An Object of Desire

Research log exploring oriental art

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Bibliography

I consulted a huge variety of sources to complete this project. Unlike in conventional module assessment, which relies solely upon books and articles, I consulted blogs, museum and university websites and an array of online magazines. The record of my use of many of these are recorded in this log. However, I did also of course use many of these conventional resources, which I have listed below. 

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Băgăcean, M., 2016. Ryū Murakami And The Influence Of Western Culture. The Culture Trip, 19 March. Accessed from http://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/ryu-murakami-and-the-influence-of-western-culture/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=180316asialiterature

Carroll, G., 2015. Mouse. London: Reaktion Books.

Guth, Christine., 1996. Japanese Art of the Edo Period. New Haven CT: Yale University Press.

Hockley, A. Felice Beato’s Japan: Places. An Album by the Pioneer Foreign Photographer in Yokohama. Accessed from http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/beato_places/essay.pdf

Knecht, P., 2007. Rice: Representations and Reality. Asian Folklore Studies, 66(1/2), pp.5-25.

MacGregor, N., 2011. A History of the World in 100 Objects. London: Penguin Books.

Manabe, K. and Befu, H., 1992. Japanese Cultural Identity: An Empirical Investigation of Nihonjinron', Yearbook of the German Institute of Japanese Studies, Tokyo. 4.

National Gallery of Art, Washington. Edo Art in Japan 1615-1868: Teaching Program. Accessed from: http://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/Education/learning-resources/teaching-packets/pdfs/edo-teach.pdf

Ohnuki-Tierney, E., 1993. Rice as Self: Japanese identities through time. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Ohnuki-Tierney, E., 1995. Structure, Event and Historical Metaphor: Rice and Identities in Japanese History. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1(2), pp.227-253.  

Said, E., 1977. Orientalism. London: Penguin Books.

Stanley-Baker, J., 2000. Japanese Art. London: Thames & Hudson.

Tai, E., 2003. Rethinking Culture, National Culture, and Japanese Culture, Japanese Language and Literature 37:1

Weights and Measures in East Asian Studies. University at Albany. Accessed from http://www.albany.edu/eas/205/weights%20and%20measures.pdf

Wotjan, L. S., 1993. Rice: It’s more than just a food. Japan Digest. Accessed from http://spice.fsi.stanford.edu/docs/rice_its_more_than_food_in_japan

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Hokusai

I came across this lovely article looking at a wide range of Hokusai’s art and thought it belonged here!

I love the expression and understated realism of Hokusai’s work. It helped me begin to understand Edo to Meiji era art and I recognise similar themes in the masu. 

http://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/10-artworks-by-katsushika-hokusai-you-should-know/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=facebook090416japanart

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A Final Snapshot

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23/03/2016 - The Final Product & Reflections

Here it is - the final product! I am really pleased with it. It is nothing like what I envisaged at the start of this project, but that just reflects the research journey I’ve been on I think. 

I feel that the podcast has managed to answer the initial research questions, by using them to frame the structure of the podcast:

 1. How does the journey of the masu from Japan reflect the Orientalist        theory of the European ‘gaze’?

 2. What does the functionality of the masu reveal about the interaction between  the role of rice in everyday Edo/Meiji period and Japanese cultural identity?

I’m really happy with the way the podcast flows - I think the use of consistent fonts and colours throughout helps with this. I am also pleased that the care I took so that the words and accompanying text/pictures/titles/film match.

I have learnt a lot of new skills from this project and learnt a lot about Japan in the 1800s, which follows by initial inspiration for this project which came from ‘The Hare With Amber Eyes’. 

There are always things that could have been done better - e.g. having more filming expertise, but I am pleased with the result and the effort I put in.

I have tried to combine in the podcast a reflection on the object itself and some interesting context that fed into its creation and journey.

All in all, a really rewarding project that has opened my eyes to a new academic interest! 

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23/03/2016 - Editing Day

Top: I used Apple’s Final Cut Pro

Bottom: My transcript with scribbles over during editing!

