Rosina Buckland

The Splendour of Modernity presents a comprehensive overview of Japanese art from 1865 to 1915, including painting, calligraphy, sculpture, prints, ceramics, lacquerware, textiles, basketry, metalwork, and cloisonné. It challenges misconceptions that foreign influence diluted the supposed authenticity of Japanese art during this era. Instead, Rosina Buckland highlights the development of distinctively Japanese artistic practices in response to new stimuli from...

The word 'samurai' stands for ideals of courage, honour, self-sacrifice and loyalty. Yet much of the common understanding is imaginative fiction. This book explores the concept from medieval reality, through early modern changes, to today's hugely varied popular culture, challenging preconceptions and exploding myths. The figure of the samurai is unique in its global intelligibility, read both as a symbol...