Prologue and Acknowledgements
I visited Kyoto for the first time in March 1990. That year, spring arrived unseasonably early, bringing cherry blossoms in full bloom but relatively few crowds. It was then that I first saw Kinkakuji—less than three years after it had been restored with a thick layer of gold leaf. I took a few snapshots from the southeast, and then I trudged past a mysterious excavated site, where I noticed the remains of a giant sled (shura). I neither understood nor fully appreciated what I was seeing, disappointed as I was that the temple could not be approached more closely. I did not photograph the sled itself, though traces of this extraordinary excavation appear at the right edge of one photograph I took that day (Fig. 00.1).
Kinkakuji. March 1990
Photograph by author
At the time I preferred the impassive decay of antiquity at Ginkakuji, the “Silver Temple,” which I viewed at dusk that same day.
My attitude toward Kinkakuji changed again in November 2011, when on a beautiful autumn day (Fig. 7.20), I visited there with my son George, and in his company, I experienced his sense of wonder. I too saw the structure in a different way. That year I resolved to write this book.
I never would have thought of writing this book without the enthusiasm of Yoshikawa Shinji, who inspired me to turn my interest in Kinkakuji into a book. Likewise, discussions with Rob Eskildsen at Inoda Coffee (again!) encouraged me to work on this project. Memories of repeated trips to Kinkakuji with my son George and my wife Yūko in 2011–12 and 2017 sustained me as I wrote this book. The support and interest of my wife Yūko in this project has made this a far better work.
While in Japan on a Japan Foundation grant in 2011–12, I was able to repeatedly visit Kinkakuji. I am grateful to Hori Daisuke and Minami Takao for showing me an archaeological dig at Kitayama on May 29, 2017. I took the photograph from the immediate south, which graces the cover, at the time. Hori Daisuke also was a convivial guide to Kitayama, and both my son and I learned so much about Kitayama’s terrain and history.
I owe a great debt to many at Princeton, and in particular I would like to thank Andrew Watsky, Federico Marcon and Jackie Stone for their support. Christina Lee has provided me with great ideas, and better understanding of the Spanish sources that she translated for this book. I also have benefitted with discussions from Amy Borovoy, Shel Garon, Bill Jordan, John Haldon, Helmut Reimitz, Ekaterina Pravilova, Soojung Han, Shel Garon, and Martin Kern. Scholars in the field have provided great insights over the years, first among them Karen Gerhart. I also owe much to the scholarship of Matthew Stavros. Tani Akiyoshi taught me much about early photography, and helped me to better understand and appreciate my collection of images. Without his knowledge and guidance, I could not have analyzed the old photographs in a meaningful way. Thanks too to Ebara Masaharu and Horikawa Yasufumi. Leigh Gleason, Curator of Collections of the University of California’s Museum of Photography, generously allowed me to access the rare Takagi and Enami catalogues which she discovered and allowed me to access in 2014. I am grateful to Joshua Mostow for his insights regarding Genji and his suggestion for the image appearing in chapter 1. Seikyōdō’s Minami Hitomi also helped me with the dating of some postcards and postcard covers. Kinoshita Tomotake introduced me to the Kyoto Nippō Newspaper with its serialized story Yarinusubito. I owe a great thanks to Mary Cason who sharpened an earlier version of this work, and Dora Ching for her support and advice. Royall Tyler has been an inspiration and help me conceptualize this work. David Romney has introduced me to helpful articles, and discussions with him, Megan Gilbert, Caitlin Karyadi, Gina Choi, Mai Yamaguchi, and Skyler Negrete have provided insights over the years. For Korean romanization and help with sources, I would like to thank Hyoungbae Lee and Gina Choi. I am also grateful to Setsuko Noguchi for her unstinting support. Finally, great thanks to Cynthia Col for preparing the index.
Many have helped in securing images. Among them, I am grateful to Momosaki Yūichiro, Nishiyama Tsuyoshi, and Kioka Takao for their help in allowing me to reproduce Miyakami Shigetaka’s Kinkakuji restoration and Kioka Takao’s reconstruction of the Kitano Kyō-ōdō. I am very grateful to Inoue Mayu of the Yonezawa-shi Uesugi Museum, Ōta Mitsuko and everyone at the Kokuritsu Rekishi Minzoku Museum, and Ueda Naho of the Tokyo National Museum archives for their great help and generosity in securing marvelous images as well as anonymous employees of the Mainichi Newspaper for helping me to understand relevant copyright regulations. I would also like to thank Ben Johnston and Lance Herrington for their help in digitally restoring damaged slide images. Finally, Princeton's East Asian Studies Program provided a much appreciated publication subvention to allow for some open access of this work.
This project is also a tribute to the continued commodification of images, as online sites, visits to bookstores, and the thoughtfulness and help of many art dealers and book sellers in Japan, North America, and throughout the world, enabled me to create this collection of rare images. The generosity and wiliness to share knowledge also proved one of the joys of this project, and so to the many I remain grateful. All errors are of course my responsibility.