3550 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089

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Cloth forms markets in which vast amounts of money circulate. As well as having deep associations with literature and painting, it occupied a major position in the culture and industry of Edo-period Japan. In cloth, we find points of similarity between the countries of Asia, as well as features that are distinct to Japan. Cloth is a product that brought about the industrial revolution in Europe. Procurement of cotton was deeply implicated in the project of colonialism. In the era of craft production, cloth held a certain kind of power. It was a power that protected and brought peace of mind to those in possession of cloth. That power was a cultural power, which is to say that it exercised its full effect only in societies that believed in it. The power of cloth derives from the relationship between nature and human beings. In this lecture, I will speak of the history of cloth and its power.

Bio
Yuko Tanaka is a specialist in the comparative study of lifestyle and cultural values in the Edo period of Japan and Asian countries. She is the President of Hosei University where she also serves as professor of social sciences. Her major publications include Imagination of Edo, (1986) and One Hundred Dreams of the Edo Period (2000).

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  • Xi Chen

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