Title: Japanese ghosts & demons :
Authors: Addiss, Stephen,; Asia Society.; Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art.
Date: 1985
Publisher: George Braziller, Inc.,
Physical description: 192 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm
Language: English
LC classification: N
Abstract: Japan has perhaps the most lively and richly developed tradition of supernatural lore of any civilization. It is comprised of some of the most relentlessly fearsome goblins, demons, metamorphosed animals and ghosts ever known to man. Japanese poets, actors, dancers, and artists have all delighted in portraying these monsters, often with a playfulness and humor that mitigates the demons' more ferocious qualities, but also with a bold, dramatic fervor designed to impress upon their audiences the lessons of folklore. For, like our own mythological and fairy-tale characters, Japan's supernatural inhabitants suggest much about the morals of the Japanese people and of their efforts to understand the mysteries of the world. This is the first book devoted to the study of the supernatural world and its representation in Japanese art. From the 17th to the 19th centuries many of Japan's most brilliant artists, including Hiroshige, Hokusai, Yoshitoshi, and Zeshin, allowed their imaginations free rein to present these mysteries in a variety of media, including paintings, woodblock prints, screens, netsuke and inrō sculptures, and fans. The 49 color plates and 75 black and white illustrations presented here show a stunning array of Japan's most fiendish figures. Each of the ten chapters focuses on one of the most important themes in Japanese lore, discussing its anthropological meaning and literary and artistic interpretations. -- from back cover.
Contents: Introduction / Akira Y. Yamamoto -- One hundred demons and one hundred supernatural tales / Midori Deguchi -- Yūrei : tales of female ghosts / Brenda Jordan -- The male ghost in kabuki and ukiyo-e / James L. Secor, Stephen Addiss -- Sennin : the immortals of Taoism / Janet Carpenter -- Shōki the demon queller / Matthew Welch -- Oni : the Japanse demon / Juliann Wolfgram -- Tengu, the mountain goblin / Pat Fister -- The trickster in Japan : tanuki and kitsune / Brenda Jordan -- Snakes, serpents, and humans / Jamie Lillywhite, Akira Y. Yamamoto -- Two and a half worlds : humans, animals, and in-between / Fumiko Y. Yamamoto, Akira Y. Yamamoto -- Conclusion : the supernatural in Japanese art / Stephen Addiss.
Notes: "Exhibition schedule, Asia Society Gallery, New York, June 13-September 1, 1985; Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, September 29-December 22, 1985; Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin, March 6-April 13, 1986; University Art Museum, Berkeley, California, June 11-September 14, 1986"--Verso t.p.
Subject headings (LCSH): Art, Japanese--Edo period, 1600-1868--Exhibitions; Art, Japanese--Exhibitions.; Demonology in art--Exhibitions.; Exhibition catalogs.; Folk art--Japan.; Ghosts in art--Exhibitions.