The History of Art in Japan
- Submitting institution
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The University of East Anglia
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 182639913
- Type
- V - Translation
- DOI
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- Publisher
- University of Tokyo Press
- Month
- -
- Year
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- Yes
- Additional information
- This translation by Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, represents a fully updated adaptation of Tsuji’s Nihon bijutsu no rekishi published by the University of Tokyo Press in 2005. History of Art in Japan (University of Tokyo Press 2018, paperback edition Columbia University Press in 2019). It is of great significance, representing the first complete survey of Japanese art from prehistory to contemporary by a Japanese art historian to be published in English. This translation is already replacing the very small number of other such surveys, most of which are now many years old (e.g. Joan Stanley-Baker, Japanese Art, Thames and Hudson, 1984) as the standard text in the field.
The book comprises ten chapters, each subdivided into multiple sections dealing with specific periods and movements in Japanese art. The text is authoritative (Tsuji was professor of art history at the University of Tokyo) and accessible, highlighting three qualities which, it is argued, can guide the reader through the entire history of Japanese art: adornment, play, and animism. The translation includes extensive explanatory notes and contextual analysis that both greatly enhances understanding of Japanese art history and offers new insights on the author’s original (which was directed at a Japanese audience). The book represents the culmination of two decades of research collaboration between the author and translator, which have also produced exhibitions such as Kazari: Decoration and Display in Japan, 15th-19th centuries at the British Museum in 2002.
The exceptionally high quality of the translation was acknowledged in the book being awarded the Japan Translators Association Prize in 2019. Reviews included the Asian Review of Books which noted the ‘ease, elegance, humour and consummate erudition’ of the volume, and Chelsea Foxwell (Professor of Art History, University of Chicago) who speaks of its ‘Authority and accuracy with interesting and imaginative insights’.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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