Calendar

Now through March 2010

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

Echoes of Heian-Kyo

Court Culture in the Floating World

The third in a series of exhibitions commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the sister city relationship between Boston and Kyoto looks back to the glorious past of the ancient Japanese imperial capital, originally called Heian-kyô, as it was envisioned by artists of the ukiyo-e school working many centuries later in the city of Edo (modern Tokyo).

The exquisitely refined court culture of the Heian period (794-1185), named for the city, and the flamboyant urban popular culture of the Edo period (1615-1868), the Floating World (ukiyo), are playfully juxtaposed in prints, paintings and book illustrations that implicitly compare the commoners of early modern Edo to the lords and ladies of ancient Heian-kyo: the beautiful poet Ono no Komachi, the ardent lover Ariwara Narihira, the fictional paragon Prince Genji, and many more. The greatest classics of courtly literature were presented visually in serious, straightforward versions; in modern updates; and even in humorous parodies. These vivid images helped to make the heritage of classical Japanese literature not just the property of a small group of aristocrats, but part of a national culture shared by all social classes.

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Now through February 28th, 2010

Smith College

Museum of Art

22 Elm St, Northampton, MA

Touch Fire:

Contemporary Japanese Ceramics by Women Artists

Touch Fire is composed of over 90 vibrant and dynamic ceramic sculptures by leading contemporary Japanese women artists working within and transforming a medium traditionally associated with men. Although women have played a central role in ceramic production in Japan for centuries, they have worked as studio ceramic artists only since the 1950s. Rather than training in the traditionally male-dominated apprentice system, most attended art school, where they were exposed to and influenced by a wide range of contemporary artistic movements in both Japan and the West. Works in the exhibition are lent by an alumna of Smith College who is one of the pioneer collectors of contemporary Japanese ceramics in the West.

The accompanying catalogue, with an essay by ceramics specialist Todate Kazuko, Chief Curator at the Tsukuba Art Museum (Ibaraki, Japan) and artists’ biographies by Wahei Aoyama, provides the first in-depth study of the phenomenal rise of women ceramic artists in Japan.

More Information

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Tuesday, February 16 - 12:30-2:00 p.m.

Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies

Harvard University

Bowie-Vernon Room K262, CGIS Knafel Bldg., 1737 Cambridge St.

"Harvard's Japan Encounter: Then and Now"

SUSAN J. PHARR, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics,and Director, Reischauer Institute and Weatherhead Center Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University
MODERATOR: Andrew Gordon, Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Professor of History, Harvard University Weatherhead Center Program on U.S.-Japan Relations (USJRP) presentation co-sponsored by the Reischauer Institute

For more information please contact

Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies
Center for Government and International Studies, South Building
Harvard University
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Phone: (617) 495-3220
Fax: (617) 496-8083
Email: rijs@fas.harvard.edu

Friday, February 19 - 4:00-5:30 p.m.

Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies

Harvard University

Porté Room S250, CGIS South Bldg., 1730 Cambridge St.

"Shuten Dōji: Picture, Narrative, and Ritual"

QUITMAN EUGENE PHILLIPS, Professor of Art History, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
MODERATOR: Yukio Lippit, Harris K. Weston Associate Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University Reischauer Institute Japan Forum presentation

For more information please contact

Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies
Center for Government and International Studies, South Building
Harvard University
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Phone: (617) 495-3220
Fax: (617) 496-8083
Email: rijs@fas.harvard.edu

Now through March 8th, 2010

Pucker Gallery

171 Newbury St Boston

Keeping Tradition: The Ceramic Art of Onda

In 1927, the Japanese folk art theorist Yanagi Sôetsu entered

a ceramics shop in the town of Kurume in central Kyushu

Island. Scanning the stock, he was surprised to find wares

which, although apparently new, displayed characteristics

of old handmade pieces dating from the pre-industrial Japan

of decades earlier. Confirming that the pieces were indeed of

contemporary manufacture, Yanagi asked the source of the

solid, subdued tableware. He was told that they came from a potting community called Onda Sarayama near the town of Hita, in Oita prefecture.

The Since the time of Yanagi’s visit, the ten potting families of

Onda Sarayama have staunchly preserved most of the aspects of their ceramic production that so impressed him. Because of the limited space in the mountain hamlet as well as the scarcity of natural materials, only one son per potting household is allowed to carry on the tradition and no potters are allowed to move in from elsewhere. Onda ware reflects an ancient but living tradition, and that tradition is palpably communicated in every plate, jar and teacup.

More Information

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February 6 Through June 6

Public Opening Celebration: Monday February 8, 7-9 p.m.

The McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College

140 Commonwealth Avenue

Devlin Hall 108
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

Asian Journeys explores the sociopolitical context for American collecting of Asian art in the post- World War II period with focus on the collecting practice of John D. Rockefeller 3rd (1906–1978) and his wife Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller (1909–1992). Founder of Asia Society and son of collectors John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller 3rd played an instrumental role in fostering cultural understanding and cooperation between Asia and America. From 1963 to 1978, art historian and director of the Cleveland Museum, Sherman E. Lee (1918–2008), served as an advisor to the Rockefellers’ collection. The relationship among them, explored in this exhibition, is an extraordinary example of the connections between art collecting and U.S.-Asia relations

Public Opening Celebration: Monday February 8, 7-9 p.m.
On Feb. 8, the public is invited to join BC community members at a free opening celebration at the Museum from 7 to 9 p.m., featuring music from the 1950s and ’60s performed by University jazz ensemble BC bOp! Location: Devlin Hall 108. For information please call 617.552.8587.

