Morgan Pitelka
Occidental College (Los Angeles, CA 90041-3314)
FB-52885-07
Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars
Research Programs
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[Grant products]
Totals:
$40,000 (approved)
$40,000 (awarded)
Grant period:
7/1/2007 – 6/30/2008
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The Shogun's Things: A Cultural History of the Collection of Tokugawa Ieyasu
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.
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