arts the book includes. Yet scholars of Japanese art today, both Japanese and foreign consider Tsuda's ideas simplistic and the types of arts he addresses too limited (Rosenfield 1998). Still, although his interpretations may not accord with our current views, and although some of the information he presented has since been proven factually inaccurate, this book remains a useful guide for several reasons. It helps those new to the study of Japanese art, especially those contemplating a visit to the country, to identify the great treasures they will encounter at Japan's most esteemed historic sites and national museums. It also functions as a convenient starting point for scholars and students of Japanese art his
tory to study the early promotion of the orthodox Japanese art historical canon, which many have recently begun critiquing, and the key players in its dissemination— both institutions and private collectors (listed in Appendix I).
While Tsuda is best known today as an author of books about Japanese art who pursued a career working for museums and lecturing on art, his unexpectedly large list of publications includes many works about religion and mythology, indicating that his scholarly interests straddled several academic disciplines. Perhaps because his writings on art frequently expressed his ideas about current events and promoted values of ethnic nationalism, his scholarship is now considered antiquated and his work largely ignored. But when considering his life and scholarly interests from the broader perspective of the cultural climate of his times, examining his career and his Handbook of Japanese Art afresh opens a unique window into the attitudes of prewar Japanese intellectuals, who both professed loyalty to the state and devotion to sharing a love of Japan's history and culture with foreigners.
Patricia J. Graham
NOTES TO READERS OF THE NEW 2009 EDITION
Japanese words written in Latin letters are transcribed with a phonetic system devised by James Hepburn in 1887. This system has been modified several times since then. Mr. Tsuda utilized a version older than the revised one currently in use, resulting in some unfamiliar spellings of Japanese words. Examples of spelling and punctuation variants follow.
Tsuda book Current spelling Example
kwa ka Kwaigetsudō = Kaigetsudō
gwa ga Suiboku-gwa = Suiboku-ga
kwo ko Gakkwō = Gakkō
Yedo Edo Yedo Period = Edo Period
The Revised Hepburn system standard in the Western academic world omits hyphens in Romanization of temple names. Generally the current Hepburn system used in Japan does not. In addition, Mr. Tsuda also employed variant spellings for several familiar temples.
Tsuda book Current Japanese spelling Current Western academic spelling
Muro-o-ji Murō-ji Murōji
Ryūan-ji Ryōan-ji Ryōanji
Hōryū-ji Hōryū-ji Hōryūji
The current Revised Hepburn system stipulates insertion of an apostrophe to separate easily-confused phonemes (usually an "n") that precede a naked vowel or semivowel instead of double consonants.
Tsuda book Current spelling
Kanō Tannyū Kanō Tan'yū
Honnami Kōetsu Hon'ami Kōetsu
Following the older Hepburn system Mr. Tsusa employed, the final consonant "n" was represented with "m" but in the Revised Hepburn system now preferred by Western academic authors, it appears as "n." However, this has not been universally adopted. Some writers in Japan and the West retain the "m" of the older system.
Tsuda book and current Japanese spelling Current Western academic spelling
Mampukuji Manpukuji
Shimmei Shinmei
Ramma Ranma
Sammon Sanmon
Chinese Romanization:
Throughout the text, the older Wade-Giles Romanization is used.
Changes In Museum Names:
At the time the original edition of Mr. Tsuda's book was written, the Japanese national museums in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara, known since 1947 as the Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara National Museums respectively, had different names. When founded in the late nineteenth century, they were known as Imperial Museums, but in 1900, their names were changed to Imperial Household Museums to reflect governmental reorganization efforts to more closely associate these cultural institutions with the Imperial Household. The Tokyo and Nara Museums retained their Imperial Household Museum names until 1947. But in 1924, the Kyoto Imperial Household Museum was gifted to the city of Kyoto, and the name was changed to reflect this, to the Imperial Gift Museum of Kyoto (Kyoto Onshi Museum).
On Word Order Of Japanese Names Mentioned In The Book:
The book renders Japanese names in traditional Japanese order throughout the text, with surnames preceding given names. Names of people contemporaneous with the author mentioned in the preface, text, and appendices are presented Western style with surnames following given names.