My first task was to record the transcript, which I did in a friend’s room which I knew would be free of street noise. It took a couple of takes but I was pleased with the result. I used the transcript as the backbone to lay my clips and media on top of. I also recorded music which I knew I wanted to use on each of the green section titles through the podcast. 

After a bit of struggle, I managed to get going on Final Cut Pro and after importing my raw footage and photos it was quite easy to get going. There were a couple of things I noticed and learnt as I went along:

- Although my podcast is built up by the context surrounding the masu, I wanted the object itself to remain front and centre to keep to the brief. For example, I often used shots of the masu to illustrate wider contextual points.

- I actually made and imported hand made stop motion maps, but I decided to redo them to fit in with the themes of my title screens in order to make the whole thing look a bit more ‘slick’. I did keep the boat stop motion sequence though as I think it worked rather well!

- I was concerned with keeping the whole thing flowing, despite some static picture frames. I did this by closely matching what was in the screen with the narration to keep it progressing logically. 

Whilst some sections took a lot longer than others, I really enjoyed the whole process and found it really let me be quite creative. 

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22/03/2016 - Filming Day

I went into the filming session equipped with an excellent quality camera lent from a college friend. However, despite doing some basic reading up I haven’t got much experience at close range filming like this. However, doing my storyboard and having a version of the transcript with me really helped.

It was great to see the masu up close again and to actually handle it too! There was a very good set up with a white filming background, photographic lights and several perspex mounts.

I initially spent some time working with the tripod and set up to familiarise myself before fully getting into filming. 

I had heeded advice to film much much more than I never thought I would need. This turned out to be really good advice, and I got loads of footage to play with.

I mainly focussed on two filming perspectives: going into focus and the turntable. This second element turned out be quite successful. 

I also took quite a few photos which proved to be really useful and feature in the podcast itself.

I really enjoyed my filming morning, and ended up staying for an hour and a half!

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The Great Wave - Then and Now

When I found the image to the right (credit: http://staatofmind.tumblr.com/) I couldn’t help but collage it alongside Hokusai’s original.

To me, the wave has transformed from being the invasive, overwhelming, unstoppable and threatening forces of the outside world into one of Japan’s great strengths and exports - technology. 

Instead of being the frightened fisherman about to be drowned by the wave, Japan and its people have become the wave. 

Japanese technology can be found in millions of homes and workplaces all across the globe. Far from being an inward looking, secretive state, it has reflected the wave and made itself present, on its terms, across the world.

This reflection directly links back to my project. This outward going wave of Japanese made goods arguably started with the export of objects such as the masu. It was their popularity that gave Japan a route to global success and enormous wealth. 

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Everyone needs to see this video.

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A brief history of Japan

This is a really funny, quite silly, but generally accurate summary of the history of Japan up to the modern day. 

I was pleased that I recognised most of the artistic references, and followed the Edo and Meiji Period parts!

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20/03/2016 - Sunday Reading

I spent a lovely end of term weekend at my grandparents, which included reading parts of Neil MacGregor’s ‘History of the World in 100 Objects’ book again. It’s the book version of his very successful BBC podcast series, so the descriptions of each object read quite like an informal transcript.

Of course I was particularly interested in the Japanese objects, and particularly his writing on Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave’, which focuses more broadly on the transition from the Edo to Meiji period. He argues that the wave, painted in an imported blue dye, represents the overwhelming uncertainty felt by the Japanese as global influences began to encroach further onto their isolated society,

He has an incredibly engaging style, and reading the book helped me adjust how I read my transcript. My parents listened to my read throughs several times and offered some really useful pointers.

This was particularly helpful as my filming day is tomorrow! More on the preparation and how that goes tomorrow.

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Ryū Murakami And The Influence Of Western Culture

Check out our guide to discover Ryū Murakami's universe – a wild voice from postmodern Japan.

From Edo to Modern Day

I found this article online which links really nicely to our most recent set of lectures on modern Japanese art. It’d good to have context to trace the path form my masu to modern Japanese visual arts. I didn’t expect to be so interested in modern Japanese art, but I’ve found the lectures to be really fascinating. 

