Customer Reviews

Kita: The Last Tosa

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Dr. Kita hits with this work a crucial node in Japanese Art History: the transition from the medieval and classical traditions of art, from the art of the courtiers and handscrolls to that of the merchants and woodblock prints. Matabei is both chronologically and artistically at the centre of this transition, and his opus refuses simple interpretations.

Kita is the first scholar outside Japan to ever have researched on Matabei, and while his book gives a thorough review of the vivid discussions that Japanese scholars have held since the 19th century, it also presents the author's own extremely consistent study of Matabei. While Japanese art is often collected and admired in western museums, serious scholarship seldom transcends the borders of the archipel. This book is a fortunate exception, and it strikes both against the idea that Japanese-style scholarship is not suited for western readers, and agains the commonplace conceptions of Japanese art in the West, which has been looked at for too long now with the same blurred glasses of the "Japonisme" which, over a century ago, could not have more than a superficial interest for "decadent" woodblock prints or mysterious brushstrokes.

Solid image analysis, supported by reproductions for us mortals who do not have access to these rare paintings, is the base of Kita's argumentation, enhanced with abundant reference to earlier and contemporary scholars' studies. Leading us didactically, weaving a web of evidence that eventually comes down to the conclusion yet in no instance sacrificing academic consistency, this book is an ideal acquisition for both the experienced scholar of Japanese art and the serious amateur. Appendices, a glossary, and a character guide enhance the enjoyment of this book for many successive rereadings.

Dr. Kita hits with this work a crucial node in Japanese Art History: the transition from the medieval and classical traditions of art, from the art of the courtiers and handscrolls to that of the merchants and woodblock prints. Matabei is both chronologically and artistically at the centre of this transition, and his opus refuses simple interpretations.

Kita is the first scholar outside Japan to ever have researched on Matabei, and while his book gives a thorough review of the vivid discussions that Japanese scholars have held since the 19th century, it also presents the author's own extremely consistent study of Matabei. While Japanese art is often collected and admired in western museums, serious scholarship seldom transcends the borders of the archipel. This book is a fortunate exception, and it strikes both against the idea that Japanese-style scholarship is not suited for western readers, and agains the commonplace conceptions of Japanese art in the West, which has been looked at for too long now with the same blurred glasses of the "Japonisme" which, over a century ago, could not have more than a superficial interest for "decadent" woodblock prints or mysterious brushstrokes.

Solid image analysis, supported by reproductions for us mortals who do not have access to these rare paintings, is the base of Kita's argumentation, enhanced with abundant reference to earlier and contemporary scholars' studies. Leading us didactically, weaving a web of evidence that eventually comes down to the conclusion yet in no instance sacrificing academic consistency, this book is an ideal acquisition for both the experienced scholar of Japanese art and the serious amateur. Appendices, a glossary, and a character guide enhance the enjoyment of this book for many successive rereadings.