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ÉTUDES ET ESSAIS

Une voie de l’« art premier » dans le Japon du XVIIe siècle

La statuaire d’Enku, pérégrin de l’Essentiel
Anne Bouchy
p. 143-172

Abstracts

An Art Premier in 17th-Century Japan : Enku’s statues, Peregrine of the Essential. – The unique craftsmanship of the so-called “billhook carved” sculptures, of which thousands were discovered all over Japan in the mid-20th century, created a phenomenal social reaction – a craze for the artist, Enku, a 17th-century peregrinating hermit about whom almost nothing was known. Japanese ethnology and history can help us decipher such a work of art’s meaning in the quite special way taken by someone who practiced asceticism in the mountains. What technical and ritual processes underlay the recognition that such images have “power” by those who use them for devotional purposes, as objects of aesthetic delight or as means for constructing a sense of identity?

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Index terms

Keywords :

Japon, Enku, statuaire

Keywords:

Japan, sculpture
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References

Bibliographical reference

Anne Bouchy, “Une voie de l’« art premier » dans le Japon du XVIIe siècle”L’Homme, 165 | 2003, 143-172.

Electronic reference

Anne Bouchy, “Une voie de l’« art premier » dans le Japon du XVIIe siècle”L’Homme [Online], 165 | janvier-mars 2003, Online since 27 March 2008, connection on 29 March 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/lhomme/201; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/lhomme.201

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About the author

Anne Bouchy

École française d’Extrême-Orient, Paris.

By this author

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Copyright

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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