| NOTA |
(★)(1.The first five centuries of the Christian era constitute a nebulous but important period of Japanese history. The beginnings of the Japanese state and society were then being worked out in total isolation from the Chinese culture which, with the introduction of Buddhism late in the sixth century, was soon to inundate the island kingdom. Those protohistoric centuries are known today only from an occasional Chinese record and subsequently recorded native legends and traditions, from the usual archaeological remains, and --gloriously so-- from an impressive body of some of the most exciting sculpture the world has ever seen, the Haniwa. Although these clay figures were designed by nameless craftsmen to decorate the grave mounds of their lords and emperors, they are anything but funeral in their persuasive charm and their delightful naivete --a naivete so genuine and unstudied that it often strikes the modern viewer as the subtlest of sophistication, as a successful achievement of the ideal of modern ´primitive´art. Being entirely free from the continental influences that played a decisive role in the shaping of all subsequent art in Japan, the Haniwa provide a last opportunity to observe the native Japanese genius in its pure form. This is of great aid in the difficult task of distinguishing between the great Chinese and Japanese aspects of Far Eastern art, and one is struck with the stubborn persistence with which certain uniquely Japanese qualities found in the art of the Haniwa continue throughout all the following centuries of cultural borrowing, first, from China and, more recently, from the West. The present volume, in its original Japanese edition, was widely hailed as a landmark of Japanese art history and archeology and now becomes the first full-scale study of Haniwa ever to appear in English. As such, it fills a need that was highlighted by the enthusiastic critical and popular response to the impressive Haniwa Exhibition shown at leading American museums in 1960. The book presents almost a hundred dramatic photographs of notable Haniwa masterpieces both in full color and in gravure. As Dr. Miller points out in the Foreword, the accompanying text is equally remarkable, especially for the way it combines archeological erudition with aesthetic taste and appreciation, for a rare ability to match solid scientific control of a complex subject with genuine artistic perception and taste. It not only provides the reader with the information necessary for an intelligent appreciation of this remarkable art form, but also brings vividly to life the society in which the Haniwa were produced. 2.The author, FUMIO MIKI, is a distinguished Japanese archeologist, Curator of Protohistoric Materials at the Tokyo National Museum, and the leading authority on the subject of the Haniwa.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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