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Collecting the Folk Crafts of Old Japan
by Ira Jacknis with Letters from Kyoto by Brian Shekeloff
1994, 59 pages, 35 black and white photos
$14.95 (paper)
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Over several centuries of cultural isolation Japan developed a unique material world which has now mostly vanished in the face of massive and rapid modernization. Rural Japanese objects, such as carpenters' tools, baskets, and barrels, are unusual in museums; art museums dismiss them because they seem to be plain, crude, and undecorated; and most anthropology museums avoid them because they come from a literate civilization. Moreover, even in Japan they are relatively rare, as they are generally used until they fall apart. In this country "Japanese folk art" is usually evaluated by an aesthetic approach, rather than one of functional domain and use.
The publication includes a comprehensive introduction dealing with the history of collecting Japanese folk crafts, written by Ira Jacknis, Research Anthropologist. Additionally, the revealing and entertaining letters from Kyoto by Brian Shekeloff provide insight into collecting traditional objects from flea markets and second-hand stores in the 1960's.
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