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Studies of Japanese Art by Period
Momoyama (1573-1615)
For background, an essay by Carolyn Wheelwright on the paintings of Azuchi Castle,
and a substantial "Bibliographic Essay," see George Elison and Bardwell
L. Smith, eds., Warlords, Artists, and Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century
(Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1981). The best introduction to the art
of the period is an exhibition catalogue by Money L. Hickman et al., Japan's
Golden Age: Momoyama (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996). All 162
objects are illustrated in color, along with many black-and-white details. In addition
to a general introduction to the period, the volume contains essays on painting (especially
portraits and screen paintings), sculpture, calligraphy, tea ceremony utensils and
ceramics, lacquer and metalwork, arms and armor, textiles, and Noh costumes. Another
excellent exhibition catalogue is by Yoshiaki Shimizu and others, Japan: The Shaping
of Daimyo Culture, 1185-1868 (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1988).
The title is slightly misleading: in effect, daimyo culture here is equivalent
to shogunal culture, i.e., the culture of the upper echelon of the warrior
class in premodern Japan. The book illustrates 333 objects - paintings, calligraphies,
sculptures, arms and armor, lacquer goods, ceramics (especially for the tea ceremony),
and textiles - chiefly (despite the title) from the Momoyama period. Also useful
is a wide-ranging exhibition catalogue with an anonymous text, Momoyama: Japanese
Art in the Age of Grandeur (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975).
More specialized studies are: Tsugiyoshi Doi, Momoyama Decorative Painting,
translated by Edna B. Crawford (New York: Weatherhill, 1977); Tsuneo Takeda, Kano
Eitoku, translated and adapted by H. Mack Horton and Catherine Kaputa (New York:
Kodansha International, 1977); Yuzo Yamane, Momoyama Genre Painting, translated
by John M. Shields (New York: Weatherhill, 1973); and Miyeko Murase, Byobu: Japanese
Screens from New York Collections (New York: Asia Society, 1971). Kendall H.
Brown, The Politics of Reclusion: Painting and Power in Momoyama Japan (Honolulu:
University of Hawai'i Press, 1997), examines, in the context of Momoyama culture,
two Chinese themes of reclusion, the Four Graybeards of Mount Shang and the Seven
Sages in the Bamboo Grove.
On Westerners in Japan and their depiction in art, see Michael Cooper et al.,
The Southern Barbarians (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1971), and Yoshitomo
Okamoto, The Namban Art of Japan, translated by Ronald K. Jones (New York:
Weatherhill, 1972).
Certain kinds of ceramics of the Momoyama and Edo periods, chiefly made for
the preparation or serving of food and tea, are lucidly and authoritatively discussed
in Louise Allison Cort, Seto and Mino Ceramics (Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery,
1992). Among the many books on the tea ceremony, the following may be singled
out: Seizo Hayashiya et al., Chanoyu: Japanese Tea Ceremony (New York: Japan
Society, 1979); Ryoichi Fujioka et al., Tea Ceremony Utensils, translated
and adapted by Louise Allison Cort (New York: Weatherhill, 1973); T. Hayashiya et
al., Japanese Arts and the Tea Ceremony, translated by Joseph P. Macadam
(New York: Weatherhill, 1974); Rand Castile, The Way of Tea (New York:
Weatherhill, 1971); and H. Paul Varley and Isao Kumakura, eds., Tea in Japan
(Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1989). An older book (originally published
in 1932) that is less attractive than any of these, but still useful because of its
comprehensiveness, is A. L. Sadler, Cha-no-yu: The Japanese Tea Ceremony
(Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle, 1962). On the politics of tea, see Andrew Watsky,
"Commerce, Politics, and Tea: The Career of Imai Sokyu," Monumenta Nipponica
50 (1995): 47-65, an examination of the relationship between art and power forced
between a tea man and Oda Nobunaga. The writings on tea mentioned thus far have concerned
chanoyu, which uses whipped, powdered green tea. (By the way, Chanoyu Quarterly
occasionally includes articles on relevant art.) Patricia Graham, in Tea of the
Sages: The Art of Sencha (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1998), discusses
the late Edo practice of sencha, the drinking of cups of steeped green
leaf tea prepared by connoissieurs of Chinese values.
On residential architecture, see Fumio Hashimoto, Architecture in the Shoin
Style, translated and adapted by H. Mack Horton (New York: Kodansha International,
1981). Two well-illustrated books on castles (a form that flourished chiefly from
1576 to 1639) complement each other: Motoo Hinago, Japanese Castles, translated
by William H. Coaldrake (New York: Kodansha International, 1986) emphasizes fortification
technology; Kiyoshi Hirai, Feudal Architecture of Japan, translated
by Hiroaki Sato and Jeannine Ciliotta (New York: Weatherhill, 1973) is somewhat more
concerned with residential features within castles. For other architecture, see John
B. Kirby, From Castle to Teahouse (Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle, 1962).
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