Self, Elizabeth F
(2017)
Art, Architecture, and the Asai Sisters.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
In early modern Japan, women, like men, used art and architectural patronage to perform and shape their identities and legitimate their authority. Through a series of case studies, I examine the works of art and architecture created by or for three sisters of the Asai 浅井 family: Yodo-dono 淀殿 (1569-1615), Jōkō-in 常高院 (1570-1633), and Sūgen-in 崇源院 (1573-1626). The Asai sisters held an elite status in their lifetimes, in part due to their relationship with the “Three Unifiers” of early 17th century Japan—Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1589), and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616). As such, they were uniquely positioned to participate in the cultural battle for control of Japan. In each of my three case studies, I look at a specific site or object associated with one of the sisters. The objects that I examine—a mausoleum, a portrait, and a memorial temple—were all associated with death and memorial rituals. Mortuary culture may have been seen as an appropriate subject for women’s patronage because it was inherently a family responsibility, and it served to define and propagate the lineage. Since portraits and memorial buildings were expensive, ostentatious luxury objects, they were one of the most public ways that women could participate in patronage. This dissertation addresses two research questions: how the social identities of the Asai sisters, specifically their lineage connections and roles in the complex web of political marriages of the time, were defined and asserted by architectural and artistic patronage; and how these three case studies expand our understanding of the problematic term “patronage” and its relationship to women.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
1 July 2017 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
6 April 2017 |
| Approval Date: |
1 July 2017 |
| Submission Date: |
30 March 2017 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
168 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > History of Art and Architecture |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
early modern Japan, women, gender studies, patronage, female patrons, Tokugawa, Asai sisters, seventeenth century, Japan |
| Date Deposited: |
01 Jul 2017 23:48 |
| Last Modified: |
01 Jul 2017 23:48 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/31041 |
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