Matsuri!: Japanese Festival Arts (Textile Series, 6)
Editorial Reviews
Library Journal
In addition to examining costume and fabric, the book presents the history, development, and culture of matsuri.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
The spectacular Japanese community festivals known as matsuri are centuries old. Even today, in a society driven by technological advancement, these annual rites continue to function as a mechanism for purification and renewal and also to ensure all aspects of communal productivity. The pageantry of these events - their extraordinary dress, performance, and Shinto-Buddhist ritual enactment - brings communities together in an act of worship that is, as well, an extravagant artistic celebration. Dominated by the gorgeous textiles worn by troupes of participants, matsuri also boldly incorporate decorated banners, exquisitely "dressed" festival wagons, dramatic masks, and elaborate portable shrines. The historical importance of matsuri within the cycle of annual religious events in Japan is also reflected in the representation of these festivals in several pictorial forms, from lavish screen paintings to elegant woodblock prints.
This volume identifies and describes the exuberant textiles and costumes of matsuri and considers their significance within their cultural context. Many of the examples illustrated date from the Meiji period (1868-1912), the last time when handwork was produced by individual artisans for their own use or that of their neighbors. The unique focus on festival arts in this book allows us to identify the special aesthetics that differentiate the textiles worn and used on Japan's holy days. At matsuri a cascade of beautifully crafted garments in vibrant hues meets the eyes, foregrounded distinctly against the hushed simplicity of the Shinto shrine. It is an incredibly vital spectacle of human artistry at the service of a sacred occasion.
Matsuri! documents the use of textiles in more than 25 different festivals scattered over the length and breadth of Japan. The book interweaves these textiles with the other arts that constitute matsuri as well as with their symbolic meanings and the history of textile making in Japan. Gorgeous photographs bring the festivals to life.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Matsuri!: Japanese Festival Arts (Textile Series, 6)
Matsuri!: Japanese Festival Arts (Textile Series, 6),Gloria Gonick,University of California Los Angeles, Fowler,0930741927,Antiques/Collectibles,Art,Art & Art Instruction,Asian,Ethnic Studies - General,Fasts and feasts,Fasts and feasts in art,Folk & Outsider Art,Shinto,Shinto arts,Subjects & Themes - General,Japan,Oriental art
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