This study explores the role of the qipao in shaping the representation and perception of Chinese women’s modern cultural identity during the early twentieth century. In a period of societal...Show moreThis study explores the role of the qipao in shaping the representation and perception of Chinese women’s modern cultural identity during the early twentieth century. In a period of societal instability, Chinese women sought a modern identity that harmonized with their cultural values. Utilizing visual research and literature analysis, the research underscores the qipao’s significance as both a tool and a symbol in popular visual culture forming women’s identities. Emphasizing the socio-historical context, the study highlights the qipao’s role as a bridge between tradition and modernization in Shanghai’s cosmopolitan environment. Through magazines, calendar posters, and cinema, the qipao emerges as a dynamic cultural dress, influencing representations and perceptions of the modern woman’s cultural identity.Show less
In this thesis, I argue that, perhaps more than any other contributing factor, the card game known as Hyakunin Isshu karuta plays a major role in the popularity of the Hyakunin Isshu anthology...Show moreIn this thesis, I argue that, perhaps more than any other contributing factor, the card game known as Hyakunin Isshu karuta plays a major role in the popularity of the Hyakunin Isshu anthology today, and has done so ever since the conception of the game. Where the once-popular woodblock printed parodies and educational books that featured the poems inevitably fell out of fashion, karuta has seen attempts at modernization, standardization and national organization that secured not only its own survival into the twenty-first century, but that of the anthology as well. As there was very little research on this specific topic at the time of writing, I sought to answer this question: how has karuta, and the popularity thereof, concretely contributed to the popularity of the Hyakunin Isshu in the past 70 years?Show less
With the drastic shift started by the Meiji Revolution in 1868 and the opening of Japan’s borders also came a need to create a national Japanese identity, and one of several ways to achieve this...Show moreWith the drastic shift started by the Meiji Revolution in 1868 and the opening of Japan’s borders also came a need to create a national Japanese identity, and one of several ways to achieve this was to create a standardised national language. Ueda Kazutoshi stood at the forefront of this movement, advocating for the conceptualisation of kokugo, the national language, and in turn educational reforms which would implement this national language for the improvement and modernisation of the Japanese empire. In the book, Kokugo no tame, he goes into further detail on how to achieve this. This thesis looks at how idealistic and influenced by nationalism Ueda’s Kokugo no tame is by reading, interpreting and finally reflecting on his writings found in the book, as there is discourse on its abstract nature and its achievability. This thesis finds that Ueda’s writings were heavily influenced by the new social context of Meiji Japan and its recent victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, and that with the limitations that nationalism and racialisation bring, it also put limits on the feasibility of Ueda’s envisioned kokugo. While achievable in some ways with concrete ideas on how to implement kokugo, and indeed Ueda’s writings did set up the foundation of language standardisation, it is also the caveats made by Ueda on how kokugo should be educated under nationalist terms which made it more difficult to bring it to fruition according to Ueda’s ways.Show less
Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) or 'Hokusai' for short, ukiyo-e or Japanese woodblock artist renowned for the print 'The Great Wave' (1830-32), published a year before his death the painting manual ...Show moreKatsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) or 'Hokusai' for short, ukiyo-e or Japanese woodblock artist renowned for the print 'The Great Wave' (1830-32), published a year before his death the painting manual 'Ehon Saishiki Tsū' or 'On the Use of Colouring' (1848). In this study I will pose the question of how Hokusai represented his drawing style in Ehon Saishiki Tsū, focussing on how Hokusai explained his use of lines. Ehon Saishiki Tsū has not yet been studied from this perspective. Most studies have focused on the usage of color or pigments in his paintings, which Hokusai gives instructions about in this manual. This study is relevant to art historians and connoisseurs of Japanese art as it puts emphasis on Hokusai's style and how he has represented it through Ehon Saishiki Tsū. In it I have found that Hokusai's explanation on how to draw waterfalls is an example of his realistic style of drawing we see in his middle and late period. Hokusai's way of presenting his explanations exemplify how he has positioned himself as an experienced artist who uses the medium of painting manuals to transmit his experience to his audience: the inexperienced student of art.Show less
This thesis explores the relationship between censorship of the authoritarian government of early modern Japan and the sharebon and kibyoshi sub-genres of gesaku literature, with reference to M.E....Show moreThis thesis explores the relationship between censorship of the authoritarian government of early modern Japan and the sharebon and kibyoshi sub-genres of gesaku literature, with reference to M.E. Berry's notion of the private public sphere (1998), and compares the situation of these literary sub-genres with the situation of ukiyo-e prints.Show less
