【精品】Pleasure-seeking36 .ppt

* Floating World Pleasure-seeking lifestyle and culture in Japan during Tokugawa Shogunate (r. 1603 – 1868), particularly during its “Golden Age” of later 17th and early 18th cents., referred to as Ukiyo Emblem of Tokugawa clan Tokugawa background Tokugawa shoguns ruled via form of centralized, feudal government, helped through various samurai houses (daimyo) and lower vassals (tozama) who were previous enemies or new allies (“Edo Period”: Wikipedia) shoguns had power over emperor, court, and religious orders; established extensive code of laws to control daimyo houses as well (e.g., feudal lords spending every second year in Edo) other classes consisted of peasants (80% of population), merchants below them, and outsiders at bottom (e.g., entertainers and prostitutes) Japan a fairly closed country at this time but some minimal interaction with westerners, largely in form of Dutch traders who brought books on scientific and medical advancement in Europe during 17th and 18th cents. (this exchange of knowledge known as rangaku [Dutch studies]) adoption of neo-Confucianism as dominant legal and ethical philosophy by 17th cent., allowing for greater emphasis on secular world and “mass culture,” in conjunction with growth of merchant class and luxury areas such as Yoshiwara district of Edo, and Ukiyo lifestyle Ukiyo background “floating world” defined as early as 1661 in Asai Ryoi’s Tales of the Floating World: “…living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves; singing songs, drinking wine, diverting ourselves in just floating, floating…” (“Ukiyo-e”: Wikipedia) woodblock prints of floating world known as genre of ukiyo-e, popular by late 17th cent. in Edo’s metropolitan culture and originating with drawings of Hishikawa Moronobu in 1670s; original subject of ukiyo-e was city life but gradually came to include landscapes too many artists/publishers of ukiyo-e supported themselves financ