From Japan's first forays onto the international stage of world's fairs in the late 19th century to the dynamic creativity of the 1920 and 1930s, from the heady post-World War II period to the present day, Japanese crafts have exhibited a rich diversity of media and techniques. One of the first illustrated surveys in English of modern-era Japanese crafts--including ceramics, lacquerware, metalcraft, and wood--this elegant book, with 70 color illustrations, is an invaluable guide for the collector and scholar. Focusing on an important collection of Japanese crafts destined for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the text discusses the artists and ideas that shaped and defined the aesthetic of 20th-century Japan, noting that this nation--which so deeply appreciates and fosters its crafts traditions--hails its artists as "living national treasures." The book also includes artists' biographies and reproductions of their signatures and marks. Published in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art Exhibition Schedule: Philadelphia Museum of Art (December 6, 2008 - fall 2009)

A lush portrait introducing one of the most important Japanese artists of the Edo period Best known for his paintings Irises and Red and White Plum Blossoms, Ogata Kōrin (1658-1716) was a highly successful artist who worked in many genres and media--including hanging scrolls, screen paintings, fan paintings, lacquer, textiles, and ceramics. Combining archival research, social history, and visual analysis, Frank Feltens situates Kōrin within the broader art culture of early modern Japan. He shows how financial pressures, client preferences, and the impulse toward personal branding in a competitive field shaped Kōrin's approach to art-making throughout his career. Feltens also offers a keen visual reading of the artist's work, highlighting the ways Kōrin's artistic innovations succeeded across media, such as his introduction of painterly techniques into lacquer design and his creation of ceramics that mimicked the appearance of ink paintings. This book, the first major study of Kōrin in English, provides an intimate and thought-provoking portrait of one of Japan's most significant artists.

The sophistication and variety of painting in Japan's Edo period, as seen through a preeminent US collection Over more than four decades, Robert and Betsy Feinberg have assembled the finest private collection of Edo-period Japanese painting in the United States. The collection is notable for its size, its remarkable quality, and its comprehensiveness. It represents virtually every stylistic lineage of the Edo-period (1615-1868)--from the gorgeous decorative works of the Rinpa school to the luminous clarity of the Maruyama-Shijō school, from the "pictures of the floating world" (ukiyo-e) to the inky innovations of the so-called eccentrics--in addition to sculpture from the medieval and early modern periods. Hanging scrolls, folding screens, handscrolls, albums, and fan paintings: the objects are as breathtaking as they are varied. This catalogue's 12 contributors, including established names in the field alongside emerging voices, use the latest scholarship to offer sensitive close readings that bring these remarkable works to life. Distributed for the Harvard Art Museums

Examines the importance of Japanese tea culture and the ways in which it has evolved over the centuries, with photographs and detailed explanations of the Tea Culture of Japan exhibit organized by the Yale University Art Gallery.

Published to accompany an exhibition held at the Japan Society Gallery, New York, Mar. 18-June 13, 2011.

Consists of twenty Japanese language lessons. There are two teachers, a linguist who talks about Japanese, and a tutor who is a native speaker of Japanese. Students learn by guided imitation.

Catalog of the exhibition at the Asia Society Museum, New York, February 9-May 8, 2016.

This companion to the bestselling Japanese: the Spoken Language begins with the two kana syllabaries and introduces approximately 300 kanji, following the Spoken Language text les

From a world-renowned painter, an exploration of creativity’s quintessential—and often overlooked—role in the spiritual life “Makoto Fujimura’s art and writings have been a true inspiration to me. In this luminous book, he addresses the question of art and faith and their reconciliation with a quiet and moving eloquence.”—Martin Scorsese “[An] elegant treatise . . . Fujimura’s sensitive, evocative theology will appeal to believers interested in the role religion can play in the creation of art.”—Publishers Weekly Conceived over thirty years of painting and creating in his studio, this book is Makoto Fujimura’s broad and deep exploration of creativity and the spiritual aspects of “making.” What he does in the studio is theological work as much as it is aesthetic work. In between pouring precious, pulverized minerals onto handmade paper to create the prismatic, refractive surfaces of his art, he comes into the quiet space in the studio, in a discipline of awareness, waiting, prayer, and praise. Ranging from the Bible to T. S. Eliot, and from Mark Rothko to Japanese Kintsugi technique, he shows how unless we are making something, we cannot know the depth of God’s being and God’s grace permeating our lives. This poignant and beautiful book offers the perspective of, in Christian Wiman’s words, “an accidental theologian,” one who comes to spiritual questions always through the prism of art.

The story of filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki's life and work, including his significant impact on Japan and the world A thirtieth-century toxic jungle, a bathhouse for tired gods, a red-haired fish girl, and a furry woodland spirit—what do these have in common? They all spring from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki, one of the greatest living animators, known worldwide for films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and The Wind Rises. Japanese culture and animation scholar Susan Napier explores the life and art of this extraordinary Japanese filmmaker to provide a definitive account of his oeuvre. Napier insightfully illuminates the multiple themes crisscrossing his work, from empowered women to environmental nightmares to utopian dreams, creating an unforgettable portrait of a man whose art challenged Hollywood dominance and ushered in a new chapter of global popular culture.