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- Convenor:
-
Misato Ido
(Kyoto Institute of Technology)
Send message to Convenor
- Discussant:
-
Seishi Namiki
(Kyoto Institute of Technology)
- Section:
- Visual Arts
- Sessions:
- Thursday 26 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
This panel explores how the capitals were represented in different periods and media. We illuminate the "collaboration" of the material sources that were interwoven into images of the visualized capitals and aim to interpret the intention of the representation of the capital as an ensemble.
Long Abstract:
Meisho are famous sites that have been associated with the landscape in waka poems since antiquity. They were typically located outside of the capital, Kyoto, because they were longed for by the courtiers living in the capital. Therefore, when was the capital recognized as one of these "famous sites" and visualized as a subject matter? The visualization of the capitals did not occur spontaneously, of course, but rather resulted from deliberate actions based on numerous historical contingencies. In the process of visualization, while they emphasize the prosperity of the modern city as a political and economic center, they reevaluate the historicity of the city that possesses valuable tourist attraction in some cases.
The purpose of this panel is to explore how the capitals (Kyoto, Edo-Tokyo, Great Gyeong Seong) were represented in different periods in various types of media such as paintings, prints, and photography, specifically focusing on the material sources that were components of the images of the capitals. We shed light on the "collaboration" of the sources that were interwoven into images of the visualized capitals and aim to interpret the intention of the represented images of the capital as an ensemble in each paper. The sources on which the images were based could be verbal materials, previous paintings depicting cityscapes, accurate maps based on direction and topography, and guidebooks of famous sites.
The first paper deals with one of the screen paintings of Kyoto, which was executed after the 'capital' was transferred from Kyoto to Edo in the 17th century and argues that the picture deliberately represented ancient meisho with a long history. The second paper interprets the Meisho Zue (illustrated books of famous places) published in the late 18th century and elucidates how the Edo Meisho Zue envisioned Edo as the 'eastern capital' that counterparts the center of court tradition and history, Kyoto. The third paper examines the city of 'Great Gyeong Seong' in photography during the 1920s and 1930s and argues how the colonial government, amateur photographers, and news photography envisioned the shifting aspects of the colonial capital in the formative period of modernity.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 26 August, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
This paper reveals how the Rakuchu rakugai-zu envisioned Kyoto after Edo period by identifying the material sources which Rakuchu-rakugai zu incorporated. Being associated with ancient meisho, Kyoto could continue to be an eternal capital and differentiate itself from the new capital, Edo.
Paper long abstract:
The Rakuchu rakugai-zu, literally meaning the paintings of central Kyoto and greater Kyoto, is one of the most popular genre paintings in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, vividly visualizing the capital, Kyoto. The Rakuchu rakugai-zu in general depicts a variety of famous sites of Kyoto such as the imperial palace and famous temples in conjunction with the seasons. It should be noted however that it was not until the sixteenth century that the 'capital' was painted as a subject-matter, and the emergence of such paintings visualizing the cityscape of Kyoto symbolized the recovery from the turmoil of the civil war. Therefore, it is important to consider what sorts of material sources Rakuchu rakugai-zu at an early stage counted on in order to construct a desirable cityscape for those who commissioned the paintings.
Firstly, I will explore how the capital, Kyoto was described in the texts written by a linked poet that juxtaposed the city's meisho (famous sites) with each direction at the very time when the Rakuchu rakgai-zu emerged at the end of 15th century. What is important is that while the capital started to be recorded both in texts and images, it was deliberately represented as meisho. Secondly, through the comparison with the one of the first large-scale printed maps of Kyoto as well as a guidebook, I argue that some Rakuchu rakugai-zu in the seventeenth century put more importance on the historical side of the city with touristic attractions than on the prosperity as a modern capital unlike Edo. Thirdly, I would like to point out that a Chinese classic book which described a cityscape of Hangzhou, the capital of the Southern Song might have influenced the selection and description of famous sites in Rakuchu rakugai-zu in the seventeenth century. As a result, by rediscovering ancient meisho and projecting themselves with the old Chinese capital with much longer history, Kyoto could continue to be an eternal capital with a long history and differentiate itself from the new 'capital,' Edo as a center of political and economic.
Paper short abstract:
This paper interprets the visual representation of the eastern capital in Edo Meisho Zue, The Illustrated Books of Famous Places in Edo, comparing with the earlier model for Kyoto, Miyako Meisho Zue. It discusses how it portrayed the new capital to appeal to a broader readership of the time.
Paper long abstract:
How did people observe, perceive, and portray the city of Edo (present-day Tokyo), the 'eastern' capital built as the seat of the Tokugawa Shogunate? As it flourished in the late 18th century as the center of the commoners' culture, how did the city represent itself as the new center that counterparts the traditional capital of the court culture and history, Kyoto?
This paper looks at the representation of Japanese capital cities in the 'meisho zue' or the illustrated books of famous places that came into fashion since the late 18th century onwards. Particular focus will be on the Edo Meisho Zue that appeared in 20 volumes in 1834 and 1836. It was an achievement of collaborative work between visual illustrations by the painter Hasegawa Settan and the topographical descriptions by three generations of author-editors, Saitō Nagaaki, his son Agatamaro, and his grand-son Gesshin.
In order to discuss the questions mentioned above, this paper compares Edo Meisho Zue to its preceding examples, including the early books on the topographical descriptions (meisho-ki) and especially with its direct reference model, the Miyako Meisho Zue. It was written by haiku poet Ritō Akisato and illustrated by a ukiyo-e painter Takehara Shunchōsai (1780). In so doing, it will explore in which way Edo Meisho Zue followed the earlier examples and how it expanded its narrative to demonstrate the 'prosperity' of the urban space and its surrounding area. A particular focus will be on the visual narrative and its relation to the textual discourse because of the original editor's great emphasis on it to reach a broader readership among the commoners of the time.