Japan and the culture of the four seasons : nature, literature, and the arts / Haruo Shirane.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shirane, Haruo, 1951- author.

Contributor:

EBSCOhost.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Japanese literature--History and criticism.

Japanese literature.

Seasons in literature.

Arts and society--Japan.

Arts and society.

Philosophy of nature in literature.

Seasons in art.

Japan--Civilization.

Japan.

Civilization.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 311 pages) : illustrations

polychrome

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, [2012]

[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [2012]

Language Note:

English.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Elegant representations of nature and the four seasons populate a wide range of Japanese genres and media. In Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons, Haruo Shirane shows how, when, and why this practice developed and explicates the richly encoded social, religious, and political meanings of this imagery. Shirane discusses textual, cultivated, material, performative, and gastronomic representations of nature. He reveals how this kind of "secondary nature," which flourished in Japan's urban environment, fostered and idealized a sense of harmony with the natural world just at the moment when it began to recede from view. Illuminating the deeper meaning behind Japanese aesthetics and artifacts, Shirane also clarifies the use of natural and seasonal topics as well as the changes in their cultural associations and functions across history, genre, and community over more than a millennium. In this book, the four seasons are revealed to be as much a cultural construction as a reflection of the physical world. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction : Secondary nature, climate, and landscape

Poetic topics and the making of the four seasons

Visual culture, classical poetry, and linked verse

Interiorization, flowers, and social ritual

Rural landscape, social difference, and conflict

Trans-seasonality, talismans, and landscape

Annual observances, famous places, and entertainment

Seasonal pyramid, parody, and botany

Conclusion : History, genre, and social community

Appendix : Seasonal topics in key texts.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Electronic reproduction. Ipswich, MA Available via World Wide Web.

Print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Shirane, Haruo, 1951- Japan and the culture of the four seasons.

ISBN:

9780231526524

0231526520

Publisher Number:

99985457828

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.