Tips On Using This Book
This book is divided into two parts, with the first a chronological survey of the development of Japanese art from prehistory to the early twentieth century. The second part consists of detailed descriptions of important museums, Buddhist temples, and Shinto shrines, organized geographically, with greatest emphasis on institutions in the Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara regions. While the two parts of this book can be read independently, in the first section, in many instances, the author includes short descriptions, only sometimes including illustrations, of buildings or art holdings for religious sites he mentions. He describes many of these more fully and includes additional illustrations in the second section. He also often mentions artworks owned by museums without illustrating them in the first section, but illustrates these in descriptions of the museums that own them in the second section of the book. His index is helpful in referring readers to this additional information and supplemental illustrations.
Prepared by Patricia J. Graham
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
I have been making the study of art my specialty for a long time in order to find out the close relationship between color, forms, and spirituality.
I am glad to have this opportunity to give some of the results of my study to the public, hoping that this may contribute something to the elevation of esthetic appreciation and to better understanding between the East and the West.
I am gratefully indebted to Baron Ino Dan, former Professor on Art in the Tokyo Imperial University; Mr. Naohiko Masaki, President of the Imperial Fine Art Academy; and Mr. Shigekichi Mihara; for their highly important suggestions on various points. My grateful acknowledgments are also due to Professor Masaharu Anesaki, Professor Emeritus of the Tokyo Imperial University, for his corrections of the title of each chapter and other valuable suggestions.
I have to gratefully acknowledge the painstaking work of Mrs. May F. Kennard, Teacher of English literature at Tsuda College and Tokyo Woman's College, and Mr. Drew W. Kohler, who undertook the correction of my grammatical mistakes and the reading of the proofs.
I feel likewise grateful to the following gentlemen who gave me great encouragement in the preparation of the manuscripts for publication: Mr. Setsuichi Aoki, Secretary of the Society for International Cultural Relations: Mr. Mikinosuke Ishida, Librarian of the same society; Mr. Masuzō Inoue of the Board of Tourist Industry; Mr. Kuraji Takahashi of the same board, Mr. Shirō Hirai, and Mr. Tetsu Ōtawa.
Grateful acknowledgment is also due to the Society for International Cultural Relations, Tokyo, for sympathetic aid given to me.
Noritake Tsuda
115 Tabata, Tokyo
March 19, 1935
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
I. Jōmon-doki Pottery
2. Yayoi-shiki Pottery
3. Dōtaku-bell
4. Design of a Dōtaku-bell
5. Mortuary Pottery
6. Armed Clay Figure
7. Protohistoric Armed Man
8. Gilt Bronze Pommel
9. Iron Cuirass
10. Gilt-bronze Helmet
11. Bit Cheek-plate and Harness Pendant
12. Ornamented Horse showing Protohistoric Horse Trappings
13. Bronze Mirror
14. Deity on the back of a Bronze Mirror
15. Fabulous Animal on the back of a Bronze Mirror
16. Protohistoric Lady
17. Painting on a Panel of Tamamushi-no-zushi
18. Kwannon
19. Wooden Head of Miroku
20. Head of a Bodhisattva, by Tori
21. Kwannon
22. Part of Gilt-bronze Banner
23. Angel in Silk Embroidery
24. IzumoTaisha
25. Taisha-zukuri Style
26. Shimmei-zukuri Style
27. General View of the Hōryo-ji Monastery
28. Kic
hijō-ten, the Goddess of Beauty
29. Detail of a Bronze Halo
30. Shō-kwannon
31. Shaka-muni
32. Shō-kwannon
33. Amida Triad with Two Disciples
34. Eleven-headed Kwannon
35. Furuna, a Disciple of Buddha
36. Clay Statue of Gakkwō
37. Rōkechi
38. Kyōkechi
39. Part of Tapestry with Hunting Pattern in Persian Style
40. Gilt-bronze Jug
41. Bronze Mirror
42. Part of Bronze Mirror with Inlaid Design
43. Design on the Upper Part of a Psaltery
44. Biwa Musical Instrument
45. Ivory Plectrum
46. Three-storied Stupa
47. Lecture Hall
48. Golden Hall
49. Fukū
50. Red Fudō
51. Five Different Manifestations of Kokuzō Bodhissattva
52. Nine-headed Kwannon
53. Eleven-headed Kwannon
54. Nyoirin Kwannon
55. Fudō
56. Rock-cut Buddhist Image
57. Bell with Five Pointed Vajra
58. Nyo-i
59. Gold Lacquer Sutra-case
60. Five-storied Stupa
61. Detail of Amida and Twenty-five Bodhisattvas
62. Kwannon, a Detail of the Wall Painting of Phoenix Hall
63. Part of the Genji Monogatari Picture Scroll
64. Sutra Written on Fan-shaped Paper with Painting
65. Amida Triad