The Culture Of Civil War In Kyoto

How do ordinary people respond to prolonged terror? The convulsion of Japan's "Warring States" period between 1467 and 1568 destroyed the medieval order and exposed the framework of an early modern polity. Mary Elizabeth Berry investigates the experience of upheaval in Kyoto during this time. Using diaries and urban records (extensively quoted in the text), Berry explores the violence of war, misrule, private justice, outlawry, and popular uprising. She also examines the structures of order, old and new, that abated chaos and abetted social transformation. The wartime culture of Kyoto comes to life in a panoramic study that covers the rebellion of the Lotus sectarians, the organization of work and power in commoner neighborhoods, the replotting of urban geography, and the redefinition of authority and prestige in the arena of play.

An innovative new study of daily life and urban society in late medieval Japan.

Iwasa Katsumochi Matabei (1578-1650) is one of the most controversial figures in Japanese art history. For more than half a century, historians have argued over Matabei's role in Japanese art: Was he, as he asserted, "The Last Tosa" (the school of painters who specialized in Yamato-e, a kind of classical courtly painting) or, as others characterized him, "The Founder of Ukiyo-e," the style of painting associated with the urban commoner class. In this highly original and convincing study, Matabei emerges as both--an artist in whose work can be seen elements of both Yamato-e and Ukiyo-e. Extending its analysis beyond the individual artist, The Last Tosa examines the trends and artistic developments of a transitional period and makes heretofore unexamined connections between the world of the aristocrat and the merchant as well as the two artistic schools that reflected their tastes. It addresses these larger issues by identifying Matabei as a member of a social group known as machishu. Excerpts from noblemen's diaries, an investigation of the etymology of machishu, and an analysis of art by its members, indicate that machishu included both commoners and gentry, thus revealing a rich tradition of egalitarianism--an important departure from the conventionally held belief that seventeenth-century Japan's urban society was rigidly stratified. The Last Tosa provides an exhaustive study of Matabei's paintings, including all his important works and key attributions. Translations of all documents available on Matabei are given, in particular his travel diary, a unique source, the only known example of such a text by a seventeeth-century classical painter. With its fusion of cultural history with political, social, and economic history, this sophisticated study will appeal to not only art historians, but also to students of history, anthropology, and culture studies interested in questions of group identity and the political uses of culture.

Spaces of Tolerance addresses the topic of tolerance in architectural production. Through examining the boundaries of where discourses, practices and designs are considered publishable (suitable to be made public) or not, the book exposes criteria and cultures which censor architecture so as to offer ways that architecture can be more inclusive and diverse for society at large. The contributors to the book discuss: disciplinary tolerances and constraints related to architecture and its interdisciplinary exchanges and modes of working; physical, spatial, temporal and digital tolerance in material assemblages and production between drawing and building; and social, cultural and political tolerance and threats contingent on geography and history. This timely book aims to look at extremities, margins and marginality to explore acceptable levels – and their fluctuations – in deviation and divergence. Chapters in the book involve ungendering, unacculturating (in disciplinary terms) and diversifying the architectural practitioner, writer, editor, reviewer, and reader, and retooling the instruments and tactics of architectural practice and theory. They argue that tolerance in interdisciplinary research in architecture can cultivate more diverse and productive conversations. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Architecture and Culture.

In Hakata: The Cultural Worlds of Northern Kyushu, experts in various fields have collaborated to produce an interdisciplinary collection offering diverse insights on a region yet to be fully addressed in English. A historic port situated in a strategically vital region as the closest point of contact with the Asian continent, Hakata has long served as a key hub in the transcultural networks linking Japan with the outside world. This volume explores the rich legacy of these wider interactions, in particular the cosmopolitan, international dimension deeply embedded in Hakata's urban culture. With an identity all its own and quite distinct from other regions in Japan, it is a culture once again increasingly relevant in today's world of borderless communications.

This is an updated edition of Conrad Totman's authoritative history of Japan from c.8000 BC to the present day. The first edition was widely praised for combining sophistication and accessibility. Covers a wide range of subjects, including geology, climate, agriculture, government and politics, culture, literature, media, foreign relations, imperialism, and industrialism. Updated to include an epilogue on Japan today and tomorrow. Now includes more on women in history and more on international relations. Bibliographical listings have been updated and enlarged. Part of The Blackwell History of the World Series The goal of this ambitious series is to provide an accessible source of knowledge about the entire human past, for every curious person in every part of the world. It will comprise some two dozen volumes, of which some provide synoptic views of the history of particular regions while others consider the world as a whole during a particular period of time. The volumes are narrative in form, giving balanced attention to social and cultural history (in the broadest sense) as well as to institutional development and political change. Each provides a systematic account of a very large subject, but they are also both imaginative and interpretative. The Series is intended to be accessible to the widest possible readership, and the accessibility of its volumes is matched by the style of presentation and production.

This book focuses on the long history of what is arguably the most prestigious and influential festival in Japan – Kyoto's Gion festival. It explores this history from the festival's origins in the late 10th century to its post-war revival, drawing on Japanese historical studies and archival materials as well as the author's participant observation fieldwork. Exploring the social and political networks that have kept this festival alive for over a millennium, this book reveals how it has endured multiple reinventions. In particular, it identifies how at each historical juncture, different groups have found new purposes for the festival and adapted this costly enterprise to suit their own ends. The history of this festival not only sheds light on the development of Japanese festival culture as a whole, but also offers a window on Kyoto's history and provides a testing ground for recent festival theory.

This book presents a collection of essays charting the developments in military practice and warfare across the world in the early modern period. It also considers the nature and role of technological change, and the relationship between military developments and state-building.