Kingdom of Beauty: Mingei and the Politics of Folk Art in Imperial Japan

Kim Brandt

Published by Duke University Press 2007

Kingdom of Beauty

Mingei and the Politics of Folk Art in Imperial Japan

Kim Brandt
Edited by: Rey Chow , Harry Harootunian and Masao Miyoshi

In the series Asia-Pacific: Culture, Politics, and Society

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822389545

Overview
Contents

About this book

A Study of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University

Kingdom of Beauty shows that the discovery of mingei (folk art) by Japanese intellectuals in the 1920s and 1930s was central to the complex process by which Japan became both a modern nation and an imperial world power. Kim Brandt’s account of the mingei movement locates its origins in colonial Korea, where middle-class Japanese artists and collectors discovered that imperialism offered them special opportunities to amass art objects and gain social, cultural, and even political influence. Later, mingei enthusiasts worked with (and against) other groups—such as state officials, fascist ideologues, rival folk art organizations, local artisans, newspaper and magazine editors, and department store managers—to promote their own vision of beautiful prosperity for Japan, Asia, and indeed the world. In tracing the history of mingei activism, Brandt considers not only Yanagi Muneyoshi, Hamada Shōji, Kawai Kanjirō, and other well-known leaders of the folk art movement but also the often overlooked networks of provincial intellectuals, craftspeople, marketers, and shoppers who were just as important to its success. The result of their collective efforts, she makes clear, was the transformation of a once-obscure category of pre-industrial rural artifacts into an icon of modern national style.

Author / Editor information

Kim Brandt is Associate Professor of Japanese history at Columbia University.

Reviews

“Kingdom of Beauty is first-rate. Kim Brandt’s analysis is sharp, her organization supple, her writing graceful. Moreover, her synthesis of the imperial with the domestic—and of the ideological with the material—makes the book a model of cultural history.”—Kären Wigen, author of The Making of a Japanese Periphery, 1750–1920

“A richly textured, beautifully written, and provocatively argued analysis of the Japanese folk-craft movement, this study sheds light on empire, middle-class material culture, the aesthetics of fascism, and much else common to twentieth-century societies in the throes of dislocating change. A beguiling book on important themes.”—Carol Gluck, George Sansom Professor of History, Columbia University

“Kingdom of Beauty is an important work that contributes a grounded account of knowledge production processes, dynamics of art evaluation, and achievements of art centered social activism in a colonial setting that will be
useful to scholars in many fields.”

-- Liora Sarfati Museum Anthropology Review

“Kingdom of Beauty is truly the most compelling study of Mingei I have read: it not only answers questions hitherto unanswered, but also provides useful tools for the future study of Mingei, particularly in the context of today’s increasingly globalizing world. . . . I am deeply struck by the manner in which the author has approached often contentious topics with unabated tenacity, integrity, and sincerity.”

-- Asian Ethnology

“[A]n impressive narrative of mingei’s cultural history . . . . Kingdom of Beauty is a rigorous scholarly work, much of which is based on Brandt’s judicious use of Japanese primary resources. It is beautifully written, and benefits from the inclusion of numerous . . . plates of mingei wares. Brandt’s argument is tight, comprehensive and engaging and, most importantly, groundbreaking in its excavation of the complex social forces at work and the entities associated with mingei’s ascent in the first half of last century.”

-- Penny Bailey Asian Studies Review

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
one The Beauty of Sorrow Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	7
two The Discovery of Mingei Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
three New Mingei in the 1930s Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
four Mingei and the Wartime State, 1937–1945 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
five Renovating Greater East Asia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Pages
- Main content: 318
Illustrations
- Other: 21 illustrations

eBook

Published: July 20, 2007
ISBN: 9780822389545