Article Index
Key #14: Art and History
Japanese history defies definition because the winner and the loser might end up being one and the same person!
Author: Edward Porper
Key #13: Kenbu
Swords were about to become the first and most obvious victim of that legislation. Whether intentionally or not, the new government attempted to throw the baby out with the bathwater
Author: Edward Porper
Key #12: Swords
Samurai's perception of the sword, eventually adopted by the whole nation, is best summed up in one short phrase: “the sword is a sacred treasure where a god dwells”!
Author: Edward Porper
Key #11: Divine Buddies
Japan wouldn't be Japan if it didn't choose to combine the best of both worlds
Author: Edward Porper
Key #10: Selective Irreverence
The point of the project was to create a large number of sculptures depicting Buddha's followers - a time-consuming but hardly challenging task for a fine artist.
Author: Edward Porper
Key #9: Dolls
As a matter of fact, an intricate and completely self-sufficient doll culture has been thriving in Japan for at least 300 years
Author: Edward Porper
Key #8: The Tale of Genji. Part II - A Thousand Years Later
The time-machine presents costumes of the epoch in great detail but it's immediately obvious that the exhibition is about so much more than just costumes.
Author: Edward Porper
Key #8: The Tale of Genji. Part I - Civilizational Books
The problems, associated with the prescriptive nature of the major religious books, help to shift attention to a different kind of literature known as “literary monuments”
Author: Edward Porper
Key #7: Food
One might say that Japanese people don't bite their food, they nibble it!
Author: Edward Porper