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Kings are burning somewhere, Wheels are turning somewhere, Trains are being run, Wars are being won, Things are being done Somewhere out there, not here. Here we paint screens, Yes...the arrangement of screens.

Stephen Sondheim

A beautifully evocative and witty reflection on how many Westerners would have viewed Japan’s self-imposed isolation of the Edo period, when much of the world was advancing in industry and technology.

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Different Perspectives on the ‘Gaze’

Top: America (Amerikakoku) - Utagawa Yoshitomi, 1867

Bottom: Temples, Shrines and Icons at Kamakura - Felice Beato, 1870s

These contrasting images are fascinating in showing us how the perspectives and priorities of Japan and the Western world differed when representing the other. 

All of the images were created very close to the Meiji Restoration, when Japan was once again opening up to the rest of the world, and interest was high. 

However, what is really interesting is that we often dwell on how the West perceived Japan, but not the other way round. As we can see from Beato’s photos, elements of the mysterious ‘Orient’ were the focus - temples, shrines etc. People were usually dealt with separately, in portrait books. 

It is rare that the Japanese perspective on the West is put into the mainstream discourse however. This example seems to show fascination in clothes, inventions (the hot air balloon) and the difference in building types.

For me, this is really relevant. By forgetting the Japanese perspective, I contribute to the detrimental discourse of Imperialistic Orientalism within my project. 

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Storyboard Progress - 03/03/2016

After testing some different ways of doing my storyboard on my laptop, I have decide to go down the old fashioned route and do it my hand. I think this allows me lots of flexibility and using an A3 sheet gives plenty of scope for adjustments and creativity. 

As you can see above there are lots of details that have been filled into the empty storyboard! Some sections were easy to fill, others I had to consider quite carefully and might change.

Doing this was great as it really helped me visualise exactly the sorts of shots I will need when I film (hopefully next week).

Also, as my podcast is looking at quite a lot of ‘context’, it helped me to go through all the stages and make sure I kept the balance in favour of shots of the masu itself.

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Transcript Finished! - 01/03/2016

My transcript is finished! Now I just need to transfer it to the storyboard and I am ready to film! It just fits into the timeframe.

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Edo Period meets Modern Japan

In my conclusion I am trying to forge a link between the context of the Edo Period that led to the creation of the masu and modern day Japan. Consequently, I was so pleased to find the record of this 2014 exhibition of traditionally made woodblocks depicting modern video game figures.

Video game culture is really important in modern Japan, and the artists were trying to  make the point that these characters have links with those that were depicted in Edo Period woodblocks. 

Even if I can’t fit this into my conclusion, I still think it’s really important to know the context. 

My transcription is nearly there!

http://resobox.com/ukiyoe-heroes/

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Unexpected Adjustments 25/02/2016

I am currently simultaneously writing up my transcription and continuing my reading to contextualise my work.

I was really confident in the structure of my podcast but after reading selected sections of the book ‘Japanese Art of the Edo Period’ by Christine Guth, an Asian art specialist based at the V&A, I would like to extend the first section to add some context about the Edo period, and where my masu may have fitted into it. 

For instance, she discusses how the change in the ruling classes and period of comparative peace and isolation altered the landscape of the visual arts. This in turn has a direct impact on the story of the masu - for instance, the emergence of a new class of wealthy townspeople who were keen to patronise the arts led to a proliferation of the production of less ornate but ore ‘novelty’ objects. 

Consequently, I think my podcast needs to have this discussion, but I need to bear in mind how to balance all of these elements within the restricted timeframe.

Christine Guth Biography: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/christine-guth-biography/

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When we do see what we recognise clearly as impressions of mice, particularly in Japanese art of the Edo and Meiji periods, there is a real affection displayed for the animals that sits in stark contrast to most European representations of mice.

Carroll, G. (2015). Mouse. London: Reaktion Books.

This quote that I found during my research into the depiction of mice in Japanese art has really resonated. The depictions of mice on the masu reflect that sense of ‘affection’ clearly. One can tell that the artist is trying to convey a sense of endearment for the mice and they certainly add an undeniable playful element to the object.