School of Letters Department of Humanities Philosophy Course
Aesthetics and History of Fine Arts Major
Major (Credit 2)

Intended Year:
Intended School:
History of Oriental Fine Arts (Lecture I)
History of Oriental Fine Arts (Lecture I)
Sub Title 
Professor IDE Seinosuke
Numbering Code: LET-HUM2261J
Course Code: 18055102
2018 SpringTerm
weekly Fri2
Ito Classroom
J科目 (日本語, 日本語)
Course Overview The 500 Luohans, preserved for centuries at Daitokuji Monastery in Kyoto, is a renowned work that consists of 100 scrolls, each depicting five luohans (arhats). Currently Daitokuji possesses 88 of the scrolls, whereas 10 more are in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and 2 in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. These scrolls were noted early on as important works of Southern Song Buddhist painting. Since the epochal Nara National Museum exhibition Sacred Ningbo in the summer of 2009, when the entirety of the set preserved in Japan was put on display for the first time, research on the 500 Luohans has advanced at a rapid pace. It has once again become the focus of attention as a work with which the circumstances of local society and Buddhist worship in the Ningbo region in Southern Song Jiangnan can be understood.
This class explores the historical role of the Daitokuji 500 Luohans from the perspective of an art historical biography attentive to the social life of things and the consequences of transregional circulation. It aims to demonstrate the many ways in which a single artwork can be responsive to both local and global contingencies, and by doing so hopes to offer new humanistic approaches to the study of art objects.
Last updated : 2018/10/26 (06:54)