Exquisite Pursuits: Japanese Art in the Harry G.C. Packard Collection

In 1991 the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco formally accessioned twenty-seven unique works of Japanese art spanning 800 years of Japanese culture, from the late 11th through the mid-19th centuries. In this catalogue, each work is presented in its historical, cultural, and aesthetic contexts. Photos are augmented by enlarged details and supplemental illustrations for comparison. The collection includes thirteen religious objects from the Heian through Muromachi periods, and fourteen secular objects mainly of the Edo periods. It encompasses culptures, paintings, calligraphy, and scrolls.

Arts & Photography

Woodson, Yoko

Mellott, Richard L.

Tsuruta, Kazuhiro

History & Criticism

Asian Art Museum of San

Mellott, Richard

Asian Art Museum

Contains 200 prints of a new motif from the Edo period, the landscape as an independent subject. Co-organized by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and the Honolulu Academy of Arts, this collection presents Hokusai's and Hiroshige's series in their entireties, including representations of their respective favorites, the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and the Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Hokusai and Hiroshige: Great Japanese Prints from the James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts

Brandon, Reiko Mochinaga

White, Julia M.

Univ of Washington Pr

Zen: Painting and calligraphy, 17th-20th centuries

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Samurai means "he who serves," and these fierce warriors acted in the service of powerful feudal lords known as daimyo. Among the most important daimyo families were members of the Hosokawa clan, whose lineage dates back some six hundred years. Lords of the Samurai illuminates the private and public lives of the daimyo by focusing on approximately 160 works from the Hosokawa family collection housed in the Eisei-Bunko Museum in Tokyo, the Kumamoto Castle and the Kumamoto Municipal Museum in Kyushu. Objects discussed include suits of armor, armaments (including swords and guns), formal attire, calligraphy, paintings, tea ware, lacquer ware, masks and musical instruments. Hosokawa Morihiro, eighteenth-generation head of the Hosokawa family and seventy-ninth prime minester of Japan, introduces the book. Takeuchi Jun'ichi, director of the Eisei-Bunko Museum, contributes an essay of the literary world of the daimyo. Yoko Woodson, curator of Japanese art at the Asian Art Museum, surveys the history of the Japanese warrior over several centuries. Deborah Clearwaters, director of education at the Asian Art Museum, considers the artistic world of the samurai, with special emphasis on the Way of Tea (chanoyu). Lords of the Samurai demonstrates that Japanese warriors were not mere fighters but were also dedicated and inspired men of culture. It lays bare the principles that governed the spirit of the samurai, enabling it to endure for hundreds of years and continue to resonate today.

Lords of the Samurai: The Legacy of a Daimyo Family

Rinne, Melissa M.

Reference

Japan's samurai were professional soldiers, but they could also be cultivated artists, writers and philosophers. "Samurai" means "he who serves," and these fierce warriors acted in the service of powerful feudal lords known as daimyo ("great name"). Among the most important daimyo families were members of the Hosokawa clan, whose lineage dates back some six hundred years. Lords of the Samurai brings to life the code of the samurai and the private and public lives of the daimyo by focusing on approximately 160 works from the Hosokawa family collection housed in the Eisei-Bunko Museum in Tokyo, the Kumamoto Castle and the Kumamoto Municipal Museum in Kyushu. Japanese historical objects discussed include suits of armor, armaments (including swords and guns), formal attire, calligraphy, paintings, tea ware, lacquer ware, masks, and musical instruments. To the daimyo, martial arts were not just a physical or military activity—they were part of a spiritual and ethical program that governed every aspect of their existence. Featuring an extended essay by Thomas Cleary, Lords of the Samurai lays bare the principles that governed the spirit of the samurai, enabling it to endure for hundreds of years and continue to resonate today.

Cleary, Thomás

Jun'ichi, Takeuchi

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

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Books by Woodson, Yoko