和田三造 WADA Sanzō (1883-1967)
「南風」 South Wind (1907)
東京国立近代美術館 The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
油彩・キャンバス・Oil on canvas
151.5 × 182.4cm
Meiji Period architecture on Sanjo, Kyoto
三条の明治期の建築、京都
The Meiji period (1868-1912) was a time of cultural borrowing and adaptation, as Japan modified elements of foreign culture in ways that would benefit the new, modern empire Japan was seeking to become. This is evident everywhere in Meiji culture, including its architecture. Here are some photographs that I recently took in Kyoto of Meiji period architecture lining Sanjo, one of the east-west boulevards that runs through the center of town.
Many of these buildings are now cute shops and interesting places for tourists. The big brick building that starts off this slide show is now a museum, the Museum of Kyoto 京都文化博物館, which shows revolving displays of art and has a large permanent display about the history of Kyoto.
New Techniques for a Beautiful Moustache from Ehagaki sekai (Shin’an bizen jutsu), Komeno Hakusui, Japanese, Late Meiji era, 1908, Publisher: Kokkei shinbun sha
Thank you to the Western Herald, the Western Michigan University student newspaper, for writing this nice article about the lecture I’ll be giving this afternoon on WMU’s campus. The talk is about the ways that Japanese translators in the 1870s through the 1880s dealt with the foreignness of the texts they were translating. I also will talk about the ways that ways that translations have been done in Japan have changed over the course of time.
“One of the things I want people to understand is that translation is a really difficult process, one that involves a lot of negotiation, trying to figure out, ‘how do I represent another culture?’” Angles said. “It becomes very hard when we’re dealing with ideas and concepts and whole worldviews that differ between cultures.”
