Thursday, July 27
1:00–3:00 p.m. PT
Speaker: Mai Yamaguchi, Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Curator of Japanese and Korean Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art
Virtual Event

Reading and writing were popular pastimes in early modern Japan. From the 1600s to the 1800s, the printing industry developed rapidly, making printed materials available to readers in urban and rural areas alike. Woodblock printing meant that books and prints could be mass produced, sold cheaply, and distributed widely. Readership grew steadily as temple schools taught basic reading and writing to people from the merchant and lower classes. This talk considers two forms of literacy, textual and visual, that enabled people to participate in a burgeoning public life and complements an exhibition of the same name on view until August 6, 2023, at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Please note, this session will be conducted virtually via Zoom.

Save your spot by clicking on this link. All participants will be sent the Zoom link via confirmation email with instructions once you secure your place.

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Sponsored by the Asian Arts Council.

Featured at top right: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, I want to cancel my subscription (detail), 1878. Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper. Minneapolis Institute of Art; the Mary Griggs Burke Endowment Fund established by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation, Gifts of Various Donors, by exchange, and Gift of Edmond Freis in Memory of his Parents, Rose and Leon Freis, 2017.106.137.