Excavating the Hall of Dreams: The Inventions of “Fine Art” and “Religion” in Japan
Setting out from Okakura Kakuzō and Ernest Fenollosa’s famous “discovery” of the Yumedono Kannon, this article will trace the contested construction of the categories of “religion” (<i>shūkyō</i>) and “fine art” (<i>bijutsu</i>) in Meiji Japan. In religious studies circles, i...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/4/313 |
| _version_ | 1797443957975678976 |
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| author | Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm |
| author_facet | Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm |
| author_sort | Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Setting out from Okakura Kakuzō and Ernest Fenollosa’s famous “discovery” of the Yumedono Kannon, this article will trace the contested construction of the categories of “religion” (<i>shūkyō</i>) and “fine art” (<i>bijutsu</i>) in Meiji Japan. In religious studies circles, it has become commonplace to think of “religion” as the only disciplinary master category with issues. However, not only was “religion” invented in Japan, but “fine art” was invented there too. Indeed, categories from “culture” to “society” to “politics” have similar issues. Attending to these will help refocus crucial debates away from an obsession with translation and onto more fundamental issues about “cultural categories” as such. This paper will advance the debate by explaining the attendant constructions of “religion” and “fine art” as process social kinds. In doing so, it will showcase the museum and the temple as central sites of materialized disputation over global categories and their local instantiation. It will show how assimilation to the world-system in the long nineteenth century was a complex multi-generational process of negotiation and contestation, producing new hybrid spaces, returns, transformations, and innovations that then reflected back on global systems, changing them in subtle but profound ways. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T13:04:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5098327504dd4d5090f435acb2b23578 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T13:04:39Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-5098327504dd4d5090f435acb2b235782023-11-30T21:49:39ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442022-04-0113431310.3390/rel13040313Excavating the Hall of Dreams: The Inventions of “Fine Art” and “Religion” in JapanJason Ānanda Josephson Storm0Department of Religion and Science & Technologies Studies Program, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267, USASetting out from Okakura Kakuzō and Ernest Fenollosa’s famous “discovery” of the Yumedono Kannon, this article will trace the contested construction of the categories of “religion” (<i>shūkyō</i>) and “fine art” (<i>bijutsu</i>) in Meiji Japan. In religious studies circles, it has become commonplace to think of “religion” as the only disciplinary master category with issues. However, not only was “religion” invented in Japan, but “fine art” was invented there too. Indeed, categories from “culture” to “society” to “politics” have similar issues. Attending to these will help refocus crucial debates away from an obsession with translation and onto more fundamental issues about “cultural categories” as such. This paper will advance the debate by explaining the attendant constructions of “religion” and “fine art” as process social kinds. In doing so, it will showcase the museum and the temple as central sites of materialized disputation over global categories and their local instantiation. It will show how assimilation to the world-system in the long nineteenth century was a complex multi-generational process of negotiation and contestation, producing new hybrid spaces, returns, transformations, and innovations that then reflected back on global systems, changing them in subtle but profound ways.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/4/313religionfine artJapanart historyYumedono Kannonmuseum |
| spellingShingle | Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm Excavating the Hall of Dreams: The Inventions of “Fine Art” and “Religion” in Japan Religions religion fine art Japan art history Yumedono Kannon museum |
| title | Excavating the Hall of Dreams: The Inventions of “Fine Art” and “Religion” in Japan |
| title_full | Excavating the Hall of Dreams: The Inventions of “Fine Art” and “Religion” in Japan |
| title_fullStr | Excavating the Hall of Dreams: The Inventions of “Fine Art” and “Religion” in Japan |
| title_full_unstemmed | Excavating the Hall of Dreams: The Inventions of “Fine Art” and “Religion” in Japan |
| title_short | Excavating the Hall of Dreams: The Inventions of “Fine Art” and “Religion” in Japan |
| title_sort | excavating the hall of dreams the inventions of fine art and religion in japan |
| topic | religion fine art Japan art history Yumedono Kannon museum |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/4/313 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jasonanandajosephsonstorm excavatingthehallofdreamstheinventionsoffineartandreligioninjapan |