Mimi Hall Yiengpruksawan is Professor of Japanese Art History at Yale University.
Historians will find much valuable material in Yiengpruksawan's
book...since the works in question are Buddhist temples and objects
associated with them, religion specialists too will surely profit
from reading this book...The book's design is elegant and features
103 illustrations...[allowing] readers to see exactly what
Yiengpruksawan is describing.
*Journal of Japanese Studies*
Mimi Hall Yiengpruksawan has written a magnificent book about
northern Japan. Through exhaustive investigation of historical
documents, archaeological reports, extant visual evidence, as well
as critical analysis of the vast corpus of Japanese scholarship,
she presents for the first time in English a comprehensive cultural
history of northern Japan. More importantly, she advances
innovative interpretations regarding the production and perception
of Buddhist art. This book raises issues about the ethnic and
cultural diversity of ancient Japan, and the expression of
self-identity in the visual arts
Her detailed reconstruction of the
temple complexes and icons, and her knowledge of Buddhism and
political history allow her to convincingly demonstrate that
Kiyohira and Shirakawa, both vigorously establishing new regimes,
used Buddhist art as a visual statement of the new political order
to legitimize their right to rule.
*The Journal of Asian Studies*
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