Men in Metal
A Topography of Public Bronze Statuary in Modern Japan
Abstract
In his pioneering study, Men in Metal, Sven Saaler examines Japanese public statuary as a central site of historical memory from its beginnings in the Meiji period through the twenty-first century. Saaler shows how the elites of the modern Japanese nation-state went about constructing an iconography of national heroes to serve their agenda of instilling national (and nationalist) thinking into the masses. Based on a wide range of hitherto untapped primary sources, Saaler combines data-driven quantitative analysis and in-depth case studies to identify the categories and historical figures that dominated public space. Men in Metal also explores the agents behind this visualized form of the politics of memory and introduces historiographical controversies surrounding statue-building in modern Japan.
Keywords
Public Bronze Statuary; Modern Japan; Japanese public statuary; public statuary; Meiji; politics of memoryDOI
10.1163/9789004441514ISBN
9789004441514, 9789004414433, 9789004441514Publisher
BrillPublisher website
https://brill.com/Publication date and place
2020Classification
Sculpture