Kingdom of Beauty: Mingei and the Politics of Folk Art in Imperial Japan

by Kim Brandt

A Study of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University

Kingdom of Beauty shows that the discovery of mingei (folk art) by Japanese intellectuals in the 1920s and 1930s was central to the complex process by which Japan became both a modern nation and an imperial world power. Kim Brandt’s account of the mingei movement locates its origins in colonial Korea, where middle-class Japanese artists and collectors discovered that imperialism offered them special opportunities to amass art objects and gain social, cultural, and even political influence. Later, mingei enthusiasts worked with (and against) other groups—such as state officials, fascist ideologues, rival folk art organizations, local artisans, newspaper and magazine editors, and department store managers—to promote their own vision of beautiful prosperity for Japan, Asia, and indeed the world. In tracing the history of mingei activism, Brandt considers not only Yanagi Muneyoshi, Hamada Shōji, Kawai Kanjirō, and other well-known leaders of the folk art movement but also the often overlooked networks of provincial intellectuals, craftspeople, marketers, and shoppers who were just as important to its success. The result of their collective efforts, she makes clear, was the transformation of a once-obscure category of pre-industrial rural artifacts into an icon of modern national style.

Genres: History, Art, Nonfiction, Japan, Japanese History

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Chelsea Szendi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was kind of skeptical about how interesting I would find this book, although I know that Professor Brandt is a very smart woman. Upon reading it, however, I came to feel that this is as good as history writing gets. Brandt sucks her subject dry and demonstrates exactly how cultural identity was “made and not born, and crafted in the context of efforts by Japanese state and society to cope with the process of rapid industrialization within a volatile and competitive international order.”

[Mariam Rawwas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brandt moves us through the ideological currents of the formation of mingei, from the Orientalist, feminizing, and patronizing gaze that Japan turned on colonial Korea and its craft production, to the later construction of an artistic narrative in continuity with Japanese nationalist, imperialist, and fascistic tendencies. Overall, a good survey of this development (from pottery to painting to architecture) through its major figures (Yanagi, et al.).

[Jeremy Hurdis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brandt's book is really great. This is a solid analysis of the folk art culture that arises out of imperial Japan, through its colonization of Korea. The idea of 'Oriental Orientalism' is interesting because it renders orienatlism as a global phenomenon not limited to the single direction Europe >> Other. Orientalism is instead a feature of imperialism in general. She could spend more time discussing labour in these movements, or aesthetics, but the book is worth reading regardless.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to see how Korean folks art was co-opted by the Japanese and used to socialize Imperialism + why every prefecture has a bunch of "authentic" and "local" mingei crap to this day.

Also interesting to see how a few key people can shape an entire movement.

If it was more my cup of tea, would probably get more stars

[Benemint · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. It is beautifully written, and neatly done. Great analyses of the social, political and economic contexts that she tells through the focus on the Mingei movement.