East Asian Art & Archaeology




THE TOKUGAWA ART MUSEUM 1017, Tokugawa-cho, Higashi-ku, Nagoya 461 phone +81-52-935-6262 internet: www.cjn.or.jp/tokugawa/index.html CLOSED between December 17, 2001 to January 3, 2002

	•Swords beloved by Feudal Lords June 2-July 22, 2001
		The Tokugawa Art Museum houses the Owari Tokugawa sword collection, passed down through generations of the Owari Tokugawa family. The core of this collection is the group of swords known as Sunpu Onwakemono and inherited by the first Owari Tokugawa, Yoshinao, from his father Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shogun. In addition, swords bestowed on the Owari Tokugawa family by later shoguns or presented to them by various daimyo fill out the collection. Among these are masterpiece swords originally owned by great military men, such as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and other famous medieval feudal lords.

	•Luxurious Lives of Daimyo Ladies July 28 - September 30, 2001
		Little is known about the lives of the daimyo ladies, because they were confined for the most part to the private quarters. Their gorgeous maki-e furnishings and elegant robes, however, provide insight into their life style. This exhibition attempts to reproduce the lives of the Owari Tokugawa ladies by displaying various objects used for ceremonies marking key events in their lives, such as the coming of age ceremonies,giving birth, and marriage. These include trousseaus prepared for marriages, elegant toys and games used to pass the time of day, favorite handscrolls for study and calligraphy samples, as well as paintings and calligraphy done in their own brush work.

	•Decorative Papers October 6-November 11, 2001
		This exhibition presents a panorama of beauty spanning from the Nara period (710-794) through the Edo period (1603-1868) by displaying decorative papers bearing the prayers and dreams of many centuries . The elegant decorative papers (ryoshi) used as a base for calligraphy and painting in making handwriting samplers and in copying sutras include somegami dyed in rich colors, karakami printed with beautiful patterns, kirihaku sprinkled with flecks of gold and silver that dazzle the eyes, and paper with underpaintings (shita-e). The style of each decorative paper can seen as reflecting the taste and aesthetic sensibilities of the era in which the paper was made.

	•The Beauty of Leather Crafts November 17-December 16, 2001
		This is the first exhibition devoted to leather crafts handed down in the Owari Tokugawa family. Leather was imperative to the lives of the military. Soft yet strong, leather and fur were used to make armor, gloves, footwear and in sundry military paraphernalia. The leather was often dyed in many colors or decorated with various skillfully fashioned accessories. Furthermore, the glitter of gilt leather imported from Holland held a special attraction for the lords and ladies and can be seen, for instance in the Dutch gilt leather mirror cover used by Reizen-in Chiyohime, wife of the second Owari Tokugawa,Mitsumoto, and in other carefully preserved scraps.

	•Ukiyo-e Prints : Mirrors of Edo Society January 4 - February 3, 2002
		The ukiyo-e prints of the Edo period (1603-1868) covered a wide spectrum of subject matter from pictures of beautiful women to depictions of actors, noteworthy samurai, famous sites, and literary classics like The Tale of Genji. For the people of the time, ukiyo-e were not just easily understood works of art and sources of instruction, but also functioned as a means to access information and to learn of the latest fashions. One might well say that in its functions and diversity ukiyo-e resemble television and newspapers today.

	•Hina Matsuri : Daimyo Doll's Festival -- Dolls and Furniture February 9- April 7, 2002
		Doll's Festival, also known as "Momo no Sekku" (Peach Season Ceremony), is an appropriate announcement of the coming of spring, being a gay, friendly celebration. Various dolls are arranged on a multi-leveled stand covered with red felt: the prince and princess in the middle are flanked by ladies-in -waiting, and five musicians. A row of miniature furnishings of many kinds adds lavish elegance.

	•Symbols of the Warrior: Swords and Armor Ongoing
		The Owari Tokugawa, based in Nagoya, were among the most powerful and wealthy daimyo (lords). This museum presents their family collection. The Tokugawa and daimyo came to power through fighting prowess and tenacity over generations of bloodshed and war. The ultimate symbol of the warrior was, and remained, the sword, which was considered to embody the "spirit of the warrior." Merchants and peasants could not bear swords. Swords and armor, commissioned or handed down by daimyo while never losing their military functions, also display an unsurpassed beauty and refinement. They were valued items of presentation. Older swords were often re-mounted. Sophisticated techniques and lavish use of precious materials in sword furnishings and decoration, along with the imposing and fantastic designs of helmets and armor, testify to the symbolic as well as utilitarian roles of arms and armor in the Edo period.

