Handbook of Japanese Aesthetics

This volume functions as an applied reader for core concepts in Japanese aesthetics, each situated in relationship to specific cultural products or aesthetic approaches to the creation of art ranging from Japan’s classical age to the present day.

Opening with seven chapters dedicated to foundational values associated with the traditional literary and performing arts (among them, mono no aware, miyabi, ma, wabi-sabi, hie, yūgen, basara, hana and the crucial theme of seasonality), the Handbook proceeds to frame aesthetic discourse through ongoing debates concerning Japan’s antiquity as well as what factors constitute modernity as interpreted through cultural practices (senshafuda), architecture (Ise Jingu), urban landscapes (neon signage and lettering), and major literary or visual art movements. In the latter half of the volume, contributors grapple with pervasive popular culture concepts such as kawaii “cuteness” that evolved from antecedents in the premodern visual arts as well as neoteric notions like itai that have emerged more recently out of modern anime and video game cultures.

Accessible to lay readers and specialists alike, the Handbook of Japanese Aesthetics constitutes a crucial addition to the limited body of scholarship designed to synthesize and explain Japanese aesthetics in practice.

Melinda Landeck is Associate Professor of East Asian Studies at Austin College, a private liberal arts college in north Texas, USA, where she teaches a wide array of courses on Chinese, Korean and Japanese culture, in addition to the instruction of modern Japanese language.