<< Back to Publications

For information on ordering, click here

By Gloria Granz Gonick with contributions by Yo-ichiro Hakomori, Hiroyuki Nagahara, and Herbert Plutschow

This volume identifies and describes the exuberant textiles and costumes of matsuri—the centuries-old exuberant pageants knows for their extraordinary dress, performance, and Shinto-Buddhist ritual enactment-and considers their significance within their cultural context. Many of the examples illustrated date from the Meiji period (1868-1912), the last time when handwork was produced by individual artisans for their own use or that of their neighbors. The unique focus on festival arts in this book allows us to identify the special aesthetics that differentiate the textiles worn and used on Japan’s holy days.

9 x 12 inches, 256 pages
321 color illustrations, 2 maps
2002