| THE TOKUGAWA ART MUSEUM 1017, Tokugawa-cho, Higashi-ku, Nagoya 461 tel: +81-(0)52-935-6262 / fax: +81-(0)52-935-6261 internet: www.cjn.or.jp/tokugawa/index.html |
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| Tea Scoop Named “Namida”
by Sen no Rikyu February 21 – February 29, 2004 |
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| The famous tea scoop, Namida, which Rikyu used for his last tea ceremony, will be on view in this exhibition. | ||||
| Doll’s Festival in the Owari Tokugawa
Household February 7 – April 4, 2004 |
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| Hina Matsuri (“Doll's Festival”), also known as Momo no Sekku (“Peach Season Ceremony”), celebrates young girls and their coming of age. Being a joyful celebration, it is an appropriate announcement of the advent of spring. Various dolls are arranged on a multi-leveled stand covered with red felt: the prince and princess are in the middle, flanked by ladies-in-waiting, and five musicians. A row of miniature furnishings adds lavish elegance. The Hina Matsuri sets owned by the Tokugawa Art Museum are representative of what one would expect in the household of a great daimyo. | ||||
| Symbols of the Warrior: Swords and Armor
Ongoing |
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| 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 |
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| The use of "natural-state" rustic materials to build a humble, intimate room or thatched-hut in which to serve guests tea is the hallmark of sukiyastyle. This appreciation of the asymmetrical and "natural" grows out of an aesthetic quality known as wabi. Wabitea 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 in the residences of the 15th century Ashikaga shoguns. The more personal, austere way of wabitea was popular with merchants and townsmen as well as many warlords. Wabiplaces value on the beauty and spiritual refreshment to be found in simplicity and spontaneity, far removed from mundane concerns of rank and power. | ||||
| Formal Chamber of a Daimyo's Residence
Ongoing |
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| The lavish gilt decoration and arrangement of space served to enhance the daimyo's status and authority and are in the shoinstyle. This architectural style developed under the Ashikaga shoguns in the 15th century. The exhibit attempts to reflect such a setting that dictated not only the ornamentation, but also the choice and arrangement of art for a shoinsetting. The main rooms were used for official, administrative and ceremonial purposes. The rooms had tatami-mat flooring and were separated from each other by decorated wall panels. Along with a desk (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. | ||||
| Daimyo Patronage of Noh Theater Ongoing |
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| 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. This exhibit attempts to reflect this connection between art and patronage. Most daimyofamilies 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 |
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| This room gives a representative sampling of the artistic taste and legacy of the Edo period. 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. 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 Flowering of the Courtly Tradition:
The Illustrated Tale of Genji Ongoing |
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| 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. The 12th-century illustrated handscroll of The Tale of Genjiranks 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. 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. | ||||
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