2016-02-01

Spectacular accumulation

Morgan Pitelka, author of the new book Spectacular Accumulation: Material Culture, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Samurai Sociability, has created an eponymous site to help promote it. What makes this noteworthy is that the site is much better than similar efforts I have seen, especially the blog, "1616", which strikes a fine balance between brevity and depth (and is, as far as I can tell, original material rather than just excerpts from the book).

For example: "The geography of Ieyasu's career":

What is striking is the extent to which this territory of the Tôkaidô—and indeed, as the term would come to signify the highway connecting Edo and Kyoto/Osaka rather than the old administrative unit, that roadway as well—demarcated and mapped Ieyasu's activities. He only ventured out of its confines on two occasions (once to Kyushu in the south and once to Mutsu Province in the north), and never for any significant period of time. Ieyasu and his peers traveled back and forth along this east-west passage, from Okazaki to Hamamatsu, from Sunpu to Kyoto, and from Edo to Osaka, inscribing a history of war, diplomacy, chance, and ritual into the collective memories of its people and locales. Early modern tourists traversing the highway long after Ieyasu’s death could stop in Sunpu or Okazaki, and encounter pacified and in some cases commodified versions of the Tokugawa founder through the genealogy of famous places (meisho).

This geography is key to understanding the rapid shifts in the political fortunes of Ieyasu and his contemporaries. Nobunaga was assassinated in part because he allowed himself to be isolated in Kyoto, with his major generals scattered in campaigns too far from the capital to protect him. [...]

Popularity factor: 6

leoboiko:

Ooh, Pitelka! He's a big name in tea ceremony studies, with his Japanese Tea Culture: Art, History, and Practice and Handmade Culture: Raku Potters, Patrons, and Tea Practitioners in Japan. I had no idea that he had another book out as well as a blog, so thanks for the note!


Matt:

Thanks for the info! Looking at his bibliography I noted that he'd clearly come out of tea studies, but I had no idea how he was regarded in that field.

Also, thanks for clearing up what gender he is. An earlier draft of this post used a "he" or two before I realized that his name could indicate either and there are no photos on the site...


languagehat:

Google is your friend:

https://asianstudies.unc.edu/people/faculty/morgan-pitelka


Matt:

But did Google offer this information on a platter like you? No! I know who my real friends are.


mulberry bicester:

Nathan Wierzgac was 4 for 5 with an RBI in game two, when Andres Nelo was 3 for 4 with three RBIs, winning pitcher Trenton Hill was 3 for 4 with a homer and two RBIs, Adams was 3 for 5, Poti had two hits and three runs and Toms was 2 for 2 with two runs.


magasin de chaussures en ligne:

Out of the 40 easements needed on the portion of the barrier peninsula that is in Toms River hard hit Ortley Beach and Dover Beaches North there are still 19 holdouts, Township Administrator Paul Shives said.

Aime la vérité, mais pardonne à l'erreur

Nom
LU d'R
Mail d'E
Mot

All fields optional. E-mail address will never be displayed, resold, etc. -- it's just a quick way to give me your e-mail address along with your comment, if you should feel the need. URL will be published, though, so don't enter it if it's a secret. You can use <a href>, but most other tags will be filtered out. (I'll fix it in post-production for you if it seems necessary.)