Author: Adiss, Stephen and Akira Y Yamamoto
Title: Japanese Ghosts & Demons: Art of the Supernatural
Description: New York, G. Braziller in association with the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, 1985. Hardcover. Red boards with white lettering; black DJ with color illustration and white lettering; 192 pp.; richly illustrated. 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 inr 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. VG- (Boards are lightly edgeworn; pastedowns and endpapers have toning; interior is clean; binding is solid.)/VG- (DJ is lightly edgeworn with foxing/scuffing/smudging/toning.).

Keywords: Asian Art, Japanese Ghosts and Demons ; Japanese Ghosts and Demons ; ; Collections - Asian Art


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