	•The Practice of Tea: a Daimyo's Tea Room Ongoing
		Tea-master SEN no Rikyu (1522-91) largely introduced wabi into the practice of tea. Wabi tea developed in reaction to the extravagances of the tea ceremony during the late 16th century, which in turn were based on the formal and elaborate serving of powdered tea (adapted from China) in the residences of the 15th century Ashikaga shoguns. The more personal, austere way of wabi tea was popular with merchants and townsmen as well as many warlords. Wabi places value on the beauty and spiritual refreshment to be found in simplicity and spontaneity, far removed from mundane concerns of rank and power. The use of "natural-state" rustic materials to build a humble, intimate room or thatched-hut in which to serve guests tea, as seen in this exhibit, is the hallmark of sukiya style. This appreciation of the asymmetrical and "natural" grows out of an aesthetic quality known as wabi.

	•Formal Chamber of a Daimyo's Residence Ongoing
		The main rooms were used for official, administrative and ceremonial purposes. The lavish gilt decoration and arrangement of space served to enhance the daimyo's status and authority and are in the shoin style. This architectural style developed under the Ashikaga shoguns in the 15th century and takes its name from the ornamental windowed alcove with desk (shoin). The rooms had tatami-mat flooring and were separated from each other by decorated wall panels. Along with a shoin, the innermost audience chamber (hiroma) featured a raised section upon which the lord would sit, a large alcove and a section of staggered shelves to display art works. Strict customs and rules, which also originated in the practices of the Ashikaga shoguns, dictated not only the ornamentation, but also the choice and arrangement of art for a shoin setting. Thus the most desirable objects were, first, items actually owned by the Ashikaga, known as Higashiyama-gomotsu ("honorable objects from the Ashikaga palace at Higashiyama"), and second, other objects from China (Karamono) in the Southern Song, Yuan and Ming dynasty tastes.

	•Daimyo Patronage of Noh Theater Ongoing
		Noh is a sophisticated musical drama that relates a felicitous or often tragic story interspersed by shorter comic plays Kyogen to enliven a full performance. Noh's restrained conventions of movement and texts full of poetical allusions achieved much of their present form by the mid-15th century under the enthusiastic patronage of the Ashikaga shoguns, many of whom were accomplished amateur performers. Noh performances were obligatory at ceremonies and festive occasions throughout the year. Most daimyo families had a stage and a collection of Noh (and Kyogen) costumes, masks, and simple props to use whenever professional actors were called in. Practice in singing the texts was part of the education of any lord, and many are recorded as being talented dancers.

	•Objects and Furnishings of Elegant Living Ongoing
		On exhibit are various furnishings and items of personal use, amusement, and cultivation for the daimyo and his household. In contrast to articles in Chinese taste used in the official, formal chambers, most private effects and art works destined for the inner living-quarters were of Japanese design and tradition. Their sumptuous decoration and craftsmanship, especially the gold of maki-e lacquer, reflect however the power and influence of their owners. Most articles of actual daily use no longer survive. Many items on display formed part of the trousseau which well-born and status-conscious ladies brought with them on marrying into the Owari Tokugawa family. The specially commissioned sets of furnishings and implements, food utensils, toiletry articles, games and other objects like palanquins, while ostensibly functional, were carefully stored and handed down as heirlooms. Many bear the aoi crest of the Tokugawa. The Owari Tokugawa, like other daimyo, both treasured the art which had been handed down and patronized contemporary painters, particularly of the Kano and Tosa schools. This room gives a representative sampling of the artistic taste and legacy of the Edo period.

	•The Flowering of the Courtly Tradition: The Illustrated Tale of Genji Ongoing
		The 12th-century illustrated handscroll of "The Tale of Genji" ranks as a masterpiece in Japanese art and the most famous object in The Tokugawa Art Museum collection. Scholars believe that aristocrats originally commissioned twenty scrolls of text and painted illustrations from calligraphers and artists at the imperial court in Kyoto. Chosen were the lyrical and emotional high-points of the romantic novel, "The Tale of Genji," which had been written nearly a century earlier by Murasaki Shikibu, a court lady. Only sections from three of the scrolls handed down in the Owari Tokugawa family and from one scroll long held by the Hachisuka family (now in the Gotoh Museum) survive today. These are the earliest known paintings, and in fact earliest extant text, of "The Tale of Genji." "The Tale of Genji" proved a central current in the culture and visual arts throughout the Edo period. Painters, particularly working in the Japanese style (yamato-e), such as the Tosa school, found in it endless inspiration. This exhibit space has been organized to present aspects of both the original masterpiece and the Edo tradition through later versions, photographs, modern reproductions and a video program.






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