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Now through May 31 2010

Boston Museum of Fine Arts

465 Huntington Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

Patterns of Long Ago: Reflections

of China in Japanese No Costume

Just as the stories of many No plays—peopled with historic and legendary figures, gods, spirits, and ghosts—are drawn from the classical literature of the Heian (794–1185) or Kamakura (1185–1336) periods, the robes worn by the actors recall court costumes of the Nara (710–794) and Heian periods, which were made of sumptuous woven silks imported from China. Many Chinese symbols, motifs, and repeat patterns, along with Chinese weaving technology, were adopted by Japanese craftsmen during these same periods. Although heavy woven silks and formal patterns borrowed from China—such as the "seven jewels" design and karahana (Chinese flower) motif—gradually fell out of fashion for everyday wear, they continued to be used for No costumes, as a means of evoking the spirit of the distant past and the refinement of early court culture. The silks used for some robes continued to be imported from China, or closely modeled on Chinese examples, while Japanese weavers developed other imported weave structures, such as the weft-patterned silk called karaori ("Chinese weave"), into a sophisticated and distinctly Japanese artistic expression.

This exhibition highlights No robes from the 18th to early 20th centuries from the MFA's collection, some of which have never before been exhibited. It explores how "Chinese" designs and weaves have been employed, adapted, and combined with "native" Japanese motifs in No costume over the centuries, along with the dramatic and symbolically meaningful role such robes would play in the context of a No performance.

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Starting the Week of February 16th

Showa -Japan Society Language Program

Showa Boston Institute

420 Pond St Boston MA

Japanese Language Program: Spring 2010 Semester

•17-week conversational Japanese courses
•Elementary, intermediate and advanced levels
•Experienced native teachers
•Showa's Japanese college students as conversation practice partners
•Small classes with individualized instruction
•Affordable tuition
•Free parking

This program is intended for adult men and women (high schoolers included).

For more information, call 617.522.0080, x5099
or email Japanese@showaboston.org

Monday, February 8 - 6:00 p.m.

Adams Pool Theater

13 Bow St Cambridge

Free and open to the public

Those without Harvard ID must arrive by 6:15 to gain admission.

No admission without Harvard ID after 6:15

Film Screening of

Tampopo

Introduced by Tom Levenson (MIT). The ultimate movie on food and sex. A struggling single mother, with the help of a cowboy truck driver, aims heroically high to make the best ramen noodles. Told in parallel, the story of an epicurean white-suited gangster and his girlfriend whose pursuit of pleasures involve doing interesting things with live shrimp in bed. Woven around this core are episodes turning social hierarchies and connoisseurship on their heads, culminating in triumphal noodles and a tragicomic death speech about yam sausages. For more information, see IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.

For more information contact Vanghn Tan at:

food24fps_admin@googlegroups.com

or view http://www.vaughntan.com/food24fps/.

Free and open to the public

Those without Harvard ID must arrive by 6:15 to gain admission.

No admission without Harvard ID after 6:15

Monday February 8, 7-9 p.m.

Public Opening Celebration:

The McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College

140 Commonwealth Avenue

Devlin Hall 108
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

Free and Open to the Public

Public Opening Celebration: Monday February 8, 7-9 p.m.
On Feb. 8, the public is invited to join BC community members at a free opening celebration at the Museum from 7 to 9 p.m., featuring music from the 1950s and ’60s performed by University jazz ensemble BC bOp!

Location: Devlin Hall 108.

For information please call 617.552.8587.

Asian Journeys explores the sociopolitical context for American collecting of Asian art in the post- World War II period with focus on the collecting practice of John D. Rockefeller 3rd (1906–1978) and his wife Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller (1909–1992). Founder of Asia Society and son of collectors John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller 3rd played an instrumental role in fostering cultural understanding and cooperation between Asia and America. From 1963 to 1978, art historian and director of the Cleveland Museum, Sherman E. Lee (1918–2008), served as an advisor to the Rockefellers’ collection. The relationship among them, explored in this exhibition, is an extraordinary example of the connections between art collecting and U.S.-Asia relations

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Wednesday, February 24 - 6:00 p.m.

Boston Higashi School

800 North Main St. Randolph MA

Free and open to the public - RSVP required

The Boston Higashi School Presents:

Ryu Goto

The Boston Higashi School presents a free concert featuring

Japanese Violin Virtuoso Ryu Goto.

February 24th 6:00 P.M.

Concert begins with the Boston Higashi School Jazz Band Reception to Follow

Please Rsvp by Feb 5th to:

Peg Donovan - 781-961-0800 ext 109 or email to: donovan@bostonhigashi.org

Friday, February 26 - 1:00 p.m.

Boston University

745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston (STH 625)

Free and open to the public

SEATING IS VERY LIMITED

Donald Keene: "The Pleasures and Pains of Translating Japanese"

Donald Keene is a scholar, teacher, writer, translator and interpreter of Japanese literature and culture. Keene is the University Professor Emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he has taught for over fifty years. In 1986, The Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia University was established in his honor. Keene has published about 25 books in English on Japanese topics, including both studies of Japanese literature and culture and translations of Japanese classical and modern literature, including a four-volume history of Japanese literature. Keene has also published about 30 books in Japanese (some translated from English). The Translation Seminars are part of CAS XL 540, Theory & Practice of Literary Translation, a series of weekly presentations open to registered students and to the public. Registered students complete special projects and attend workshops under the guidance of Professor Rosanna Warren. Speakers include translators and writers discussing the nuances of literary translation.