The Shogun's Things: A Cultural History of the Collection of Tokugawa Ieyasu

FAIN: FB-52885-07

Morgan Pitelka
Occidental College (Los Angeles, CA 90041-3314)

First I examine Tokugawa Ieyasu's successes through the lens of cultural practices such as falconry, collecting, and scholarship. Next I track the social lives of his collected objects after his death, particularly their resocialization as holy relics in the Toshogu shrines that were founded to deify him. Lastly I look at the new meanings attached to these objects as "art" with the founding of the Tokugawa Art Museum in 1935. The resulting book should function as a cultural biography of Tokugawa Ieyasu; an examination of the travels and functions of his collection; a case study in the invention of "art" in modern Japan; and an extended meditation on the changing representation and signification of the Tokugawa.

Associated Products

The Empire of Things: Tokugawa Ieyasu's Material Legacy and Cultural Profile (Article)
Title: The Empire of Things: Tokugawa Ieyasu's Material Legacy and Cultural Profile
Author: Morgan Pitelka
Abstract: Japanese Studies 29:1 (May, 2009): 19-32.
Year: 2009
Primary URL: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/carfax/10371397.html
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Japanese Studies
Publisher: Taylor and Francis / Japanese Studies Association of Australia

Art, Agency, and Networks in the Career of Tokugawa Ieyasu (Book Section)
Title: Art, Agency, and Networks in the Career of Tokugawa Ieyasu
Author: Morgan Pitelka
Editor: Deborah Hutton and Rebecca Brown
Abstract: In the book Blackwell Companion to Asian Art, Ed. Deborah Hutton and Rebecca Brown. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
Year: 2011
Primary URL: http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/book?id=g9781405185370_9781405185370
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Book Title: Blackwell Companion to Asian Art
ISBN: 9781405185370

Spectacular Accumulation: Material Culture, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Samurai Sociability (Book)
Title: Spectacular Accumulation: Material Culture, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Samurai Sociability
Author: Morgan Pitelka
Abstract: In Spectacular Accumulation, Morgan Pitelka investigates the significance of material culture and sociability in late sixteenth-century Japan, focusing in particular on the career and afterlife of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. The story of Ieyasu illustrates the close ties between people, things, and politics and offers us insight into the role of material culture in the shift from medieval to early modern Japan and in shaping our knowledge of history.
Year: 2016
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/908192671
Primary URL Description: WorldCat
Secondary URL: http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-9514-9780824851576.aspx
Secondary URL Description: University of Hawaii Press site
Publisher: Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780824851576
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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