Abstract

Beatrice Höller carefully analyzes the distinct and multivalent word-image relations rendered on three inkstone cases created in late fifteenth century Kyoto. The exquisitely designed cases are not only well known; with each one designated as an “important cultural property,” there has been research by lacquer specialists in terms of stylistic, material, technical or poetic and historical aspects. The author focuses on the multiple socio-cultural layers of meaning by employing a number of notions, concepts and paradigms, including “cultural memory”. The inkstone cases were all created during or after the rule of Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the eighth shogun of the Ashikaga House, who is known for his penchant for cultural pursuits rather than military prowess or political cunning. His rule and legacy is also characterized by one of the most devastating civil wars in Japan, the so-called Ōnin War, which destroyed the capital of Kyoto completely. It marked the beginning of a vast and destructive civil war that ended only after roughly one-hundred years towards the close of the sixteenth century. This era of martial strife caused unprecedented social upheaval and saw the construction of new cultural centers outside Kyoto, as well as novel forms of performing, visual and martial arts. It is the latter aspect of the fifteenth century, along with retired Shogun Yoshimasa’s taste and cultural pursuits, and an approach that involves processes of identity formation through poetic allusions and their material re-interpretations with which this book is concerned. The author describes, analyzes, contextualizes, and historicizes the inkstone cases in each of her chapters from a new angle, digging ever deeper into layers of meaning, interpretation and contextualization whilst addressing and exploring different concepts. At the same time, she delves into material and visual properties, the poetics of the intricately rendered classical poems and their multiple levels of interpretations, along with the local and spiritual dimensions of the iconographies rendered or implied, which constitutes an immensely important aspect during this period of military and political conflicts.