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Preserving the dharma : Hozan Tankai and Japanese Buddhist art of the early modern era / John M. Rosenfield.

By: Rosenfield, John M [author.]
Series: Tang center lecture seriesPublisher: Princeton, New Jersey : P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art, Department of Art and Archaeology Princeton University, 2015Distributor: Princeton, New Jersey : Distributed by Princeton University Press, 2015Copyright date: ©2015Description: 199 pages : color illustrations ; 26 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780691163970; 0691163979Subject(s): Tankai, 1629-1716 | Buddhist art -- Japan | Art, Japanese -- 20th century | Dharma (Buddhism)DDC classification: 704.9/48943
Contents:
Summary: "In this beautifully illustrated book, eminent art historian John Rosenfield explores the life and art of the Japanese Buddhist monk Hozan Tankai (1629-1716). Through a close examination of sculptures, paintings, ritual implements, and primary documents, the book demonstrates how the Shingon prelate's artistic activities were central to his important place in the world of late-seventeenth-century Japanese Buddhism. At the same time, the book shows the richness of early modern Japanese Buddhist art, which has often been neglected and undervalued.Tankai was firmly committed to the spiritual disciplines of mountain Buddhism-seclusion, severe asceticism, meditation, and ritual. But in the 1680s, after being appointed head of a small, run-down temple on the slopes of Mount Ikoma, near Nara, he revealed that he was also a gifted artist and administrator. He embarked on an ambitious campaign of constructing temple halls and commissioning icons, and the Ikoma temple, soon renamed Hōzanji, became a vibrant center of popular Buddhism, as it remains today. He was a remarkably productive artist, and by the end of his life more than 150 works were associated with him.A major reconsideration of a key artistic and religious figure, Preserving the Dharma brings much-needed attention to an overlooked period of Japanese Buddhist art"-- Publisher's website
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Book Book British Museum Asia Japan N8193 .A4 ROS (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 110173
Total holds: 0

Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-170) and index.

Birth and Training -- Sacred Mount Ikoma -- Head Priest -- Sculpture -- Pictures -- Eminence -- Hozanji Archive -- Shingon Priests

"In this beautifully illustrated book, eminent art historian John Rosenfield explores the life and art of the Japanese Buddhist monk Hozan Tankai (1629-1716). Through a close examination of sculptures, paintings, ritual implements, and primary documents, the book demonstrates how the Shingon prelate's artistic activities were central to his important place in the world of late-seventeenth-century Japanese Buddhism. At the same time, the book shows the richness of early modern Japanese Buddhist art, which has often been neglected and undervalued.Tankai was firmly committed to the spiritual disciplines of mountain Buddhism-seclusion, severe asceticism, meditation, and ritual. But in the 1680s, after being appointed head of a small, run-down temple on the slopes of Mount Ikoma, near Nara, he revealed that he was also a gifted artist and administrator. He embarked on an ambitious campaign of constructing temple halls and commissioning icons, and the Ikoma temple, soon renamed Hōzanji, became a vibrant center of popular Buddhism, as it remains today. He was a remarkably productive artist, and by the end of his life more than 150 works were associated with him.A major reconsideration of a key artistic and religious figure, Preserving the Dharma brings much-needed attention to an overlooked period of Japanese Buddhist art"-- Publisher's website

ASIAJUNE16, ASIA2016