Yokai: Supernatural Creatures in Japanese Culture
39.99 €
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Yokai: Supernatural Creatures in Japanese Culture
39.99 €
Toriyama Sekien (1712–1788) was a Japanese artist of the Edo period. His life's work was an attempt to catalog, in several series of woodblock prints, all the otherworldly creatures of Japanese demonology (yokai) participating in the Hyakki yagyo—an annual, secret, nocturnal procession of evil spirits. Sekien's bestiary was the first attempt to convey these stories in book format and using woodblock prints. His illustrations were printed in four volumes, with thousands of copies and reprints, and enjoyed widespread distribution.
The Japanese believed, and continue to believe, that the world around them is not simply a visible reality, but an interpenetrating set of worlds—human and the sublime divine or base demonic. The otherworldly, in essence, did not exist—it was here, right here. Gods, spirits, the souls of the dead, mountain goblins, forest wood-goblins, and water-spirits, not to mention old umbrellas or pots, could interfere with human lives.
Yevgeny Semenovich Steiner, a Japanologist, philologist, and art historian, presents in this illustrated edition an introduction, a full publication, translations of the texts from the prints, and commentary of the encyclopedia "Night Antics of a Host of Demons" by Toriyama Sekien (1776–1784). This book represents a reprint from 1805, printed from old boards of the first edition. A total of 211 characters are depicted across four volumes.
This book will become a reference book and will be of interest to all art lovers, enthusiasts of Japanese culture, as well as professional Japanologists and Sinologists.
The Japanese believed, and continue to believe, that the world around them is not simply a visible reality, but an interpenetrating set of worlds—human and the sublime divine or base demonic. The otherworldly, in essence, did not exist—it was here, right here. Gods, spirits, the souls of the dead, mountain goblins, forest wood-goblins, and water-spirits, not to mention old umbrellas or pots, could interfere with human lives.
Yevgeny Semenovich Steiner, a Japanologist, philologist, and art historian, presents in this illustrated edition an introduction, a full publication, translations of the texts from the prints, and commentary of the encyclopedia "Night Antics of a Host of Demons" by Toriyama Sekien (1776–1784). This book represents a reprint from 1805, printed from old boards of the first edition. A total of 211 characters are depicted across four volumes.
This book will become a reference book and will be of interest to all art lovers, enthusiasts of Japanese culture, as well as professional Japanologists and Sinologists.
See also:
- All books by the publisher
- All books by the author
- All books in the series Art: A Gift Encyclopedia