Author: KITA, SANDY
Title: The Last Tosa: Iwasa Katsumochi Matabei, Bridge to Ukiyo-E
Description: University of Hawai's Press, Honolulu. 1999, 1st Edition. (ISBN: 9780824818265). Hardcover, with dust jacket. Book, English text.; Hardcover (with dust jacket).; 21.5 x 24 cm.; 1.4 Kg.; 412 pages with black and white and colour illustrations.; Used with minor signs of wear on the exterior and interior.; Iwasa Katsumochi Matabei (1578 - 1650) is one of the most controversial figures in Japanese art history. For more than half a century, historians have argued over Matabei's role in Japanese art: Was he, as he asserted, "The Last Tosa" (the school of painters specialized in Yamato-e, a kind of classical courtly painting) or, as others characterized him, "The Founder of Ukiyo-e", the style of painting associated with the urban commoner class. In this highly original and convincing study, Matabei emerges as both - an artist in whose work can be seen elements of both Yamato-e and Ukiyo-e. Extending its analysis beyond the individual artist, The Last Tosa examines the trends and artistic developments of a transitional period and makes heretofore unexamined connections between the world of the aristocrat and the merchant as well as the two artistic schools that reflected their tastes. It addresses these larger issues by identifying Matabei as a member of a social group known as machischu. Excerpts from noblemen's diaries, an investigation of the etymology of machischu, and an analysis of art by its members, indicate that machischu included both commoners and ghe gentry, thus revealing a rich tradition of egalitarianism - an important departure from the conventionally held belief that seventeenth-century Japan's urban society was rigidly stratified. Throughout, the author challenges current interpretations of seventeenth-century genre painting and classical art. He suggests that the revival of classical court culture during the Momoyama period was not brought about by the aristocrat's nostalgia for the past warriors' desire for prestige and social acceptance but stemmed instead from the very real and immediate desire of machischu for art that reflected their tastes and responded to their needs. Ukiyo-e then is not the invention of chonin (commoners) of the new capital of Edo, as has long been held, but the result of a lengthy artistic development that begun among the court painters of the old capital of Kyoto - an idea elegantly expressed in the author's notion of The Worlds of Ukiyo-e: the Sorrowful World of machischu and the Floating World of chonin. The Last Rosa provides and exhaustive study of Matabei's paintings, including all his important works and key attributions. Translations of all documents available on Matabei are given, in particular his travel diary, a unique source, the only known example of such a text by seventeenth century classical painter. With its fusion of cultural history with political, social, and economic history, this sophisticated study will appeal not only to art historians, but also to students of history, anthropology, and culture studies interested in questions of group identify and the political uses of culture. Very Good/Dust Jacket Included.

Keywords: 9780824818265 japan,japanese art,ukiyo-e,floating world Japanese Art


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