The Premise of Fidelity: Science, Visuality, and Representing the Real in Nineteenth-Century Japan

301 Pages·2012·9.341 MB·English

by  Maki Fukuoka

The Premise of Fidelity

The Premise
of Fidelity
science, visuality,
and representing the real
in nineteenth-century japan
Maki Fukuoka
stanford university press
stanford, california
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
©2012 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
Receipt of an Association for Asian Studies First Book Subvention has facilitated the
publication of this book.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
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Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fukuoka, Maki, 1972- author.
The premise of fidelity : science, visuality, and representing the real in nineteenth-century
Japan / Maki Fukuoka.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8047-7790-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Art and science--Japan--History--19th century. 2. Botanical illustration--Japan--His-
tory--19th century. 3. Plant prints--Japan--History--19th century. 4. Photography--Japan--
History--19th century. 5. Realism in art--Japan--History--19th century. I. Title.
N72.S3F85 2012
709.52--dc23 2012007601
Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 11 /14 Adobe Garamond
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Names xiii
Introduction 1
1. The Eye of the Shōhyaku-sha:
Between Seeing and Knowing 15
2. Ways of Conceptualizing the Real:
Scripts, Names, and Materia Medica 53
3. Modes of Observation and the Real:
Exhibition Practices of the Shōhyaku-sha 79
4. Picturing the Real: Questions of Fidelity
and Processes of Pictorial Representation 105
5. Shashin in the Capital:
The Last Stage of Metamorphosis 155
Appendix: Takahashi Yuichi, “Yōgakyoku tekigen” (1865) 197
Notes 199
Glossary 241
Works Cited 243
Index 255

List of Figures
1.1 Kuzu, from “Honzō shashin,” before 1826 18
1.2 Recto, Kuzu, from “Honzō shashin,” before 1826 19
1.3 Ono Ranzan, Waikyakushō, from Ka’i, 1759–1765 20
1.4 Igahōzuki, from “Honzō shashin,” before 1826 22
1.5 Udagawa Genshin, Rōtō, from Ensei ihō meibutsu kō, 1822 24
1.6 Udagawa Yōan, Hiyosu, from Ensei ihō meibutsu kō hoi, 1834 25
1.7 Camera obscura, from Ōtsuki Gentaku, Ransetsu benwaku, 1799 44
2.1 A page from Itō Keisuke, Taisei honzō meiso, 1829 69
2.2 A page from Carl Peter Thunberg, Flora Japonica, 1784 70
2.3 A page indicating tennansho, from Itō Keisuke, Taisei
honzō meiso, 1829 72
2.4 A page showing “Tigers Paw,” from Itō Keisuke, Taisei
honzō meiso furoku, 1829 77
3.1 Odagiri Shunkō, Igakukan, from Owari meisho zue, 1844 80
3.2 Ōkubo Masa’aki, Snail shells, from Honzō kai buppin
mokuroku, 1835 98
4.1 Tanba Shūji, Onishida, from “Honzō shin’ei,” before 1861 108
4.2 Itō Keisuke and Udagawa Yōan, Haribuki, 1827 112
4.3 Oleander, from Itō Keisuke, “Kyōchikutō,” c. 1860 114
4.4 Oleander, from Itō Keisuke, “Kyōchikutō,” c. 1860 115
4.5 Oleander, originally from Wu Qijun, Zhíwù míngshí
túkao, 1848, pasted in Itō Keisuke, “Kyōchikutō,” c. 1860 116
4.6 Oleander, from Itō Keisuke, “Kyōchikutō,” c. 1860 117
4.7 Oleander, from Itō Keisuke, “Kyōchikutō,” c.1860 119
viii list of figures
4.8 Ishiguro Sei’an, Sekishō, shanohike, eyanukakusa, from
“Shin’ei honzō,” before 1836 122
4.9 Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, Aconite, from Botanica
in Originali . . . , 1765 125
4.10 Kondō Shūen, Reseda Odorata (mignonette), from
Honzō kai buppin mokuroku, 1835 130
4.11 Portrait of C. P. Thunberg, Voyage de C. P. Thunberg
au Japon, 1796 132
4.12 Kondō Shūen, Portrait of C. P. Thunberg, from Itō Keisuke,
Taisei honzō meiso, 1829 133
4.13 Aōdō Denzen, Shinakawashihoi, from Edo meisho zu,
1804–1818 134
4.14 Katsushika Hokusai, Orchid, from Santei gafu, 1816 137
4.15 Katsushika Hokusai, Plum, from Santei gafu, 1816 138
4.16 Kawahara Keiga, Magnolia, from Sōmoku kajitsu shashin
zufu, 1868 146
4.17 Iwasaki Kan’en, Chōsen asagao, from Honzō zufu, before 1830 148
5.1 Shimo’oka Renjō, Portrait of Kimura Masanobu, 1862 156
5.2 Inside of the box covering the portrait of Kimura
Masanobu, 1862 157
5.3 Uchida Kuichi, Portrait of Itō Keisuke, 1871 158
5.4 Recto, Uchida Kuichi, Portrait of Itō Keisuke, 1871 159
5.5 Portrait of Iinuma Yokusai, 1863 162
5.6 Shimizu Kōsui, copied after Charles Wirgman, Portrait of
Itō Keisuke, 1861 175
5.7 Pierre Jean François Turpin, Rhapontic, from Flore Médicale,
1814–1820 180
5.8 Takahashi Yuichi, Bodaiju, from “Kaiunrō zufu zassan,”
1863–1865 182
5.9 Itō Keisuke, Snow pea, from “Kaiunrō zufu zassan,”
1863–1865 183
Color plates follow p. 104
Acknowledgments
It would be an understatement to say that this project came easily. It would
be even more inaccurate to characterize this project as my solo endeavor.
The generosity and support of institutions, colleagues, friends, and family
members have been instrumental to this publication.
Since the “genesis” moment in a graduate seminar on the intellectual
history of modern Japan in the fall of 1999, Professor Tetsuo Najita’s insight
and criticism helped tremendously in modeling this project. In the Depart-
ment of Art History at the University of Chicago, where I completed my
graduate work, Professors Tom Gunning and Joel Snyder advised me with
care and skill to steer my ideas from a (sometimes useful) misguided direc-
tion back to an appropriate path. Tom’s generosity in sharing his knowledge
and ideas of modernity continue to shape my interest and research. Work-
ing with Joel has opened many closed doors of inquiry about photography
and representations and guided me into unexplored territories. Professor
Susan Burns stepped into this project at the final stage of dissertation, and
her suggestions brought into light a constructive perspective on the broader
historical landscape that became essential in revision.
In Tokyo, Professor Kinoshita Naoyuki at the University of Tokyo kindly
accepted me to his kenkyūshitsu in November 2001. His eye for objects and
history, and his uncanny way of navigating the strange continue to mesmer-
ize and inspire me. Kinoshita-sensei’s humor gave me a profound sense of
comfort that lasts to this day.
Since my first archival research trip to Nagoya in 2001, Endo Shōji has
been more than generous in sharing his collection and knowledge of materi-
als related to the Shōhyaku-sha. I only hope that I did some justice to the
wealth of the Shōhyaku-sha material. Also in Nagoya, Yokoyama Susumu
of the Higashiyama Botanical Garden welcomed me with great kindness
during my repeated visits to the archives. In Tokyo, Sato Mona of the Uni-