The Aesthetic Structure of the Early Modern Japanese Visual Culture : Observations Derived from the Typology of Aesthetic Qualities

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This research project aims at grasping the aesthetic structure of the Japanese visual culture in the early modern era. For this purpose, it demonstrated the importance of such reaction/affective qualities as “omoshiroshi (interesting/amusing)” and ”kawayurashi (lovely/pretty)”, using works and words of Utamaro and Hiroshige as clues. Also, by examining the works and life of Hokusai it confirmed the validity of the model of Edo-period culture, the so-called “binary of ga and zoku”, in which ga is possessed of elegant and refined aesthetic quality, which is regarded cold and impersonal when compared to the vulgarity of zoku, which has warmth and human feeling.